What if Hamlet had a soundtrack?

Surfing in the internet I found many songs inspired by Shakespeare’s plays. The vast majority of them are not the kind of music I am used to hear, but I have to admit that some of them are quite interesting and even nice to listen to.

For instance, Elton John’s “The King must die”, even though may be applied to different plays where there are conspiracies against the king in power, it reminds me of Hamlet trying to avenge his father. I interpreted the first ideas in the song as referring to Claudius, a fraud in the king´s throne: “Round your throne room floor, While the juggler's act is danced upon, The crown that you once wore.”

Also the idea that power involves betrayal and that alliances are made just as a way of ensuring one’s position is clearly stated in the song: “And sooner or later, Everybody's kingdom must end
And I'm so afraid your courtiers, Cannot be called best friends.”

Another song I would highlight is Dear Ophelia of Abney Park, because it is a sort of retelling of the story. Hamlet is supposedly singing to Ophelia excusing himself.

Dear Ophelia
Dear Ophelia, I love you dear,

I'm sorry that I haven't been here.

Dear Ophelia, you know I'm hurt,

It's been two months since he was laid in the dirt.


Dear Ophela I'm sorry that I lied,

I really do mean to make you my bride

When I get through this all, I'll treat you well,

I'm sorry I'm making your life a hell.


Dear Ophelia, your father thinks I'm mad,

If the truth be known, I'm think he'd not be glad,

If my dear Ophelia - we were to wed,

And I took you to our wedding bed.


Dear Ophelia, I know that he is dead,

But what he told me last night lays on me like lead

In orchard he lay sleeping, that's why he didn't hear

His brother crept up, and Poured poison in his ear.

It´s incredible how great art can inspire art of different styles, where meanings are kept but also transform, where Shakespeare’s words are interpreted and given new meaning. This idea of unifying dissimilar styles of music around one topic reminded me about an article written by Nadezhda Prozorova I read once “The Philosophy of Music in Shakespeare’s Drama.” According to her:

It is no coincidence that Shakespeare’s time was marked by the development of polyphony in music and by the principle of wit in poetry - wit being understood as the combination of dissimilar       images. Musical polyphony was, at the same time, perceived as a semantic phenomenon: the simultaneity of voices entailed the simultaneity of meanings.

After all, our contemporary concept of polyphony in literature that comes from Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism is based in polyphony in music. That is way the author of the article states that Shakespeare’s words aimed at musical sounding and simultaneously joined different qualities, like different voices in polyphonic music.”

Acknowledging the latter, how do you think a good soundtrack of Shakespeare’s plays should be? Personally, I believe it should be eclectic, full of meaning and ambiguous; apparently reflexive but that is carefully thought.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhJGh0yyPro

References

Prozorova, Nadezhda. "The Philosophy Of Music In Shakespeare's Drama." European English Messenger 23.1 (2014): 39-43. Humanities International Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.