Three Shakespeare Songs

• The set of Three Shakespeare Songs was written for unaccompanied mixed-voice chorus with texts by William Shakespeare:
  1. Full fathom five – from The Tempest, Act I, Scene 2
  2. The cloud-capp’d towers – from The Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1
  3. Over hill, over dale – from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II, Scene 1
• This set of songs was written as a test piece for the National Competitive Festival of the British Federation of Music Festivals in 1951. While the composer resisted contributing a piece for the festival at first, Vaughan Williams eventually sent in this piece with the following note:

“Here are three Shakespeare settings. Do what you like with them.”

• A humorously restrained response to a piece of music considered one of the composer’s masterpieces.¹

Full song texts by Shakespeare

1. Michael Kennedy, Essay in accompanying booklet, Sacred And Profane performed by the RIAS-Kammerchor conducted by Marcus Creed, Harmonia Mundi 901734, 2002, compact disc.