Performance Report - Shakespeare in Song

On Friday, March 26, 2010, I attended Shakespeare in Song’s 8 pm performance at the Jonsson Performance Hall at UT Dallas. Directed by Kathryn Evans, the event featured the UT Dallas Chamber Singers’ rendition of a few Shakespearean operas. These operas are sung versions of William Shakespeare’s plays which were first composed as early as the late 15th or early 16th centuries. Many famous composers of these operas include Roger Quilter, Matthew Harris, and Robert Johnson.

The performance, which lasted a little over an hour, included pieces from many of Shakespeare’s famous works such as Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. These pieces included Matthew Harris’s Take, oh take those lips away, I shall no more to sea, Tell me where is fancy bred, and Hark hark the lark; Robert Johnson’s Full fathom five and Where the bee sucks; and Roger Quilter’s How should I your true love know?, Fear no more the heat of the sun, and Come away death.

The songs were accompanied by the piano as is tradition in Shakespearean opera. Before each song, the piano started with a small introduction, then a cadence followed, and finally both the chorus and the piano began the actual song. The vocal and the piano used similar notes which created perfect harmony between the two. The “happy” songs had fast rhythm and were high pitched while the “sad” songs were slower in rhythm and used lower pitches. The words in faster songs were harder to understand than those in slow songs.

There was a fairly large chorus which sung in heterophony but also had good harmony. Many songs sung by the chorus seemed to be melancholic, and the first “happy” song sung by the chorus was When daffodils begin to peer. The chorus, apart from singing normal text, also chanted things like “doo doo doo” or “ding dong bell”. There were many vocal solos which used numerous cadences for the performer to catch his/her breath.

Nothing surprised me much besides the fact that there was more text spoken than sung. Many things about the music were expected such as the constant changes in pitch, volume, and mood, the heavy vibrato, the relevantly short notes (when compared to Italian opera), and that the songs were only a couple of minutes a piece.

The first thing that caught my attention regarding the performers was their clothes. I was not expecting the singers, let alone the pianist, to wear clothes similar to those worn in Shakespearean times. I did not catch any of the performers make many mistakes. However, the first soloist seemed to be a bit nervous. The performers did not get to move around on the small stage, but their facial expressions and body language told the stories well. They seemed to be one with the song and feel the words in their hearts.

During the whole performance, the performers looked around in the audience, perhaps to see familiar faces. There was a late attendee who caught both the attention and the disdain of the performers for noisily walking to the front row and taking a seat. During the intermission, one of the performers came to sit with some of his friends from the audience and stayed there for the remainder of the performance. When the performers reentered after the intermission, many of their friends in the audience cheered for them.

During the performance, the audience was very quiet as the songs were very relaxing. There were many students that took notes for their performance reports. The audience also applauded a lot, sometimes when they should not have. There were also times when the director asked for applause from the audience. At the end of the performance, many members of the audience stood up to applaud.

Overall, the performance was very enjoyable because it was a Friday night and the audience wanted to relax after a long week and because the performers were well prepared for their first performance of Shakespeare in Song. The music was very similar to traditional Shakespearean operas in rhythm, pitch, and other qualities. The performers and the audience bonded well and both sides enjoyed the performance as a whole.

Works Cited

Shakespeare in Song. By Many Composers. Dir. Kathryn Evans. Perf. UT Dallas Chamber Singers. University of Texas at Dallas Jonsson Performance Hall, Richardson, TX. March 26, 2010. (Shakespeare in Song).

Evans, Kathryn. Program notes. Shakespeare in Song. March 26, 2010. Richardson, TX: University of Texas at Dallas Jonsson Performance Hall. (Evans).