Composers and their stage works 

William SHAKESPEARE

(1564-1616)

Born Stratford-upon-Avon April 23, 1564: Died London, April 23, 1616

Summary of abbreviations:

F = folio. Where followed by a number that is the Folio edition.

Q = Quarto. Where followed by a number that is the Quarto edition.

bad = corruptions of original manuscript editions created from memory of the actors or from notes taken during a performance

Stage Works

  1. Henry VI: Part I. History, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced ca. 1589/91. Earliest recorded production: London, Rose Theatre (Strange's Men), Mar. 3, 1592 (if the Harry VI performed was Shakespeare's play). Shakespeare may have collaborated on the play or reworked an earlier version. Sources: Halle and Holinshed.
  2. Henry VI: Part II. History, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Mar. 12, 1594. Published 1594 (Q1, bad); 1600 (Q2, bad); 1619 (Q3, bad); Fl. Each of the quartos is titled The First Part of the Contention Betwixt the Two Famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster. Produced ca. 1590/92. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Sources: Halle and Holinshed.
  3. Henry VI: Part III. History, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Apr. 19, 1602. Published 1595 (Q1, bad); 1600 (Q2, bad); 1619 (Q3, Henry VI: Part II and Part Ill combined); Fl. Q1 and Q2 were printed under the title The True Tragedies of Richard Duke of York, and the Death of Good King Henry the Sixt. The combined bad quartos of Parts II and III were printed in 1619 under the title The Whole Contention Betweene the Two Famous Houses, Lancaster and Yorke. Produced ca. 1590/91; known to have been performed before September, 1592. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Sources: Halle and Holinshed.
  4. Richard III. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Oct. 20, 1597. Published 1597 (Q1, abridged); 1598 (Q2); 1602 (Q3); 1605 (Q4); 1612 (Q5); 1622 (Q6); Fl (based on Q6 with material from Q3). Produced ca. 1592/93. Earliest recorded production: London, Rose Theatre (Sussex's Men), Dec. 30, 1593 (if the Buckingham performed was Shakespeare's play). Sources: Halle and Holinshed.
  5. Titus Andronicus. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Feb. 6, 1594. Published 1594 (Q1); 1600 (Q2); 1611 (Q3); F1 (based on Q3 with additions). Produced 1584/93 (possibly ca. 1592). A Titus and Vespacia was performed by Strange 's Men on Apr. 11, 1592. The title page of Q1 refers to performances by Pembroke's Men, who were disbanded in the summer of 1593. Earliest recorded production: London, Rose Theatre (Sussex's Men), January, 1594. Chief sources: Seneca's Thyestes and Thoades; Ovid's Metamorphoses (1, i).
  6. The Comedy of Errors. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced ca. 1591/94. Earliest recorded production: London, Gray's Inn, Dec. 28, 1594. Source: Plautus's Menaechmi.
  7. The Taming of the Shrew. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: May 2, 1594? Published 1623 (F1). Produced ca. 1593/94. Early records create considerable confusion between Shakespeare's play and the anonymous The Taming of a Shrew (wr. ca. 1589, pub. 1594). One of the two (referred to as The Taming of a Shrew) was performed in Newington on June 13, 1594. The two plays are so similar that the anonymous one may be either a source or a corrupt text of Shakespeare's. Source: No direct source, but there is some material from George Gascoigne's Supposes.
  8. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced ca. 1594/95. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: Bartholomew Yonge's translation (wr. 1582, pub. 1598) of Jorge de Montemayor's La Diana enamorada (1559?).
  9. Love's Labour's Lost. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Jan. 22, 1607. Published 1598 (Q1); Fl. Produced ca. 1593/95. Earliest recorded production: At court, ca. Dec. 25, 1597. Source: No known source; apparently the play is original.
  10. Romeo and Juliet. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Jan. 22, 1607. Published 1597 (Q1, bad); 1599 (Q2); 1609 (Q3); n.d. (Q4); 1637 (Q5); F1 (based on Q3). Produced 1591/96 (probably ca. 1595/96). The title page of the first quarto refers to performances by Lord Hunsdon's Men. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: Arthur Brooke's poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), adapted from Pierre Boaistuau's French version (1559) of Matteo Bandello's novella Romeo a Giulietta, included in Le novelle di Bandello.
  11. Richard II. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Aug. 29, 1597. Published 1597 (Q1); 1598 (Q2); 1598 (Q3); 1608 (Q4); 1615 (Q5); Fl (based on Q3 and Q5). Produced ca. 1593/96. Earliest recorded production: London, home of Sir Edward Hoby, Canon Row, Dec. 9, 1595 (if the K. Richard performed was Shakespeare's play). Source: Holinshed.
  12. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Oct. 8, 1600. Published 1600 (Q1); 1619 (Q2); Fl (based partly on Q2). Produced ca. 1595/96. Earliest recorded production: At court, Jan. 1, 1604 (if the Play of Robin Goode-Fellow performed was Shakespeare's play). Source: No particular source.
  13. King John. History (The Life and Death of King John), 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced ca. 1596/97 (or possibly even before 1590). No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: Anonymous play The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England, Parts I and II (pub. 1591).
  14. The Merchant of Venice. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: July 22, 1598. Published 1600 (Q1); 1619 (Q2); Fl (based on Q1). Produced ca. 1596/97. Earliest recorded production: At court (King's Men), Feb. 10, 1605. Source: No known source, although there are many parallel situations in other works.
  15. Henry IV: Part 1. History, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Feb. 25, 1598. Published 1598 (Q1); 1599 (Q2); 1604 (Q3); 1608 (Q4); 1613 (Q5); 1622 (Q6); Fl (based on Q5). Produced 1597/98. Earliest recorded production: Lord Chamberlain's Men, Mar. 6, 1600. Sources: Holinshed and the anonymous play The Famous Victories of Henry V (wr. ca. 1594, pub. 1598).
  16. Henry IV: Part IL History, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Aug. 23, 1600. Published 1600 (Q1); Fl (based on Q1 with additions and deletions). Produced ca. 1597/98. Earliest recorded production: At court, 1612. Sources: Same as Henry IV: Part 1.
  17. Much Ado about Nothing. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Aug. 4, 1600. Published 1600 (Q1); F1 (based on Q1). Produced ca. 1598/ 99. Earliest recorded production: At court, 1612. Sources: François de Belleforest's French translation (1559) of Bandello's Novelle (No. 22; 1554); Sir John Harington s translation (1591) of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando fu rioso (V; 1532); and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (II, iv; 1591).
  18. Henry V. History, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Aug. 4, 1600. Published 1600 (Q1, bad); 1602 (Q2, bad); 1619 (Q3, bad); Fl. Produced ca. 1598/99. Earliest recorded production: At court (King's Men), Jan. 7, 1605. Sources: Same as Henry IV: Part I.
  19. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Jan. 18, 1602. Published 1602 (Q1, bad); 1619 (Q2, bad); Fl. Produced ca. 1598/99. Earliest recorded production: London, Whitehall (King's Men), Nov. 4, 1604. Source: No known source; apparently the play is original.
  20. Julius Caesar. Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1599/1600. Earliest recorded production: London, Globe Theatre (?), Sept. 21, 1599. Source: Plutarch.
  21. As You Like It. Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Aug. 4, 1600. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1599/1600. Earliest recorded production: Wilton House, Wiltshire (King's Men), Dec. 2, 1603 (reported performance based on a lost letter). Source: Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde, or Euphues' Golden Legacy (1590).
  22. Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1599/1600. Earliest recorded production: London, Whitehall, Jan. 5, 1601 (?); Middle Temple, Feb. 2, 1602. Source: Part of Barnabe Riche's Farewell to Military Profession (1581), which is based on Belleforest's translation (1571) of Bandello's Novelle (1I, 36; 1554), in turn based on the Siennese comedy Gl'ingannati (1531 ).
  23. Hamlet. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: July 26, 1602. Published 1603 (Q1, bad); 1604 (Q2); 1611 (Q3); n.d. (Q4); Fl (based in part on Q2). Produced 1600/01. Earliest recorded production: "Lately acted" by July, 1602; Cambridge and Oxford, 1603. Sources: Belleforest's translation (1576) of Saxo Grammaticus's Historia danica (1514); lost Ur-Hamlet (1594) or either Thomas Kyd or Shakespeare.
  24. Troilus and Cressida. History (so called in the first quarto; redesignated "tragedy" in the First Folio), 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Feb. 7, 1603. Published 1609 (Q1, first state); 1609 (Q1, second state); Fl. Produced London, Globe Theatre (?; Lord Chamberlain's Men), ca. 1598/1603 (probably 1601/02). References to production are indefinite and somewhat contradictory. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Chief sources: Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (ca. 1385); William Caxton's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474/75); George Chapman's translation of Seven Books of the Iliad
  25. All's Well That Ends Well. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1602/03. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: William Painter's translation, published in his The Palace of Pleasure (1566), of the tale "Giglietta di Nerboná" from Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron (111, ix; 1353).
  26. Othello, Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1622 (Q1); Fl. Produced 1602/ 03. Earliest recorded production: London, Whitehall (King's Men), Nov. 1, 1604. Source: Giambattista Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (111, vii; 1565).
  27. Measure for Measure. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced ca. 1603/04? Earliest recorded production: At court (King's Men), Dec. 26, 1604. Source: George Whetstone's play Promos and Cassandra (1578), based on Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (VIII, v; 1565).
  28. Timon of Athens. Tragedy (Life of Timon of Athens), 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1604/05. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: Plutarch; Lucian's Timon, the Misanthrope; anonymous play Timon (wr. ca. 1585); Painter's The Palace of Pleasure (1566).
  29. King Lear. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Nov. 26, 1607. Published 1608 (Q1, bad); 1619 (Q2, bad); Fl (based in part on Q1). Produced ca. 1605/06. Earliest recorded production: London, Whitehall, Dec. 26, 1606. Sources: Holinshed; Spenser's Faerie Queene (II,x); The Mirror for Magistrates (1559); anonymous play King Leir (wr. ca. 1594, pub. 1605).
  30. Macbeth. Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced ca. 1605/ 06 (perhaps 1601/02). Earliest recorded production: London, Globe Theatre, Apr. 20, 1611. Source: Holinshed.
  31. Antony and Cleopatra. Tragedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: May 20, 1608. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1606/07. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: Plutarch.
  32. Coriolanus. Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1607/ 10. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Chief source: Plutarch.
  33. Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Comedy ("play"), 5 acts. Stationers' Register: May 20, 1608. Published 1609 (Q1, bad); 1609 (Q2); 1611 (Q3); 1619 (Q4); 1630 (Q5); 1635 (Q6); not in Fl or F2; F3 (1664; based on Q6). Produced 1608/09. A performance was reported between Jan. 5, 1606, and Nov. 23, 1608. Earliest recorded production: Christmas, 1609. Sources: John Gower's Confessio amantis (1393); Laurence Twine's The Pattern of Painful Adventures (wr. before 1576).
  34. Cymbeline. Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1609/ 10. A performance was reported before Sept. 12, 1611. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Sources: Holinshed; Boccaccio's The Decameron (II, ix; 1353); possibly the anonymous play The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (1589).
  35. The Winter's Tale. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1610/11. Earliest recorded production: London, Globe Theatre, May 15, 1611. Source: Robert Greene's Pandosto, or The Triumph of Time (1588).
  36. The Tempest. Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1611. Earliest recorded production: London, Whitehall (King's Men), Nov. 1, 1611. Sources: No known source for the plot, although there were many sources for the material on the shipwreck and the island in contemporary travellers' accounts of the Americas.
  37. Henry VIII. History, 5 acts. Published 1623 (Fl). Produced 1612. Earliest recorded production: London, Globe Theatre, June 29, 1613 (the day the theatre was burned down). Sources: Holinshed; John Foxe's The Book of Martyrs (1563); possibly Samuel Rowley's play When You See Me, You Know Me, or The Famous Chronicle of King Henry V111(ca. 1604). Shakespeare may have collaborated on this play, possibly with John Fletcher.
  38. The Two Noble Kinsmen. (With John Fletcher). Comedy, 5 acts. Stationers' Register: Apr. 8, 1634. Published 1634 (Q1); 1679 (F2 of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher); not in Shakespeare's Fl. Produced ca. 1613/14. No recorded production during Shakespeare's lifetime. Source: Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales. Authorship: Although some scholars reject either Shakespeare or Fletcher, most agree that the two were collaborators (as stated on the title page of Q1). Shakespeare may have written Act I, scenes i and ii; Act III, scene i; and Act V, scenes i and iii.