Will Shakespeare may or may not have been born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, and he may or may not have died on the same date, in the year 1616. He may or may not be buried in the little parish church in Stratford-upon-Avon, and he may or may not have actually been responsible for the 37 plays, 150 sonnets, and various other miscellaneous works. What is definite is that the words attributed to one Will Shakespeare have been the inspiration for more musical compositions than any other writer, ever.
It has been reported that Will Shakespeare used some 4 (or more) times as many words in his books, as were then in common usage. And to think, he accomplished all this by using only feathers!
Nearly half of all married couples know of at least one piece of music inspired by the Bard. The very ceremonial music which escorts the happy couple out of the church is part of the incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream composed by Felix Mendelssohn. By the way, The Wedding March, or 'Here Comes the Bride' which accompanies the bride on her way down the aisle to meet up with her husband-to-be is from another opera, although not one inspired by Shakespeare, Lohengrin by Richard Wagner.
Actually, Wagner did once use a Shakespeare play for inspiration. Early in his composing career, before he discovered the merits of doing everything by himself, Wagner used Measure for Measure as the basis for Der Liebesverbot, or Forbidden Love.
Romeo and Juliet inspired two mid-19th century French composers, Charles Gounod and Hector Berlioz, as well as an early 20th century one, English this time - Frederick Delius -- who turned the lovers from Italian into a charming English Village Romeo and Juliet.
Sir John Falstaff, who first appears in Henry V, was given his own play, Falstaff, supposedly at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I, who wished to see the stalwart knight once more, but this time, older if not wiser, and in love. The great Italian opera composer Guiseppe Verdi used this play as the basis for his final opera, (of the same name) which many critics hail as his masterpiece. Otto Nicolai, a mid-19th century German composer also used this play for his opera The Merry Wives of Windsor. Unfortunately, only the overture is still in the repertoire. Ralph Vaughan Williams of England called his Falstaff opera Sir John in Love, in which he used the old tune of Greensleeves.
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