Shakespeare's 37 plays contain some of the most memorable passages ever spoken in the English language. His ability to capture and convey human emotion has moved musicians since his own time, and seems equally influential today. Martin explains the importance of music in the original presentations of Shakespeare's plays at the Globe Theater in London. We listen to Philip Pickett and the present day Musicians of the Globe recreate the kind of instrumental music the jostling "groundlings" would have heard while vying for standing room near the stage at the Globe.

Martin and Lisa discuss the lyrical quality of Shakespeare's words, which flow so melodically with the iambic pentameter he used in scripting his plays. In fact, Shakespeare sometimes wrote verse as lyrics and had composers write music for his plays. For instance, Thomas Morley wrote a score for the original production of As You Like It. We listen to another example, a beautiful vocal composition called "Take, O Take Those Lips Away," written by John Wilson for Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure.

The Romantic movement in the 19th century yielded many musical interpretations of Shakespeare's plays. Felix Mendelssohn was inspired to recreate the magic of A Midsummer Night's Dream in his Overture and Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream. We hear a movement performed by the Orchestra of the Champs Elysees conducted by Philippe Herreweghe.

From the Bolshoi to Broadway, perhaps no work has inspired more musical interpretation than Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Martin and Lisa review several adaptations of this touching story with its virtually perfect representation of true love. We hear movements from Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture and Prokofiev's post-revolutionary ballet score. Then we hear Leonard Bernstein's version, transplanting the innocent lovers of Verona to the streets of New York in West Side Story.

Listen Martin and Lisa review 400 years of William Shakespeare in Music.

From the Milestones of the Millenium series. Note: music parts have been edited from the commentary due to internet rights issues. (This audio segment requires the free RealPlayer 5.0 or higher. You can also listen with a 14.4 connection)