A Midsummer Night's Soundtrack

My freshman high school English class read Romeo and Juliet. Each student had to make a final project of our choice. My final project for that unit was to compose a piano solo theme for the play. And my friend Sean Braunhausen (Sean, if you ever read this, get in touch!), who was also musically inclined, made a soundtrack of different pieces that were not composed with Shakespeare in mind, but nevertheless captured the personalities of the characters.

If/when I ever teach a “Music and Shakespeare” class, one of the first assignments will be to create a similar soundtrack. Though it's a relatively low-level task, it forces you to think about character motivations and identities, and how those traits might be portrayed musically.

Here is my soundtrack for A Midsummer Nights Dream, with one piece of music per major character:

• Theseus: 'Chameleon' by Herbie Hancock (1973)

Duke of Athens, Theseus is the head authority figure of the play, but it's never clear how “good” a leader or person he is. His relationship with his fiance Hippolyta seems less than consensual, given that he freely admits “I woo'd thee with my sword / And won thy love doing thee injuries” (1.1.16-7). And yet their future appears brighter than their past. Similarly, Theseus is dictatorial in act 1, but much more understanding and forgiving in act 5. His dynamic changes in personality make him hard to define, rather like a chameleon changing colors. And so Theseus' theme is 'Chameleon' by Herbie Hancock. Theseus is one funky duke!

• Hippolyta: 'Is She With You?' from Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL (2016)
  

Queen of the Amazons, I've always associated Hippolyta with Wonder Woman! So Hippolyta's theme is Wonder Woman's theme: 'Is She With You?'.  

• Egeus: 'Grandfather's Theme' from Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (1936)
  

An overbearing but (presumably) well-intentioned father, Egeus reminds me of the grumpy grandfather from Peter and the Wolf, personified by the bassoon.

• Hermia: 'Neal' from Dead Poets Society (1989)

Daughter to the domineering Egeus, Hermia is forced either to marry Demetrius (whom she dislikes) or die. It reminds me of the film Dead Poets Society, in which the character Neal (who actually plays Puck in a “play-within-the-film”) commits suicide when his father refuses to support his acting ambitions. So Hermia's theme is Neil's theme from the Dead Poets Society soundtrack. Fortunately, Hermia finds the happy ending that eluded Neal: When Demetrius falls in love with Helena (and thus out of love with Hermia), she is freed to marry her true love, Lysander.

• Lysander: 'You Can Fly' from Disney's Peter Pan (1953)
  

Hermia's beloved, Lysander proposes they run away and enter the forest, to avoid the cruel and unusual punishment of strict Athenian law. This has always reminded me of Peter Pan flying off to Neverland, so Lysander's theme is 'You Can Fly'.

• Demetrius: 'La ci darem la mano' from Don Giovanni by Mozart (1787)
  

​Of the four lovers, Demetrius has the least-developed personality. He's Egeus' choice to marry his daughter, and Helena is smitten with him, but we the audience never see why he's so popular – only that he is popular. Rather, he's portrayed as entitled and un-empathetic, even downright mean at times, such as a subtle rape threat in 2.1211. And he only changes when he's forced to by the magic potion, rather than as the result of genuine personal growth. Mozart's Don Giovanni highlights a somewhat similar (though admittedly much worse) character. In the duet 'La ci darem la mano', Giovanni attempts to seduce Zerlina (on her wedding day, no less). Unlike Demetrius, however, Giovanni never changes and so is dragged to hell at the opera's end for his sins. Might Demetrius have evolved into Don Giovanni, had Oberon's potion not intervened? 

• Helena: 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police (1983)
  

Maybe the most problematic character of the play, Helena has a complicated relationship with Demetrius. In short, she loves him but he doesn't love her, despite being a couple in the recent past. And no amount of rejection – or abuse (see 2.1.188-213) – will ever change her mind. If their genders were reversed (such as in The Police's megahit 'Every Breath You Take'), he'd be a stalker, but since Helena is female, she's much less disconcerting. 'Every Breath' is perfect for Helena because the comparatively jovial music belies the creep described in the lyrics. It also mentions “dream” at 1:27, and the refrain “I'll be watching you” fits nicely in a play all about eyes.

• Oberon: 'Jealous Guy' by John Lennon (1971)

King of the fairies, Oberon sees his queen, Titania, adopt an orphaned Indian boy, and (for some reason that is never fully explained) he's jealous and demands she give it to him. (Why can't they just co-parent?) John Lennon's 'Jealous Guy' tells the story of his early romantic jealousies and how they led him to harm the people he loves, but he's learned to transcend those immature insecurities and celebrate the woman in his life (ie: Yoko Ono) now. (It also opens with lyrics about a dream.) Like Lennon, Oberon also comes around, making peace with his queen by play's end.

• Puck: “Game of Pairs” by Bela Bartok (1943)
  

The second movement of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra employs two of several instruments, each maintaining a set interval (bassoons = sixths, oboes = thirds, clarinets = sevenths, flutes = fifths, trumpets = seconds). The mischievous nature of this “Game of Pairs” pairs perfectly with Puck's prankish personality.

• Titania: 'All About That (B)ass' by Meghan Trainor (2014)
  

Queen of the fairies, Titania is potioned into falling deeply in love with the donkey-headed Bottom, much to the amusement of both Puck and Oberon, who orchestrated the mischief. Given the play's frequent punning on the double meaning of the word, you might say Titania is all about that ass: “Every inch of you is perfect, from the bottom to the top!”

• Bottom: 'White Christmas' by Home Free (2014)

The rambunctious Puck turns Bottom's head into that of a donkey, which enamors Titania (under the spell of a magic potion). The country a capella group Home Free's western-flavored cover of 'White Christmas' not only evokes a moseying donkey but also exhibits the care-free attitude that Bottom displays throughout the play. It's never clear if Bottom ever realizes his transformation or not, and that's the point – he just keeps doing his thing, regardless, never letting anything bother him. (It also mentions “dreaming” at the start of each verse.)