William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was not a composer, but his name appears in the Pristine catalogue because of music written for or inspired by his plays. In this case the attached recording is Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Shakespeare’s plays have provided material for operas, incidental music, songs, ballets and orchestral works by many composers. His characters and dramatic situations have been a persistent musical quarry.

This page therefore functions as a literary-source entry rather than a composer biography. The music belongs to Mendelssohn, but the dramatic world comes from Shakespeare.

The tag is useful for browsing, provided its nature is clear. Shakespeare sits here as the dramatist whose words and worlds kept composers busy for centuries.