After celebrating the publication of all eleven Shakespearean overtures by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, we are delighted to share another piece of good news. Four Dances for Love’s Labour’s Lost, another Shakespeare-inspired orchestral work, is presented for the first time in a new edition from Edizioni Curci.
Composed in 1953, this work is not an overture; instead, it takes the form of a suite. In his autobiography, Una vita di musica [ A Life of Music], the composer recounts the story behind the piece:
A publisher asked me to compose a suite of short, possibly easy, orchestral pieces that could even be performed by amateur or college orchestras. (I don’t know how many of my pieces are easy, but they certainly don’t present great instrumental technical challenges. However, the final piece in the suite has some rhythmic issues that might scare off even the most accomplished orchestras.) At any rate, I thought it would be good if, through my music, college students acquired at least some precise notions of form, so I chose a suite of ancient dances. Only the first two are truly ancient; the other two are relatively more modern and “coloristic.” In any case, all four have a precise, almost rigid, structure.
For this work, Mario found inspiration in one of William Shakespeare’s early comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost. According to the composer, the play had already been conceived “almost like a ballet,” with “picturesque elements that lent themselves beautifully to a dance suite.” Indeed, Mario points out that there is a direct reference to dance in the final act of the play, in which the King of Navarre and his gentlemen disguise themselves as “Muscovites” in order to woo the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting. According to Mario, this episode gave rise to the last of the Four Dances, the Russian Dance.
The work opens with a Sarabande for the King of Navarre, followed by a capricious Gavotte for the Princess of France and a Spanish Dance (a Fandango) for another character in the play, Don Adriano de Armado.
Thanks to the dedication and scholarship of Alessandro Marangoni, the world premiere recording of Four Dances for Love’s Labour’s Lost was released in 2012 by Naxos, performed by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. The work was warmly received by critic Gary Higginson of MusicWeb International, who wrote: “…the charming Four Dances for Love’s Labour’s Lost immediately took my fancy…. It’s wonderful that this colourful score has been dug up. I, for one, especially enjoyed it.”
The full score is available from Edizioni Curci, and the orchestral parts are available on rental. More information is available here.
In response to many requests, we are pleased to make this score available to orchestras. The next performance of Four Dances for Love’s Labour’s Lost will take place in Bari, Italy, on Saturday, 24 January 2026 at Nino Rota Auditorium of the Conservatorio “Niccolò Piccinni” as part of the inaugural concert of the 2025–2026 academic year. The work will be performed by the Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Giovanni Pelliccia, who teaches orchestral conducting at the Bari conservatory.
We hope this work will soon find a regular place in concert programs!