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Shakespeare and Jealousy

Live from Stratford-upon-Avon, a sequence of music and texts inspired by the important Shakespearean theme of jealousy. With readings by Juliet Stevenson and Tim Pigott-Smith.

"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on"

Juliet Stevenson and Tim Pigott-Smith perform readings accompanied by centuries of music inspired by one of Shakespeare's darker themes: jealousy - live from the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Other Place theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of Radio 3's Sounds of Shakespeare.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

大象传媒 Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired. Over the anniversary weekend, from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th April, Radio 3 will broadcast live from a pop-up studio at the RSC's The Other Place Theatre and other historic venues across Stratford-upon-Avon.

45 minutes

Last on

Sat 23 Apr 2016 17:00
大象传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Leos Jan谩膷ek

    Overture: 聨Z谩rlivost - Jealousy

    Performer: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jir铆 Belohl谩vek (conductor).
    • CHANDOS CHAN9080.
    • Tr5.

  • William Shakespeare

    Sonnet 61, read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:00

    Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Othello op. 93

    Performer: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik (conductor).
    • Deutsche Grammophon 4350742.
    • CD1 Tr5.

  • William Shakespeare

    Othello, read by Tim Pigott-Smith

  • 00:00

    Jean Sibelius

    Melodrama from Svartsjukans N盲tter (Nights of Jealousy)

    Performer: Jaakko Kuusisto, Laura Vikman (violins), Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic (viola), Joel Laakso (cello), Folke Gr盲sbeck (piano).
    • BIS CD1412.
    • Tr11.

  • William Shakespeare

    A Midsummer Night聮s Dream, read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:00

    Sammy Cahn, Kay Twomey, Bee Walker

    Hey, Jealous Lover

    Performer: Frank Sinatra.
    • Capitol Records ?聳 7243 8 35952 2 8.
    • CD2 Tr1.

  • William Shakespeare

    The Winter聮s Tale, read by Tim Pigott-Smith

  • 00:00

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    La Finta Giardiniera 聳 Atto Secondo 聳 No. 13: Aria

    Performer: Charlotte Margiono, Concentus musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (conductor).
    • TELDEC 9031723092.
    • CD2 Tr5.

  • William Shakespeare

    Venus and Adonis, read by Juliet Stevenson

  • 00:00

    Antonio Salieri

    La scuola de聮 gelosi

    Performer: Cecilia Bartoli, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Adam Fischer (conductor).
    • DECCA 4751002.
    • Tr2.

  • William Shakespeare

    Sonnet 80, read by Tim Pigott-Smith

  • 00:00

    Jacob Gade

    Jealousy

    Performer: Yehudi Menuhin, St茅phane Grappelli (violins).
    • EMI CDM 7 69220 2.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:00

    Wendell Brunious

    Just a Little While to Stay Here

Producer's Note - Shakespeare: Jealousy

Jealousy is a powerful and disturbing emotion so it is hardly surprising that Shakespeare was drawn to investigate what it did to people and explore its dramatic possibilities.聽 Othello is the play which springs immediately to mind when jealousy is mentioned in the same breath as Shakespeare.聽 Iago鈥檚 jealousy drives him to exploit Othello鈥檚 own predisposition to be jealous and thus to become the diabolical engineer of his superior鈥檚 destruction.

In The Winter鈥檚 Tale, Leontes is suddenly overcome by an insane excess of jealousy, convincing himself that his wife Hermione has been having an affair with his oldest friend, Polixenes, and that his son is a bastard.聽 The consequences are swift and tragic.

Jealousy is at the root of the argument between Oberon and Titania in A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dreams which causes so much mischief. We also encounter it in an extract from Venus and Adonis and in Sonnets 61 and 80.

Jealousy also rears its unattractive head, not only in the themes of the selected pieces of music, but sometimes in the lives of the composers and performers.聽 The intense jealousy that Salieri experiences in relation to Mozart as portrayed in Peter Schaffer鈥檚 play Amadeus might owe more to dramatic licence than historical fact, but there was certainly some degree of rivalry between the two men.聽 Frank Sinatra was known to fall prey to intense jealousy - suspecting one of his wives of having an affair or resenting another actor for being cast as the romantic lead while he played a character role.

Producer:聽 Torquil MacLeod

Broadcast

  • Sat 23 Apr 2016 17:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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