Shakespeare's songs: 'It was a lover and his lass'

William Shakespeare - Wikipedia                               Thomas Morley - Wikipedia

 Thomas Morley’s song, “It was a lover and his lass:” music from Shakespeare's plays, presented in celebration of Shakespeare's 400th anniversary. 4K video from our January, 2016, concerts in San Francisco. Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano; William Skeen, viola da gamba; Hanneke van Proosdij, harpsichord, David Tayler, archlute.

Shakespeare referenced dozens of musical works in his plays, but only a few manuscripts and prints survive from his time; most of the musical settings that we hear nowadays were composed much later. Nonetheless, there are a few good sources for music for the plays, although the question of authorship for the music is problematic, as most of the sources are without attribution. Of these, by far and away the best example of a work for which we are certain of the author is Thomas Morley’s “It was a lover and his lass;” Shakespeare quotes the song in full, in "As you like it." Morley and Shakespeare lived in the same neighborhood in London--St. Helen’s parrish, Bishopsgate; it's likely that Shakespeare used Morley’s song in the play. This work is presented here for the first time in 4K, ultra high definition video.