Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music - 18 May 2014

Catherine Bott looks at some of the lesser-known musical adaptations of Shakespeare's greatest plays.

In her fourth and final special marking the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, Catherine Bott looks at some of the surprising, lesser-known musical adaptations of the Bard's works. 

Did you know, for example, that Wagner wrote an opera based on Measure for Measure? That there are several operas derived from The Taming of the Shrew, notably Sly by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari? That Holst wrote a short opera based on Falstaff, called At the Boar's Head? 

All these, plus Hamlet, Macbeth and The Tempest on tonight's show.