"Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,

That old and antique song we heard last night."

—Twelfth Night (2.4.3)

Rebecca Sheir, host of our Shakespeare Unlimited series, interviews Ross W. Duffin, professor at Case Western University, about musical hints in Shakespeare that have been flying over the heads of most audiences and readers for 400 years.

Duffin is the author of the award-winning "Shakespeare's Songbook" (2004), a title that only suggests the book's broader story. Duffin includes the songs performed within Shakespeare's plays—but also those that are not sung, but simply alluded to. Familiar to audiences of the day, these songs' words or phrases added meaning to the plays—long-lost implications and suggestions that his book seeks to restore.

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From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved.

Written and produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is associate producer. Edited by Esther Ferington and Gail Kern Paster. We had help gathering material for this podcast series from Amy Arden.