u/AussieSchadenfreude

Thanks to the Tutto Vivaldi project and Naive Classique's Vivaldi Edition we've finally got a chance to hear a lot of Vivaldi's operas. Many years ago I picked up a recording of L'incoronazione di Dario and that didn't do anything for me. Times have changed though. What's your favourite Vivaldi opera? I've been really enjoying Ercole su'l Termodonte in Fabio Biondi's recording.

Troilus and Cressida has my vote as one of the most confusing Shakespeare plays. Yes, it's about the eponymous duo, but it's also about the Greeks and Trojans, the rage of Achilles and the death of Hector. In the end Troilus and Cressida don't come across as particularly interesting in their own right or, to put it another way, they're no Romeo and Juliet. Luckily for our purposes though, there is one rather good opera based on it, Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1954). Any other operatic adaptations that you know of?

It's not an easy play to read and love, although I've been told it shines in a good production. It's therefore a tad counterintuitive that there are many operas based on The Merry Wives of Windsor. I think my favourite is still Verdi's Falstaff. What's yours?

What's your favourite Hamlet opera? As an Aussie, I've got to nominate Brett Dean's Hamlet (2017) in Neil Armfield's production for Glyndebourne.

"If music be the food of love, play on" - is this the most musical of Shakespeare's plays? Its songs have been memorably set since Elizabethan times, and there are indeed operatic adaptations. Wikipedia lists an unfinished Smetana opera, Viola (1874, 1883-1884), a modern work by Edward Lambert, Twelfth Night (2025) and a Humperdinck musical, no less, Twelfth Night (1907). I can't say I've ever seen a Twelfth Night opera myself though. Have you?

Another fabulous play sees the entire court flees into the Forest of Arden, as we follow the witty adventures of Rosalind and Celia. As You Like It really is a lovely play. Do you know any operatic adaptations? There's mention of Rosalind (1938) by Florence Wickham but I don't know anything about that work.

Henry V is a crackingly good play that's full of quotable quotes and great lines. It's been turned into films and even dance theatre, but do you know of any operatic or even music theatre adaptations? I can't find any.

Much Ado About Nothing has got to be on everyone's list of top Shakespeare plays. Beatrice and Benedick, Claudio and Hero - what's there not to love? Okay, maybe the puns of Dogberry : )

We of course have Berlioz's sublime Béatrice et Bénédict (1862) to be thankful for, and the much-underrated Charles Villiers Standford composed Much Ado About Nothing (1901) for ROH Covent Garden, no less - revived by Wexford Festival Opera in 1964.

What's your favourite recording of the Berlioz?

The adventures of young Prince Hal and Falstaff ensures the popularity of Henry IV. There is an operatic adaptation of sorts by Verdi, of course, but there's always the argument that Falstaff (1893) is more an adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor than Henry IV. Luckily for us Gustav Holst has stepped in with At The Boar's Head (1925).

Jump in if you know any other Henry IV operatic adaptations, but otherwise what are your favourite recordings or productions of Falstaff? I'm fond of Gardiner's recording with Jean-Philippe Lafont. It's an odd choice, but it was the first recording I bought, and the first time I realilsed what a marvellous score it is. As for productions, I quite like Robert Carsen's.

No question that it's a great play, but the characters in The Merchant of Venice are pretty hard to like, which means that our sympathies often end up with Shylock himself. There have been operatic adaptations of TMV, and I'd be curious to know which are your favourites.

I've heard a lot about Andre Tchaikowsky's The Merchant of Venice (2013) but have never had an opportunity to see it. I see that Reynaldo Hahn composed Le marchand de Venise (1935) and I'd be very keen to hear that. I love his music and his songs. Maybe another project for Bru Zane?

I've got a soft spot for Richard II. He's the most unheroic of Shakespeare's kings, and it's clear from the start he'd be a terrible ruler. For all that he's got fabulous lines, and I think a lot of sympathy from the author.

Are there any operatic adaptations though? Surely John of Gaunt's great speech would make a fantastic aria - "This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars," etc.

What's your favourite Romeo and Juliet opera and why?

Love's Labour's Lost is a delightful play with sophisticated wordplay and verse and a gorgeous plot. The King of Navarre and his mates take oaths of, well, celibacy "not to give in to the company of women" only to run right into the Princess of France and her ladies. Fun erupts. It's a sunny play with a sombre ending and would make a lovely ensemble opera

There's been one adaptation so far, Nicholas Nabokov's Love's Labour's Lost (1973) to a libretto by WH Auden and Chester Kallman, no less. It premiered at la Monnaie in Brussels.

Is this one of your favourite Shakespeares? Also, do, we know of any other operatic adaptations?

"Who is Silvia? What is she, That all our swains commend her?" Also, does anyone really like Two Gentlemen of Verona? It's an early comedy with classic Shakespearean tropes - cross-dressing, mistaken identities, escape to the forest, outlaws, lovers, songs, a ring, bad puns, jokes and a tiresome clown.

I've found one operatic adaptation, being Henry Rowley Bishop's Two Gentlemen of Verona (1821) with a libretto by Frederick Reynolds. According to Shakespearetheatre.org: "In addition to further edits, the collaborators augment the play with a sizeable dash of spectacle. The show includes an elaborate half-hour Carnival pageant, complete with bonfires and the Temple of Apollo. George Bernard Shaw writes in response to the opera: Everybody who pays to see what is advertised as a performance of Shakespeare’s play … does care more or less about the art of Shakespeare. Why not give them what they ask for, instead of going to great trouble and expense to give them something else?"

Some of the music survives and can be viewed here - https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Two_Gentlemen_of_Verona_(Bishop,_Henry_Rowley)

Are there any other operas based on this play?

I've always had a soft spot for The Taming of the Shrew after seeing Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Zeffirelli's film. Zeffirelli, being a well-known opera director, makes it one degree of separation from opera.

Having said that, The Taming of the Shrew has been turned into musicals and films but where are the operas?

Is this the most operatic of Shakespeare's plays? This one has got it all - evil queen, crazed general, memorable villains, rape, mutilation, murder and meat pies. Are there any operatic treatments of Titus Andronicus though?

Finally, a comedy, and not just a comedy but a farce with identical twins! It's been adapted as a musical, The Boys from Syracuse, but are there any operatic adaptations of The Comedy of Errors?

Also, are there any operas featuring identical twins?