"Hark! Now I hear them" - 23 April 2016

‘Miranda’ J W Waterhouse (1875; Oil on Canvas)

Over the last four and a half centuries, William Shakespeare’s work has inspired poets, artists and composers across the globe.

In commemoration of his death in 1616, Chantage showcased settings to music of Shakespeare’s haunting and poignant poetry at St James' Piccadilly..  The concert featured, amongst other works, the Songs of Ariel by Swiss composer Frank Martin, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Three Shakespeare Songs and Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s Four Shakespeare Songs.

Chantage was joined by Slingshot Theatre, performing scenes from Shakespeare's plays. 

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Miranda is a character in Shakespeare's play The Tempest, first performed around 1611. The play features a song by the character Ariel; this passage has been set to music many times and Chantage will be singing some of those settings. It is more commonly known as ‘Full Fathom Five.
 
“Full fathom five thy father lies;

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes;

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change
 into something rich and strange.
 Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: 
Ding-dong.

Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell”
 from ‘Ariel’s song’ The Tempest Act 1, Scene ii
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