The Songs & The Plays - Kean on Shakespeare
The Songs & The Plays
Love’s Labours Lost (1593-94)
A revised and polished version of this play was presented for Queen Elizabeth I and her court at Christmas 1598. However the elevated language and subject matter of the drama suggests it was always intended for a sophisticated and highly literate audience.
There are two parallel plots – one ‘high’ comedy and one ‘low’ comedy. In the high comedy the King of Navarre and his friends make a pact to ‘fast and study’ and to have no contact with women for three years. No sooner have they agreed than the Princess of Aquitaine and her ladies in waiting arrive to discuss ‘state matters’. Inevitably the King falls in love with the Princess and his friends with the French ladies in waiting. The Gentlemen find loophole in their vows and woo and win women with a dance. The Ladies become aware of their broken vows and treat the noblemen with scorn.
In the low comedy the page Moth and the clown Costard ridicule the exaggerated mannerisms and language of Don Armado, ‘a fantastical Spaniard’, Holofernes, a schoolmaster and Sir Nathaniel, a curate. The word play mixed with morality lessons draws two plots together at end of play, with a pageant and farce ‘Antic of the nine worthies’ performed before the nobles. This is followed by two songs, ‘Spring’ and ‘Winter’, which end the play. Spring is represented by ‘The Cuckoo’ and Winter by the festive scene ‘When icicles hang by the wall’. The songs are introduced in Act V Scene II by Don Armado
Armado But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue
That the two learned men have
compiled in praise of the Owl and the Cuckoo?
It should have followed in the end of our show. Line 875
King Call them forth quickly; we will do so
Armado Holla! Approach.
Enter All
This side is Hiems, Winter; this Ver, the Spring
- the one maintained by the Owl, th’other by
the Cuckoo. Ver, begin Line 880
The stage direction ‘enter all’ means all cast of the ‘revel’ not already on the stage. Armado is the master of ceremonies, who does not sing but divides the singers into two groups: one representing Winter, the other Spring. They each sing two stanzas in a similar style to a medieval ‘debat’. The six singers would have been divided equally to give three voices per group; probably a treble, a mean (tenor) and a baritone or bass. A possible line could be:
Spring Moth, Nathaniel and Holofernes
Winter Jacquenetta, Costard and Dull (the clowns of the play)
As these characters are of lowly station, the song would probably have been a ballad or a three-part song to a folk tune in the style of a wassail.
In dramatic terms the introduction Shakespeare has given to the songs, would imply that they are an integral part of the play. The language and play of mocking pastoral conventions and exaggerated scholasticism. In ‘Spring’ the use of onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance lends a light, melodious quality to the lyrics. The verses provide an imagery of pastoral subjects, pied daisies and larks, and the courtly quality of the high comedy plot. However the refrain gives the ‘cuckoo’ a different context, that of scorn, mockery and marital infidelity. In ‘Winter’, the use of strong consonants and the relative absence of alliteration create a more rugged effect in the lyrics. Here the imagery is in direct contrast to ‘Spring’ and is more realistic with coughing drowning the parson’s sermon. The refrain has a rustic and homely coarseness with ‘greasy Joan’ keeling ‘the pot’. It reflects the plot of low comedy but significantly does not mock anyone.
Although Shakespeare has used the music and dancing to highlight the climax points of the plots, they do not forward the action or develop characterisation. The songs provide a smooth and appropriate ending to the play, which otherwise would be very abrupt and make a final statement. Shakespeare made them integral to the play by using them to reassert the plots and unify the theme.
The Merchant of Venice (1594-95)
When the diarist Thomas Coryat published his travelogue of his trip to Venice in 1611, the fabled wealth of this elegant Renaissance city was revealed as a second-hand façade. All was not how it seemed and everything from elaborate interior décor and furniture to costumes and even basic clothing was bought or borrowed on credit. The first ‘geto’ was built in Venice to house the Jews away from their Christian patrons, yet their credit and financial skills were essential to the city and the maintenance of the image of Venetian splendour. Shakespeare would later coin the phrase ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’ in Hamlet, but when he wrote The Merchant of Venice the brilliant glamour of this exotic city was not faded and the public fascination with all things Venetian was limitless. Shakespeare cleverly tapped into this public interest and wove traditional folk-tale motifs of caskets and bonds into the fabric of his new drama, ensuring good audience attendance and popularity.
The casket motif involves the courtship between Portia and Bassanio and the bond is the agreement between Shylock, the Jew and Antonio, the Merchant of Venice. Both motifs are linked by the friendship of Antonio and Bassanio and Portia’s timely solution of the legal problem between Antonio and Shylock. The Lorenzo-Jessica and Gratiano-Nerissa liaisons are dramatically superficial love affairs intended to create entertaining episodes to lift the mood. Although the plot of Lorenzo falling in love with Shylock’s daughter Jessica recalls the ‘star-crossed lovers’ of Romeo and Juliet, written in the same year, the plot is secondary and does not have much dramatic impact compared to the Shylock-Antonio motif.
The climax of both romantic plots, Portia and Bassanio and Lorenzo and Jessica, is underscored by music and takes place at Portia’s house in Belmont. The first occurs when Bassanio must make his choice of three caskets. This choice will influence the happiness of all the main protagonists, but only Portia and Nerissa have a direct interest and Portia carefully sets the scene for him to make the right choice.
Portia’s father has died and left her very rich. His will commands that her husband must be chosen in a form of lottery, by choosing between three caskets: one of gold, one of silver and one of lead. Each casket has an inscription:
Gold - ‘ Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire’
Silver - ‘Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves’
Lead - ‘Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath’
Only one of the caskets contains her portrait, which the suitor must choose correctly to win her hand. There have been many suitors, who have chosen incorrectly and who Portia did not wish to marry, but when Bassanio, a friend of Antonio the Merchant, declares his love and wishes to court her, she finds she is attracted to him. In Act III Scene II she tries to delay Bassanio’s choice to try to get to know him better and when the time comes to choose a casket, she does what she can to guide him, by providing a song with subtle clues. Portia’s image is in the lead casket, which none of her arrogant and princely suitors would choose.
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music. That the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And wat’ry death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch; such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear
And summon him to marriage.
The song ‘Tell me where is fancy bred’ is sung while Bassanio is making his choice. So that the audience knows he will guess correctly, he remarks:
So may the outward shows be at least themselves;
The world is deceiv’d with ornament. Line 73
The song also serves to highlight the climax of the ‘task‘ motif within the scene. The idea of a hero performing a task to prove himself worthy of winning the hand of his bride has been around for centuries in folk stories, legends and myths. Portia strives to help Bassanio and is very close to breaking her oath, but as we know that she loves Bassanio, we allow her to hint: What is pleasing on the eye fades with looking and dies; death’s cradle is the lead casket; the knell is funereal and bells are often made of lead. Portia’s legal knowledge and logical mind help her to bend the rules. These skills become most useful in the court case of Shylock against Antonio.
The song would have been performed by one of Portia’s attendants, who would sing the first three lines as a question, with ‘Reply, reply’ sung by other attendants. The soloist then gives the answer and the final ‘ding-dong bell’ would be sung with the others. The original performer may have been a lutenist, and therefore naturally part of a noble lady’s household. The idea of choosing death to win a mistress’ love and the imagery of the birth and death of fancy or attraction is common to the literature of this period, yet Shakespeare also uses the music and lyrics to stress a decisive moment in the drama and to guide his character to make the correct choice.
In Act V Scene I the music is a setting for a passage of text: Lorenzo’s ‘apostrophe to music’. Here Shakespeare created a dramatic recitative to dissipate the tragic elements and emotional tension of the previous act. His ‘serenade to music’ is a nocturne and an incantation to soothe the heart and mind. It relaxes us and prepares us for the light humour of the play’s conclusion. The intense emotions of hate, greed and bitterness at the end of Act IV are dispelled and the sweeter emotions are summoned by music, poetry, moonlight and young love. With the phrase ‘How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank’ we are drawn into a pastoral and sensual scene, far from the violence and oppression of the court.
The scene takes place in Portia’s garden and Lorenzo and Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, discuss love, moonlight and the tranquility of the night as setting for romance. They are briefly interrupted by servants informing them that Portia is returning home. Lorenzo tells them to prepare for her return and requests music to complete their remaining time alone.
Lorenzo My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you,
Within the house, your mistress is at hand;
And bring your music forth into the air’. Line 51
No music is actually indicated during his speech. Significantly the musicians do not enter until after Lorenzo says ’we cannot hear it’ (line 65) followed by
Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn; Line 66
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear,
And draw her home with music. [Music
In this ‘hymn to the moon’, we are uplifted by the musical qualities of the spoken word and then the music intensifies our emotions and the atmosphere of the scene. Lorenzo begins a discourse on the power of music, which ends:
Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage, Line 81
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; Line 85
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music
Portia and Nerissa, her maid, enter already in conversation. On hearing the music Portia remarks that the beauty of the music is enhanced by the silence of the night.
How many things by season, season’d are Line 106
To their right praise and true perfection!
Peace, ho! The moon sleeps with Endymion,
And would not be awak’d. [Music ceases.
The setting of the moon is suggested and the nocturne comes ends. A trumpet signals Bassanio’s approach and the action of the play resumes.
The whole of this scene is a discourse on music – its origins, power and effects on the hearer - presented in lyrical poetry with a musical accompaniment. Shakespeare uses the scene to restore the ‘comic’ atmosphere to the play, dissipating the tragic emotions. In the original performances the music may have been performed by four to six viol instruments and would have been subdued and reflective of the mood and sentiments of the words. Shakespeare would have worked closely with the composer to get exactly the right effect.
The Merchant of Venice was his first comedy in which the life of a principal character is seriously endangered. It is really a tragicomedy: ‘danger not death, feigned difficulty, modest amusement and happy reversals are given as the ‘hallmark of the genre’ by G. Guarni in his ’Compendium of Tragicomic Poetry’ of 1599.
Much Ado about Nothing (1598-99)
In this play Shakespeare has used more music than in any of his previous comedies, with the exception perhaps of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here the music is a natural and integral part of the drama, as in The Merchant of Venice, but for the first time Shakespeare introduced an adult singer from the actors in his company. The character of Balthasar was created for a singer-actor and is given both the songs in the play. It was probably first played by the actor Robert Armin, who was known to have been connected with The Chamberlain’s Men from this time. The role of Balthasar is clearly experimental but Shakespeare also experiments with music throughout the play. There is a clear musical structure across the whole play, which explores a variety of dramatic uses of music to reflect the changing emotional appeals within the plot, to create dramatic irony and to indicate a lapse of time.
There are four musical structures within the play. The instrumental music of Acts I and II evokes the stately festivities of the dinner and masque of the first night, the light-hearted song ‘Sigh no more ladies’ is performed while the Prince, Leonato and Claudio plot against Benedick’s happy bachelorhood, the second song ‘Pardon Goddess of the night’ is a doleful hymn at Hero’s supposed tomb, offered by the repentant Prince and Claudio, who believe themselves responsible for her death and the final dance reflects the joyfulness of the play’s conclusion, bringing the play musically and dramatically full circle to a happy reversal.
This is the lightest and most sparkling of all Shakespeare’s comedies. Set in a small Italian town the brilliant wit and word play leads towards a truce in the battle of the sexes. The story revolves around women’s supposed infidelity, men’s fear of cuckolding and how society seeks to control love and marriage.
The war between Beatrice, the niece of Leonato, Governor of Messina and Benedick, a young lord of Padua is established from the very beginning of the play with a fiery exchange of words, leaving do doubt of their mutual disdain. The Florentine lord Claudio falls in love at first sight with Hero, daughter of Leonato and wishes to possess her. Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon offers his services as matchmaker with her father. The Prince’s bastard brother Don John sets out to make mischief in his brother’s plans and has no qualms about convincing the foolhardy Claudio to reject the sweet biddable Hero, for her alleged lack of honour, morals and fidelity.
Meanwhile Balthasar, an attendant of the Prince has set his cap at Margaret, a lady in waiting to Hero and his advances are reciprocated. This amorous exchange is simple and straightforward and involving only the two lovers in their decision to wed. The more exalted the character, the more complex the engagement. Don John tells Claudio that Hero is not worthy of his affections. Claudio was pretending to be Benedick but John knew this and used it to sow a seed of mistrust. When Claudio is advised that his suit is successful he then rejects Hero. The Prince offers himself to Beatrice and she turns him down gracefully, so he decides to get her and Benedick together. Borachio, as follower of John, declares his desire for Margaret and tells John that Hero should be revealed as ‘a contaminated stale’, claiming insider information from his trysts with Margaret. Don John tells his brother, the Prince about Hero’s unworthiness and that he would dishonour himself by acting as matchmaker for Claudio with her. Borachio and John set a scene to discredit Hero by John arranging for the Prince and Claudio to be witnesses outside the darkened window of Hero’s room, to her meeting her lover, Borachio. Borachio will really be meeting Margaret but will claim to be Hero’s lover and arrange her absence so that she will have no alibi.
In Act II Scene III, the plan has not yet been carried out but we are all very aware of the consequences. Shakespeare lifts the tension with Balthasar singing a song, unaware that he is also to be betrayed. Benedick is contemplating Claudio’s strange behaviour and his own dislike of the idea of marriage, when he sees the Prince and Claudio approach and hides in a bush. They enter in conversation with Hero’s father and pretend not to have seen Benedick. They arrange to be entertained by music, which is to be overheard by Benedick. They have already heard the song and wish to tease Benedick with the lyrics.
Don Pedro Come shall we hear this music? Line 33
Claudio Yea, my good lord. How still the evening is,
As hush’d on purpose to grace harmony!’
Don Pedro See you where Benedick has hidden himself?
Claudio O, very well, my lord; the music ended
We’ll fit the kid-fox with a pennyworth.
Enter Balthasar with music
Don Pedro Come, Balthasar, we’ll hear that song again.
Balthasar O, good my lord, tax not so bad a voice Line 40
To slander music any more than once.
Don Pedro It is the witness still of excellency
To put a strange face on his own perfection.
I pray thee sing, and let me woo no more.
Balthasar Because you talk of wooing I will sing,
Since many a wooer doth commence his suit
To her he thinks not worthy; yet he woos;
Yet will he swear he loves.
Don Pedro Nay, pray thee come;
Or if thou wilt hold longer argument,
Do it in notes.
The mood is lifted in a similar way to Lorenzo’s speech in The Merchant of Venice. We learn that Balthasar is a good singer, and therefore must be played by a talented singer-actor, who must also convey the mock modesty of the character. He is unaware of the pending deception but his word play underlines the plot to disgrace Hero. When the Prince, Don Pedro finally persuades him to sing it is much to Benedick disgust.
Benedick Now, divine air! Now is his soul Line 54
ravish’d. Is it not strange that sheep’s guts
should hale souls out of men’s bodies? Well, a
horn for my money, when all’s done.
Balthasar sings.
At the end of the song ‘Sigh no more, ladies’, Benedick mutters from the bushes:
Benedick An he had been a dog that should
have howl’d thus, they would have hang’d him;
and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief. I
had as lief have heard the night-raven, come
what plague could have come after it. Line 77
Don Pedro Yea, marry; dost thou hear,
Balthasar? I pray thee get us some excellent
music; for to-morrow night we would have it at
the Lady Hero’s chamber window. Line 80
As You Like It (1599)
Act II Scene V
Another part of the Forest.
Enter AMIENS, JAQUES and Others.
Song.
AMIENS Under the Greenwood Tree…
JAQUES More, more, I prithee more.
AMIENS It will make you melancholy, Monsieur Jaques Line 10
JAQUES I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can
suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks
eggs. More I prithee, more.
AMIENS My voice is ragged; I know I cannot
please you. Line 14
JAQUES I do not desire you to please me; I do
desire you to sing. Come, more; another stanzo.
Call you ‘em stanzos?
AMIENS What you will, Monsieur Jaques.
JAQUES Nay, I care not for their names; they owe
me nothing. Will you sing?
AMIENS More at your request than to please
myself. Line 20
JAQUES Well then, if ever I thank any man, I’ll
thank you; but that they call compliment is like
th’encounter of two dog-apes; and when a man
thanks me heartily, methinks I have given him a
penny, and he renders me the beggarly thanks.
Come, sing; and you that will not, hold your
tongues. Line 26
AMIENS Well, I’ll end the song. Sirs, cover the
while; the Duke will drink under this tree. He
have howl’d thus, they would have hang’d him;
and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief. I
had as lief have heard the night-raven, come
what plague could have come after it. Line 77
Don Pedro Yea, marry; dost thou hear,
Balthasar? I pray thee get us some excellent
music; for to-morrow night we would have it at
the Lady Hero’s chamber window. Line 80
Now the scene for Don John’s mischief it set and we learn that Balthasar will be a witness of the deception. We feel sympathy for the musician who will accompany his own betrayal. Although his aware that Margaret is no ‘spring chicken’, his affections and feelings are as deep as any of the other nobles. The serenade to Hero never takes place and is replaced by a dirge at her tomb. Although not clearly indicated, it is probably sung by Balthasar. Ultimately the lies and manipulations of Don John come to nought and love wins overall, even for Benedick and Beatrice.
The premise of Balthasar’s song in this scene is in direct opposition to that of the play. The lyrics advise the ladies that men are just being themselves and that women should accept it with ‘hey nonny, nonny’ meaning ‘what the heck!’ In the play however, it is the three main male characters who believe women to be ‘deceivers ever’ and must accept it. The song therefore reflects the light-hearted humour of the scene but adds to the pathos of the plot.
Shakespeare has the character Balthasar as one of the Prince’s attendants, a nobleman rather than a commoner or page. For the first time in a change from stage conventions of the time, Shakespeare uses an adult actor rather than a professional musician or singing boy to perform a complete song and gives the song to a character of more elevated status. He would do this again the following year in As You Like It, with the role of Amiens, which was likely to have been performed by the same actor, Robert Armin. Even though Balthasar is given very few lines and action in the play, the song is more than a mere vehicle for a talented singer. The actor must communicate both the character and the lyrics. Balthasar was hoping that the Prince would request an encore of his song and probably assumes an affected pose to perform it, as we learn from Benedick’s mutterings.
The idea of performing music in the garden before the Prince seems quite natural. The may have accompanied himself on the lute or been given an accompaniment by ‘household musicians’. The stage direction ‘Enter Balthasar with music’ is unclear. Does the ‘music’ refer to musicians or written music? It could mean both. The song may have been set to an existing tune or popular song, as the simple rhythms of the lyrics would have fit many existing tunes of the time.
Shakespeare had an instant and lasting success with this romantic drama, studded with courtly lyrics and sparkling with songs, which reflect the spirit of English folk music, redolent of the forest and the countryside. A mysterious forest, an exiled Duke, cross-dressing lovers, gentle rustics, ruthless baddies and happy reversals are the recipe for a perfect story and guaranteed popularity with an audience.
There are a total of five songs spaced at intervals throughout this play. Each one is deliberately placed in individual short scenes, giving them some prominence and providing variety in the pacing of the plot, which is often quite leisurely. The songs may have been added after the play was written, as there omission would not be detrimental to the plot; however all the songs serve to enhance the dramatic situation of the moment in which they occur and, as in Much Ado About Nothing, the music gives an overall unified structure to the play. The lyrics also create a bond to the central theme - the healing power of nature - yet each song also has several simultaneous dramatic functions.
Four of the songs are presented in a rustic folk song style and are directed to be performed in a similar manner to the performances of contemporary ‘rustics’. The first two assert the ethos of the play, that ‘the influence of nature on man is benign’. This was an emergent tenet in the political and social theories of the time, which would develop with the approach of the Civil War and the writings of Hobbes and Locke. The other two songs are descriptive of the joys and simplicity of rural life. The masque song at the end of the play is a more formal setting and serves as a ‘hymn to Hymen’. As the exiled Duke and his party are restored to power and the life of the Court, the music accordingly changes from rustic to courtly to underline the reversal of fortune.
The dramatic theme of the play – the beneficial effect of nature on man - is revealed in Act II, when the action moves to the Forest of Arden. It is underlined by the first two songs, where Lord Amiens entertains the exiled Duke and his fellow courtiers by extolling the virtues of living at one with nature. The suitably rustic song ‘Under the greenwood tree’ states the play’s theme and enhances the sylvan setting in the Forest of Arden. It also fills an interval of time while some necessary stage setting is done, while revealing the contrasting characters of Amiens and Jaques, Lords attending on the banished Duke. The song and its context occupy a complete scene, beginning with one stanza of the song.
Act II Scene V
Another part of the Forest.
Enter AMIENS, JAQUES and Others.
Song.
AMIENS Under the Greenwood Tree…
JAQUES More, more, I prithee more.
AMIENS It will make you melancholy, Monsieur Jaques Line 10
JAQUES I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can
suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks
eggs. More I prithee, more.
AMIENS My voice is ragged; I know I cannot
please you. Line 14
JAQUES I do not desire you to please me; I do
desire you to sing. Come, more; another stanzo.
Call you ‘em stanzos?
AMIENS What you will, Monsieur Jaques.
JAQUES Nay, I care not for their names; they owe
me nothing. Will you sing?
AMIENS More at your request than to please
myself. Line 20
JAQUES Well then, if ever I thank any man, I’ll
thank you; but that they call compliment is like
th’encounter of two dog-apes; and when a man
thanks me heartily, methinks I have given him a
penny, and he renders me the beggarly thanks.
Come, sing; and you that will not, hold your
tongues. Line 26
AMIENS Well, I’ll end the song. Sirs, cover the
while; the Duke will drink under this tree. He
hath been all this day to look you.
JAQUES And I have been all this day to avoid him.
He is too disputable for my company. I think of
as many matters as he; but I give heaven thanks,
and make no boast of them. Come, warble,
come. Line 33
Song
All together here.
Who doth ambition shun….
JAQUES I’ll give you a verse to this note that I
made yesterday in despite of my invention.
AMIENS And I’ll sing it.
JAQUES Thus it goes: Line 45
If it do come to pass
that any man turn ass,
leaving his wealth and ease
a stubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame; Line 50
Here shall he see
Gross fools as he,
An if he will come to me.
AMIENS What’s that ‘ducdame’? Line 54
JAQUES ‘Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into
a circle. I’ll go sleep, if I can; if I cannot, I’ll rail
against all the first-born of Egypt.
AMIENS And I’ll go seek the Duke; his banquet is
Prepar’d. [Exeunt severally.
DUKE SENIOR Welcome. Set down your
venerable burden.
And let him feed.
ORLANDO I thank you most for him.
ADAM So had you need;
I scarce can speak to thank you for myself. Line 170
DUKE SENIOR Welcome; fall to. I will not trouble you
As yet to question you about your fortunes.
Give us some music; and, good cousin, sing.
Song.
Blow, blow thou winter wind……
DUKE SENIOR If that you were the good Sir Rowland’s son,
As you have whisper’d faithfully you were,
And as mine eye doth his effigies witness
Most truly limn’d and living in your face,
By truly welcome hither. I am the Duke Line 195
That lov’d your father. The residue of your fortune,
Go to my cave and tell me. Good old man,
Thou art right welcome as they master is.
Support him by the arm. Give me your hand,
And let me all your fortunes understand. Line 200
[Exeunt
DUKE SENIOR Here feel we not the penalty of Adam, Line 5
The seasons’ difference; as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
‘This is no flattery; these are counsellors Line 10
That feelingly persuade me what I am.’
Scene III. The forest
Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY
TOUCHSTONE To-morrow is the joyful day,
Audrey; to-morrow will we be married.
AUDREY I do desire it with all my heart; and I
hope it is no dishonest desire to desire to be a
woman of the world. Here come two of the
banish’d Duke’s pages. Line 5
Enter two pages.
1 PAGE Well met, honest gentlemen.
TOUCHSTONE By my troth, well met. Come sit,
sit, and a song.
2 PAGE We are for you; sit i’th’middle.
1 PAGE Shall we clap into’t roundly, without
hawking, or spitting. Or saying we are hoarse,
which are the only prologues to a bad voice? Line 11
2 PAGE I’faith, i’faith; and both in a tune, like two
gypsies on a horse.
Song.
It was a lover and his lass…
TOUCHSTONE Truly, young gentlemen, though
there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the
note was very untuneable.
1 PAGE You are deceiv’d, sir; we kept time, we
lost not our time. Line 35
TOUCHSTONE By my troth, yes; I count it but
time lost to hear such a foolish song. God buy
you; and God mend your voices. Come, Audrey.
[Exeunt
Hamlet (1600-1)
JAQUES And I have been all this day to avoid him.
He is too disputable for my company. I think of
as many matters as he; but I give heaven thanks,
and make no boast of them. Come, warble,
come. Line 33
Song
All together here.
Who doth ambition shun….
JAQUES I’ll give you a verse to this note that I
made yesterday in despite of my invention.
AMIENS And I’ll sing it.
JAQUES Thus it goes: Line 45
If it do come to pass
that any man turn ass,
leaving his wealth and ease
a stubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame; Line 50
Here shall he see
Gross fools as he,
An if he will come to me.
AMIENS What’s that ‘ducdame’? Line 54
JAQUES ‘Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into
a circle. I’ll go sleep, if I can; if I cannot, I’ll rail
against all the first-born of Egypt.
AMIENS And I’ll go seek the Duke; his banquet is
Prepar’d. [Exeunt severally.
The majority of the noblemen-foresters shared the sentiments of Amien’s song, which invites the listener to participate in the carefree joys of woodland life, where man’s only enemies are winter and rough weather. Jaques disagrees with this pastoral ideal and his addition verse shows his cynicism about the ‘goodness of mother nature’ theme of the play. His character adds a much needed contrast to the jollity and gentility of the forest scenes. Shakespeare uses him to express many gems of wisdom from behind the inoffensive mask of a melancholy fool. This dramatic devise would be fully developed in Hamlet.
This song immediately sets the scene in a forest and the ‘greenwood tree’ may have been represented on stage. A tree of some sort is required as Amiens tell us: ‘…the Duke will drink under this tree…’ The song’s evocative imagery and lyrical style would also enhance the spectator’s imagination of a woodland setting, should there be no set on the stage at all. The structure of two or three verses and a refrain would lend it to a ‘drinking song’, which would be appropriate for a group of mock foresters to sing or enjoy.
As no instrumention is mentioned, this simple folk-like song may have been performed unaccompanied, but it would have been equally fitting to provide Amiens with a cittern for accompaniment. The stage directions indicate that the second stanza is sung ‘all together’ but we are still led to expect another solo by Amiens. The third stanza, a cynical parody by Jaques may not have been sung. It is not marked as sung but Amiens says ‘I’ll sing it’. It may have been read by Jaques or even written by Jaques and handed to Amiens to sing or recite, however the mocking quality is best portrayed if it is read by Jaques.
As a dramatic devise the song also fills a gap in the action of the play caused by the preparation and setting of a banquet, which Amiens tells us is ready by the end of the scene. Here there occurs a slight discrepancy in the drama. The banquet occurs in Scene VII and yet Scene VI following the song, is about Orlando, the hero and his elderly servant Adam, who are lost in the forest and starving. This would suggest that Scene VI was added after the play was written and may have been inserted in the wrong place. Ideally the banquet scene would follow the song, and the ‘lost in the forest’ scene would precede it.
Scene V and the song do not advance the action but provide a brief description of the contrasted characters of Amiens and Jaques. Amiens has many similarities to the character of Balthasar in Much Ado About Nothing: the protestations and false modesty regarding his singing skills and that fact he is a nobleman. This role may have been written for the same singer-actor, Robert Armin. The character of Jaques however is more complex. His remarks about Amiens’ song reveal a melancholy disposition, and he likes music to increase his melancholy rather than to relieve it and purposefully avoids all the merry making in the play. He may well he derive pleasure from his misery and feels the world has grown stale for him. His cultured and world weary personality creates a direct contrast to the idyllic simplicity of the forest. However, at the play’s conclusion Jaques refuses to return to the great world and withdraws into a monastery.
The next song ‘Blow, blow thou winter wind’ appears in Act II Scene VII and follows Jaques memorable discourse on ‘all the world’s a stage’ and the ‘seven ages’ of a man’s life. The hero of the play, Orlando enters with his ailing and elderly servant Adam, and the Duke invites them to share the banquet. As the hungry men eat, a song is sung to lift the sombre mood created by the entrance of the starving characters.
venerable burden.
And let him feed.
ORLANDO I thank you most for him.
ADAM So had you need;
I scarce can speak to thank you for myself. Line 170
DUKE SENIOR Welcome; fall to. I will not trouble you
As yet to question you about your fortunes.
Give us some music; and, good cousin, sing.
Song.
Blow, blow thou winter wind……
DUKE SENIOR If that you were the good Sir Rowland’s son,
As you have whisper’d faithfully you were,
And as mine eye doth his effigies witness
Most truly limn’d and living in your face,
By truly welcome hither. I am the Duke Line 195
That lov’d your father. The residue of your fortune,
Go to my cave and tell me. Good old man,
Thou art right welcome as they master is.
Support him by the arm. Give me your hand,
And let me all your fortunes understand. Line 200
[Exeunt
The song reaffirms the play’s principal theme and its comments on man’s ingratitude and feigned friendship, emphasise the suffering of Orlando and Adam. It also echoes the first speech of the exiled Duke in Act II Scene I, lines 5–11, which introduced the Forest of Arden.
DUKE SENIOR Here feel we not the penalty of Adam, Line 5
The seasons’ difference; as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
‘This is no flattery; these are counsellors Line 10
That feelingly persuade me what I am.’
This song is also use for dramatic economy, as it replaces what would be a repetitious account by Orlando of the circumstances leading to his appearance in the forest. When the Duke calls for the song, he has not questioned the two guests, but when the song ends, he knows some of the story. The song may have also covered the removal of the banquet from the stage. The Duke takes Orlando and Adam to his cave and the next scene is at Duke Frederick’s palace. If there was no interruption between the scenes, the banquet must have been cleared away during the song.
The lyrics suggest it was written especially for the play, as this style of mixing cynicism with jollity is associated more with English song from the time of Charles I. The irregularity in number of lines and the rhyme scheme show the song to be an artistic imitation rather than a true traditional song form. The complicated meter of the lyric creates certain difficulties in setting them to music. Although he is not mentioned by name, Amiens is the most likely singer as the Duke commands ‘good cousin, sing’. This suggests it would have been sung by a nobleman and Amiens has already been identified as the group’s singer. The Duke’s request ‘give us some music’ also indicates that there was an instrumental accompaniment.
The fourth song in As You Like It is the well known ‘It was a lover and his lass’. Although it is presented in the traditional style of rustic song, it would have had an elaborate musical setting, because two pages, probably skilled singing boys are introduced into the play for the main purpose of singing it. This would also serve to move the style of the drama away from the pastoral and rustic, and towards the more ornate and courtly masque performance, which concludes the play. Thus taking our imagination away from the fairytale existence led by the Duke and his entourage in the Forest of Arden and into a setting more comparable to the real life of gentlefolk in Elizabeth’s England.
The song is framed within a brief scene. In Act V Scene III, Touchstone, the court jester is to wed Audrey, a country wench. Their romance is rustic and earthy compared to the noble lovers who will celebrate their wedding with a courtly masque. This provides a suitable dramatic contrast with good humour and witty wordplay between the confusions of Orlando and Rosalind in the surround scenes.
Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY
TOUCHSTONE To-morrow is the joyful day,
Audrey; to-morrow will we be married.
AUDREY I do desire it with all my heart; and I
hope it is no dishonest desire to desire to be a
woman of the world. Here come two of the
banish’d Duke’s pages. Line 5
Enter two pages.
1 PAGE Well met, honest gentlemen.
TOUCHSTONE By my troth, well met. Come sit,
sit, and a song.
2 PAGE We are for you; sit i’th’middle.
1 PAGE Shall we clap into’t roundly, without
hawking, or spitting. Or saying we are hoarse,
which are the only prologues to a bad voice? Line 11
2 PAGE I’faith, i’faith; and both in a tune, like two
gypsies on a horse.
Song.
It was a lover and his lass…
TOUCHSTONE Truly, young gentlemen, though
there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the
note was very untuneable.
1 PAGE You are deceiv’d, sir; we kept time, we
lost not our time. Line 35
TOUCHSTONE By my troth, yes; I count it but
time lost to hear such a foolish song. God buy
you; and God mend your voices. Come, Audrey.
[Exeunt
In this interlude prior to the Courtly wedding, the song is used to show off the pages’ voices, possibly before singing at the masque. The words reflect the rustic and earthy nature of Touchstone and Audrey’s union, but the music is obviously an elaborate two-part song, which is lost on Touchstone, as he finds he can’t sing along to it and the music was too extravagant for the lyrics. There is plenty of wordplay with the meaning of ‘time’ and the words ‘hoarse’ and ‘horse’ prior to the song. Here the pages seem to be mocking a well-known folk singer or style of singing, and the pretentiousness of some singers, which they themselves avoid imitating.
The original setting may well have been composed by Thomas Morley, who was Shakespeare’s neighbour during this period. His setting of the song and As You Like It were published around the same time. However this has not been proved and the original song may have been a traditional one developed by the composer with the dramatist. Morley’s setting is very fitting and chronologically, is the closest setting of any music ever written for a Shakespeare lyric.
Hamlet (1600-1)
In the ‘World’s most entertaining tragedy’, most of the music helps us to understand more about the complex characters in the drama. The instrumental music occurs in scenes where King Claudius has a prominent role, providing a sense of ceremony and suggesting his power. The vocal music is only performed in intimate circumstances and the songs are given to clowns, fools or people feigning madness: Hamlet, Ophelia and the first Gravedigger. They reflect the inward emotions of the character as a natural expression of human thought and emotion, yet also the inner world of spirit and the supernatural, which surrounds Hamlet.
The forsaken and rejected Ophelia is torn between her love for Hamlet and her duty to her father Polonius. In her wish to help cure Hamlet’s madness, she is pulled into the politics and intrigue of the Court. When Hamlet murders her father and disappears from Elsinore, she is unable to cope with the grief and withdraws into madness. Creating an inner world of childhood, old simple ballads sung by the spinners in the sun, and of wild flowers and brooks, she sings and decks herself in virginal garlands. Ultimately she commits suicide by drowning herself in a stream.
Ophelia sings ‘How should I your true love know’ in Act IV Scene V, which is where she first appears in her state of madness. At first it is quite comical as we expect a continuation of Hamlet’s previous ‘antics’, when he was feigning madness. Yet we soon realise that Ophelia is not a sophisticated ‘court jester’ like Hamlet, but a ‘natural fool’, a half-wit incapable of acting, hypocrisy or dissembling. Our amusement is suffused with pity, as she reveals her madness with the foolish gestures, doubtful phrases and snatches of ballads of a stage fool. However, like Hamlet’s foolery, Ophelia’s innocent, witless speech, songs and actions reveal truths about the nature of the Danish Court. Hamlet’s clowning exposes the corruption in Elsinore, whereas Ophelia’s reveals the inner thoughts and machinations of the people that surround her. At the opening of the scene, an anonymous gentleman tells the Queen of Ophelia’s madness and prepares us for her entrance. We are ready then to listen and look for clues in her behaviour and speech, and to watch the other characters reactions. We are told that ‘her moods must needs be pitied’ but Ophelia’s words smack of treason and her behaviour poses a real threat to the King and Queen. They become anxious of her potential political disruption. Claudius orders Horatio to ‘follow her close; give her good watch’, we then know that for order to return Ophelia’s death is the only resolution.
Scene V
Elsinore. The Castle.
Enter QUEEN, HORATIO. And a Gentleman.
QUEEN I will not speak with her.
GENTLEMAN She is importunate, indeed distract.
Her moods will needs be pitied.
QUEEN What would she have?
GENTLEMAN She speaks much of her father; says she hears
There’s tricks i’th’world, and hems, and beats her heart;
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
HORATIO ‘Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill breeding minds. Line 15
Ophelia’s song is interspersed with the King and Queen trying to reason with her and trying to hide their shame and guilt. The song is obviously about her love for Hamlet, the murder of her father and the sudden disappearance of Hamlet from Elsinore. The King and Queen are faced with the truth and their guilt, and pretend to ignore any significance in the songs. They are tortured by Ophelia’s words, which serve as a mirror to their crimes and motifs.
The first line of ‘How should I your true love know?’ is apparently addressed to the Queen, reminding her of her dead husband, King Hamlet, as well as her son. The song flows into a St Valentine’s Day Ballad, which is addressed more to King Claudius. It reflects the forsaken love of Hamlet and Ophelia but also Claudius’ guilt and deceit in having married incestuously. Ophelia sings several more song fragments, which serve to underline the plots and motives of other characters in the drama.
Shakespeare buries her in Yorick the Jester’s grave, which is most poignant. The gravedigger, whom Shakespeare calls ‘a clown’, also sings as Yorick’s bones are unceremoniously thrown out to make room for Ophelia. Hamlet makes macabre jokes at the graveside not knowing that Ophelia is the corpse to be buried. His talk is directed at Yorick but the words have equal bearing on his treatment of Ophelia.
The music for Ophelia’s ‘ballad medley’ may have been the same tune as that of a ballad called ‘Walsingham’. This ballad tells the story of a lover who meets a pilgrim returning from the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. He asks about his sweetheart who was on the pilgrimage and is told she is dead, far away. Walsingham was a well-known ballad in Shakespeare’s day and two arrangements of the tune are known, one by John Bull and one by William Byrd.
Twelfth Night (1601-2)
The whole of this ‘other-worldly’ drama is permeated by music from beginning to end. The instrumental music, songs and snatches of songs seem randomly scattered at first but the insertion of the musical moments has been made with consummate skill. The music appears so naturally in the course of the plot and is so dramatically appropriate, that as with good costumes, scenery and lighting, its success lies in not drawing attention to itself at the expense of the play. The music can be divided into two distinct groups:
1. sweet and plaintive – associated with Duke Orsino and
2. lusty songs and ballads assigned to Sir Toby and his cronies.
The music of Sir Toby and his friends is used for added comic sparkle and amusement, whereas the Duke’s music illustrates his character and helps us to understand his sudden change of mistresses at the end of the play. His famous speech ‘If music be the food of love, play on’ opens the play and provides an atmospheric prelude to introduce the dramatic style of the story. It also defines Duke Orsino’s personality: ‘an exotic in search of sensation’, who is in love with love, which is the real motivation for his change of mistress and affections at the end of the play.
Feste’s song ‘Come away death’ in Act II Scene IV serves to underline the moodiness and passivity of the Duke’s character. The nature and structure of the song suggests a slow and plaintive ayre, yet the subject matter has a tradition flavour and the Duke describes it as a folk song. Shakespeare’s use of folk songs for his fools or ‘melancholy clowns’ like Feste, was a well established dramatic devise for revealing truths within nonsense. His ending the play with Feste singing the folk style epilogue: ‘When that I was and a little tiny boy’ is a unique touch of Shakespearian genius. Just when all is restored to relative order, Feste gives us some extra wisdom to take home and ponder and Shakespeare has guaranteed further audiences for his play with a catchy tune to popularise it.
In the introduction to the song ‘Come away death’, there is something of a mystery. As the Duke enters he calls for his musicians, and then requests Viola, disguised as Cesario, to sing a song. This is expected, as in Act I Scene II, line 55-9, she tells her friend Antonio that she will go to the Duke disguised as a eunuch, to request work as a singer-musician. In this scene however, Viola does not sing and for some reason Feste is substituted with a hasty explanation. This appears in Curio’s speech from line 8 until Curio and the Clown leave at line 80. Shakespeare may have had to make a revision because if this introduction of Feste is removed, the play is not interrupted or disturbed by it. Should Viola sing the song, it would then occur immediately after the Duke’s first speech instead of halfway through the scene. Perhaps at some point in the rehearsals, the boy actor playing Viola became unavailable. His song could then have been reassigned to Feste and Shakespeare inserted the dramatic devise of going to find him to smooth the substitution without a significant rewrite. The ensuing exchange of dialogue with the Duke and Viola is used to emphasise the folk nature of the song, perhaps simplified for the actor playing Feste, and to suggest the time taken to find him within the palace.
SCENE IV The Dukes Palace.
Enter DUKE, VIOLA, CURIO, and Others.
DUKE Give me some music. Now, good morrow, friends.
Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,
That old and antique song we heard last night;
Me thought it did relieve my passion much,
More than light airs and recollected terms Line 5
Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times.
Come, but one verse.
CURIO He is not here, so please your lordship,
that should sing it.
DUKE Who was it? Line 10
CURIO Feste, the jester, my lord; a fool that the
Lady Olivia’s father took much delight in. He is
about the house.
DUKE Seek him out, and play the tune the while.
[Exit Curio. Music plays.
Come hither, boy…..
… how dost thou like this tune?
VIOLA It gives a very echo to the seat Line 20
Where Love is thron’d
After line 40
Re-enter CURIO and Clown.
DUKE O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.
Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain;
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones,
Do use to chant it; it is silly sooth, Line 45
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.
CLOWN Are you ready, sir?
DUKE Ay; prithee, sing. [music
Feste’s Song.
In the original production Feste would probably have been played by Robert Armin, who is also believed to have played Balthasar in Much Ado About Nothing and Amiens in As You Like It. All the complete solo songs in Twelfth Night require a singer with at least a pleasant voice, which Armin evidently had. He was not a trained singer, but picked up his musical skills informally during his early years as a player. By the time of this play’s first production Armin would have been about 32 years old and whereas the singing in Much Ado about Nothing has profuse apology for the poor quality of an untrained voice, and in As You Like It there is some apology, in Twelfth Night the apology is dispensed with entirely and the character is given a prominent role. Armin may have been given small roles until Will Kempe left the company. He is only listed as a shareholder from 1603.
Measure for Measure (1604)
‘Take, o take those lips away’ is the only song or performed music in this play. It is clearly intended as an ‘ayre’, to be sung by a boy. The accompanying instrument would probably have been a lute and the singer highly skilled. The song appears in Act IV Scene I and has a clear dramatic intent, intrinsic to the plot and the introduction of the character Mariana, who is presented to the audience for the first time at this point. It reveals her character and disposition before she speaks, making the audience feel sympathetic towards her. Mariana is the rejected lover of Angelo, who has become corrupted by power. She is grieving for the loss of his love and declares that the music is pleasing to her ‘woe’, thus increasing her melancholy to ease her sorrow. This ‘psychological’ effect of music on the ‘humors’ is a Renaissance idea, endorsed by Elizabethan dramatists.
Mariana My mirth it much displeas’d, but pleas’d my woe. Line 13
Duke ’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good and good provoke to harm.
In these lines the Duke has revealed the premise for the whole play. His attempts to rid the city of Vienna of ‘bad influences’ and to discover the truth behind the public façade of his deputy Angelo, have lead to greater corruption and evil, and the rejection of Mariana. This scene is a pivotal point where the triumph of good over evil begins to be restored. Mariana’s goodness and capacity to forgive are continually tested. At the resolution of the play Angelo is denounced and sentenced to be executed. Mariana pleads for his life to be spared, and so the audience sees him redeemed by the love of a good woman.
Othello (1604)
The music in Othello falls into two categories: instrumental for the world of action and appearance, vocal for the inner world of the characters. The instrumental music often gives the impression that harmony will be restored in the lives to the characters, but the treacherous and power hungry Iago is determined to destroy any sense of harmony in the relationship between Othello and Desdemona. In Act II Scene I, his revulsion at their kiss reveals his intentions, as he says in an aside:
O, you are well tun’d now!
But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music,
As honest as I am.
We already know that Iago is not honest at all, but on two occasions we later discover that Othello dislikes music. Here Shakespeare is giving us a warning of Othello’s dark side. The dislike of music in the musical lore of the literature of the time is discussed in Act V Scene I, lines 83-8 of The Merchant of Venice, where the character Lorenzo says:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus
Let no such man be trusted…’
Although Othello is not a monster, he cannot find harmony or order of his mind, and is therefore capable of dark and bloody deeds. This capacity has enhanced his military prowess and perhaps Othello’s music is the cacophony and discord of battle. We are told of his dislike of music during the consummation of his marriage, suggesting the potential lack of harmony in the marriage. At this point the lovers are also interrupted and Othello is told he is to be sent to Cyprus.
By Act IV Scene II, Iago’s poison is taking full effect. Othello has publicly abused Desdemona both verbally and physically, fuelled by Iago’s crafty and skilled manipulation of his jealous and violent ‘nature’. Othello believes his wife is an adulteress with her cousin Cassio. His faith and cultural differences are exploited by Iago, so that Desdemona’s plea of innocence ‘as I am a Christian’ (Line 83), means nothing to him.
At the beginning of the scene Othello interrogates Desdemona’s maid Emilia about his wife’s alleged adultery. Emilia denies any wrongdoing, so Othello bids her to bring his wife to him. Desdemona comes and when Othello accuses her of infidelity, she pleads her innocence. He leaves and remains unpersuaded. Desdemona sends for Iago to discover who has told lies to her husband. Iago cleverly consoles her and keeps his own counsel. Desdemona believes she can win Othello’s love again and prove her innocence by inviting him to her chamber to view the wedding sheets. Iago listens to her distress, knowing that he is the cause of her pain and sorrow. He reassures her, telling her that it is Othello’s position of power that makes him bad tempered. He knows that Othello will murder Desdemona.
Emilia’s more natural reaction to the slander is outrage and she is vehement in her cursing of the liar. In line 146-8 she says:
O, fie upon them! Some such squire he was
That turn’d your wit the seamy side without
And made you to suspect me with the Moor.
Iago barely conceals his disgust at the idea of his wife having any kind of intimacy with Othello. He does not understand why any woman would degrade herself by marrying or sleeping with a black man. In his view Desdemona is mad or morally inferior, and is therefore an expendable victim. He snaps at Emilia: ‘You are a fool; go to.’ Desdemona’s is too absorbed in her sorrow and pain to notice Iago’s hatred, and she begs him to help her.
DESDEMONA Oh God! Iago,
What shall I do to win my lord again? Line 150
Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven,
I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel.
If e’er my will did trespass ‘gainst his love,
Either in discourse of thought or actual deed,
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense, Line 155
Delighted them in any other form,
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,
And ever will – though he do shake me off
To beggarly divorcement- love him dearly,
Comfort forswear me! Unkindness may do much; Line 160
And his unkindness may defeat my life
But never taint my love…
Iago has already engineered a new situation for Desdemona to be called and caught as an adulteress; this time with Roderigo, a gentleman who has paid Iago to get Desdemona to ‘lie’ with him. They plot to murder Cassio and so force Othello and Desdemona to stay longer in Venice, so that their scheme can to come to fruition. In the next scene, Othello sends Desdemona to her chamber, telling her to dismiss her servants. Desdemona anticipates an argument but also a loving reunion, and asks again for her wedding sheets. The scene for the tragedy is set.
Iago portrays Othello as a barbaric, uncivilised savage, and a typical stage Negro of Shakespeare’s time. However this image is shattered as soon as the audience encounters the Moor. His calm dignity, courage and urbane courtesy make the Venetians look trivial and vulgar. Iago’s manipulations would turn the strongest heart to jealousy but Iago is convinced that Othello is racially inferior and that this ‘weakness’ gives the Moor a jealous disposition, to be exploited. Iago does not realise the irony that he himself, is equally tormented by jealousy and could not bear to think of his wife being adulterous. He does not believe that any normal woman would go with a Moor, and that Othello’s rise in Venetian society is an abomination. Iago’s plan to humiliate and discredit Othello, ultimately backfires.
Desdemona is a mere girl married to an older man, a battle veteran of mysterious background. She gradually loses the poise and self-possession she showed in defending her love and becomes increasingly child-like and naïve. The musical climax of the play is her ‘Willow Song’; a few verses from an old ballad called ‘a lover’s complaint’, which underlines her vulnerability. The dramatic situation is most poignant, as she is very aware of Othello’s anger and hopes that alone they will resolve the problems. She also fears he may kill her, but has resigned herself to fate. This creates a most powerful dramatic tension, as we wish her to escape but we know that she is unable to avoid her fate.
It is unusual for a character of Desdemona’s status to sing, but like Ophelia in Hamlet, her mental and emotional state is altered and she is withdrawing into a world of childhood, remembering the songs of her mother’s maid.
DESDEMONA My mother had a maid call’d Barbary:
She was in love; and she he she lov’d prov’d mad,
And did forsake her. She had a song of ‘willow’;
An old thing ‘twas, but it express’d her fortune,
And she died singing it. That song to-night
Will not go from my mind; I have much to do
But to hang my head all at one side
And sing it like poor Barbary…
Shakespeare’s audience would have been familiar with the whole ballad and the plight of the lovers. This would heighten the dramatic and emotional tension as Desdemona’s misery and situation is almost unbearable. Although she sings the song to comfort her despair she is also as disconnected as Ophelia singing her ballad snatches. She knows that Othello dislikes music, so perhaps her decision to sing also tells us that she intends to stand up to him and attempt to reason, which she does.
The song is given a reprise by the dying Emilia in Act V Scene II, line 250. Iago has killed her and as she dies, she remembers Desdemona’s song. She also tells Othello of Desdemona’s fidelity and purity. Emilia dying in music creates a ‘transfiguration’ in the play, and restores the ‘divine harmony’ for the conclusion of the plot. This use of a reprise is unique in Shakespeare’s plays and serves to heighten the tragedy. The ‘Willow Song’ also reveals the psychology of Desdemona’s character and emotions. There are three main emotions:
1. her devotion and love for Othello
2. her inability to understand his belief in the slander that she is not chaste;
3. her foreboding of imminent death;
4. her expectation of Othello’s return, which provokes mixed feelings of fear and love.
This brilliant device creates almost agonising suspense, while also symbolizing Desdemona’s purity. She does not have a willow garland but wishes to be shrouded in a white sheet, her wedding sheet, evidence of her purity and chastity. The sheet would also reveal her ‘blood of innocence’, which Othello spills again in taking her life. This ‘white-pure symbol’ is linked to Emilia’s reprise and mention of the ‘swan’, which also a symbol of purity. Desdemona’s white purity and Othello’s black violence is underlined, yet by Iago murdering his wife, he proves that black hearts are not the same as black skins. Any man is capable of violence and Iago’s crime is truly the greater.
By using a popular ballad at the most dramatic moments in the play, Shakespeare ensured that the audience was moved by the tragedy, but also that they would leave the theatre ‘humming a tune’ and remembering the plot. This idea was not lost on the great Italian opera composer Verdi, who held Shakespeare in the highest esteem, nor on the English operetta collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Cymbeline (1609-10)
The first known performance of this play was in 1611, when Shakespeare was a well-established dramatist and favoured by the court. The Jacobean court audiences particularly enjoyed ‘masques’ with a strong focus on the musical performance and less interest in the dramatic content. Shakespeare would have been very aware of this new trend and this play seems to return to old-fashioned dramatic styles and effects to create ‘masque’ quality. Although it occasionally introduces ‘pantomime’ elements to the drama, Shakespeare has skillfully retained the dramatic integrity of the music.
In Act II Scene II Imogen, King Cymbeline’s daughter prepares to retire for the night, dismisses her servants and goes to sleep. Then Iachimo, ‘a French gentleman’ and therefore a bad lot, comes out from his hiding place, gathers evidence to destroy Imogen’s honour and departs. The next scene, Act II Scene III, opens with an ‘aubade’ ‘Hark! Hark the lark!’ offered to Imogen by her venal and corrupt stepbrother Cloten. This morning song or ‘hunt’s up’ resembles the song ‘Who is Sylvia?’ in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which characterised Thurio as an ineffectual lover. Cloten is less directly characterised by the ‘aubade’ in Cymbeline. His evil nature is in dramatic contrast to the beautiful lyrics, and is revealed more in his remarks about the music, his purpose in providing it and his obscene word play, which introduces the music.
Enter Musicians.
CLOTEN: Come on, tune. If you can penetrate her with
your fingering, so. We’ll try it with tongue too. If
none will do, let her remain; but I’ll never give
o’er. First, a very excellent good-conceited
thing; after a wonderful sweet air, with
admirable rich words to it – and then let her
consider. Line 18
After the song the contrast in the brutishness of Cloten with the purity of Imogen is emphasized:
So, get you gone. If this penetrate, I will
consider your music the better, if it do not, it is
a vice in her ears which horse hairs and calves’
guts, nor the voice of unpaved eunuch to boot,
can never amend. Line 31
The song also allows the actor playing Imogen to make a costume change and the stagehands to change the set behind the curtains. The music of Cloten’s aubade would allow time for the changes and disguise the noise of the set change.
Cloten’s remarks also give a clue to the original performance style of the song. There would probably have been a singer to perform the ‘ayre’ accompanied by three or four violists. Cloten’s ‘horse hairs’ and ‘calves’ guts’ refer to the bow and strings and ‘the voice of an unpaved eunuch’ means that the singer was probably a ‘beardless’ boy. ‘Unpaved eunuch’ could refer to a ‘castrato’ but it is unlikely, as these singers were only known in the new ‘operas’, which were rarely seen in London at this time.
By Act IV Scene II Imogen’s husband Posthumus has been convinced of her infidelity and had commanded his servant Pisanio to kill her. Pisanio has realised that this is a false accusation and advises Imogen to fake her death, dress as a man and offer herself as musician to the Roman captain Lucius. Pisanio will report her death, discover the truth and reveal it to her husband and father, at which time Imogen can be restored. He has given her a sea sickness draft to fake her suicide in a Welsh cave. There she is met by two gentlemen Guiderius and Arviragus who are really her brother’s in disguise as the sons of the exiled Lord Belarius! They do not know her fate, but believing her to be ill, leave her in the cave, while they go out and kill Cloten, who has followed her. They return and find her ‘dead’.
After a lengthy lamentation accompanied by solemn music building the pathos of Imogen’s death, the dirge ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ is sung as a duet between Guiderius and Arviragus. It underlines the suffering of Imogen and the false claims made against her, bringing a climax to the emotional impact of Imogen’s presumed death.
It may originally have been declaimed to music rather than sung, as Arviragus says ‘If you’ll go fetch him, We’ll say our song the whilst. Brother begin’ (Line 255) and previously Guiderius has said ‘Cadwal, I cannot sing. I’ll weep, and word it with thee’ (Line 240) to which Arviragus replies ‘We’ll speak it then.’ (Line 243) The song also suggests a lapse of time during which Belarius is to seek Cloten’s body and bring it to the waiting brothers for burial.
The Winter’s Tale (1610-11)
From 1607 to 1635, the extravagant glory of the Jacobean Masque captivated audiences with its fantasy, artifice, pastoral themes, music, dances, spectacles and declamation. A plethora of masques were written and new venues were opened to perform them. Queen Anne even took part in a court masque.
By 1610, Shakespeare had become a shareholder of ‘The King’s Men’; a well established and popular company, which regularly presented plays at Court and at their own playhouses ‘The Globe’ and ‘Blackfriars’. He was by now writing plays that would appeal to both court and commons, with music mainly designed to contribute to the surprise, sensation and spectacle of the play. He had begun to explore masque-like themes and ideas in Cymbeline, but The Winter’s Tale has his most extravagant plot and reflects the popularity of the masque, with its use of a fairyland setting, the transformation of statues into people, a live bear on stage and allegorical figures mixed in with the lower classes. However Shakespeare also used the seasons of the natural world to create a ‘cycle’ within the story. This gives a more ‘natural’ quality to his play than the typical masques; making the impossible believable and helping the audience to sympathise with his characters.
The typical masque opened with a spoken or sung presentation or invocation, after which the noblemen masquers entered the ‘dancing place’ and danced their entry or first dance. Then there were an optional number of speeches, followed by the performance of a second or main dance. The revels then began, with the masquers choosing ladies from the spectators to dance a series of light dances, beginning with a measure or Pavane, continued with galliards, corantos and voltas. Then a ‘resting song’ would be performed by professional singers, followed by the ‘departing dance’ of the masquers. A ‘Good Night’ song or speech concluded the masque. An anti-masque of grotesque or fantastic dancers by professionals might precede or follow the ‘Revels’.
Most of Act IV has similarities to the masque form, creating a masque within the play, which begins in Scene II with the lovable rogue Autolycus singing ’When daffodils begin to peer’, invoking the spring and hinting at bawdy tales of country folk ‘tumbling’ when the sap is rising. The masque continues with the following sequence:
Monologue - Song ‘But shall go mourn for that, my dear?’ - Dialogue - Song ‘Jog on’ - Dialogue - Shepherd’s Dance - Dialogue - Song ‘ Lawn as white as driven Snow’ - Dialogue - Song ‘Get you hence’ - Dialogue - Song ‘Will you buy any tape?’ - Dialogue - Satyrs Dance - Dialogue concluding Act IV
This music, dance and speech pattern is very similar to the standard masque form but in true masques, the music and dance dominate and speeches are kept short. Shakespeare on the other hand, puts the dialogue in prime position and keeps the music and dance brief. All the music, except the music to revive Hermione in Act V, is placed in two closely related scenes and is arranged in a sequence, which closely conforms to that of the great masques of Shakespeare’s day.
Individual musical episodes also have other specific dramatic purposes. There is no music until Act IV, when the introduction of music changes the nature of the play from tragic to comic. Autolycus’ song transforms the mood and creates a new setting as the action of the play leaves the Palace of Polixenes and goes out into the countryside. This new setting is established by Autolycus painting a musical backdrop of spring flowers, hedgerows and convenient haymows. Winter has ended and spring comes to the countryside and the play.
As linen is hung over hedgerows to dry in the warm sunlight, Autolycus comes strolling along a rustic lane, caroling lustily out of sheer high spirits. He is out to deflower the country maids and fleece the sleepy country folk. He is a rascal but a sympathetic one, creating sympathy with his lilting song: ‘a picaresque ballad filled with underworld cant’, probably sung to simple ballad tunes. Such attractive and likeable characters are often associated with song, from the plays of Shakespeare’s time to the present:
‘When a gang of thieves or gypsies, or beggars first break into song. One knows immediately that they are Gilbert and Sullivan rogues, not scoundrels’
William Bowden from ‘The English Dramatic Lyric’
Autolycus introduces himself as a former servant of Prince Florizel then resumes singing. He enters and exits in song. The variety of songs given to Autolycus suggests that the original actor-singer would have been an experienced and skilled performer on whom Shakespeare and the King’s Men could rely to set the pace, moods and scenes for the end of the play. It was probably Robert Armin, who played Feste in Twelfth Night and was a shareholder of the company. The role of Autolycus may have been a theatrical ‘swansong’ for Armin, who seems to have retired from the stage after the first productions of this play.
The Tempest (1611)
Shakespeare’s genius for drama, words and music reaches its apogee in his final ‘single-handed’ play The Tempest. What a glorious exit! His many years of experience in the theatre are evident in this masterpiece, which he wrote for the Court in 1611 and which was first performed at the new permanent banqueting house of Whitehall. This had been purpose-built for the staging of masques and Shakespeare wrote his play with the courtly audience and elaborate stage facilities of the venue in mind. The romantic plot of the lovers and allegorical overtones combined with spectacle and music guaranteed the success of the work. There would not have any restrictions on hiring extra musicians and dancers to perform the great quality and quantity of music that is interwoven throughout this play.
‘With The Tempest we reach the final great comedy - great no only for its brave new world of love and harmony, for its surges of language, but great also because it is both summation and recapitulation. It is as though Shakespeare by some alchemical process had taken his noblest thoughts, clothed them in glowing words, and then by the orphic power of music had shaped them into a lump of gold capable of infinite allegorical form. For The Tempest is a complex of delights - the enchantment and poetry of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the romance of As You Like it, the philosophy of Hamlet, the comedy and good nature of The Winter’s Tale, the music and spectacle of many plays, and an allegorical puzzle that infects the imagination.’
J.H. Long in ‘Shakespeare’s Use of Music’
The words and the music in The Tempest are so dramatic, so powerful, descriptive and evocative that the play can also be performed with a minimal amount of scenery and little extra expense. Shakespeare knew that this would ensure future productions of the play and make it popular with all audiences.
The music is particularly used to represent harmony, love and the divine. It lifts the play, the characters and the audience above the limitations of the natural world, into the realm of the supernatural. Prospero’s enchanted island is ‘full of noises’, spells, charms and phenomena and where there is magic there is music, which even the brutish Caliban hears in Act III Scene III:
CALIBAN: Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Line 130
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That, if I then had wak’d after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,
The clouds me thought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that, when I wak’d
I cried to dream again.
The harmonic structure of Prospero’s island is first heard in Act I Scene II when, following the tempest, the noblemen are brought to the shore of the ‘uninhabited island’ by the spirit Ariel. Prospero has given strict instructions to Ariel on how to conduct the storm, and to bring the shipwrecked people safely ashore. Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples is to be separated from his father and comrades. The song ‘Come unto these yellow sands’ is the enchantment that Ariel uses to achieve this and Ferdinand awakes to find himself alone at the edge of the sea. He senses Ariel’s unseen presence.
Ferdinand Where should this music be? I’th’air or th’earth?
It sounds no more; and sure it waits upon
Some god o’ th’island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the King my father’s wreck.
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both my fury and my passion
With its sweet air; thence I have follow’d it,
Or it hath drawn me rather. But tis gone.
No, it begins again. Line 395
Ariel’s Song
Full fathom five thy father lies…
The music in this scene is the manifestation of Prospero’s magic, invoking and calming the tempest, then enchanting Miranda and Ferdinand so that they fall in love. Ariel’s singing ends the storm and diverts Ferdinand’s attention as he sits on the seashore lamenting his father’s loss. The unseen spirits invoke the sounds of home with watchdogs and cock crows and in the second song they ring the knell for his father to show their mercy and to soothe Ferdinand’s grief, returning him to harmony and preparing him for a new emotion when he meets Miranda. As Prospero enters with his daughter Miranda the music continues, drawing Miranda and Ferdinand together and enchanting them so they fall in love at first sight.
As the time scale of the whole play is only twelve hours, Shakespeare has to develop the plots and characters quite quickly, calming the storm, erasing woe and introducing in the love theme in rapid sequence. It is Shakespeare’s powerful ‘magic’ that makes us lose our awareness of the passage of time while we listen to the songs and music, and thus, he is able to accelerate the time frame of the plot without our sensing any disturbance in the play. His use of music also makes the supernatural perceptible to us and highlights the climatic or crucial scenes. It also symbolises abstract or psychological ideas such as the association of harmony or music with human relationships. This was a prominent concept of the Renaissance, which we still understand and value today.
King Henry VIII (1612-13)
‘On June 29th 1613 the Globe Playhouse was burned to the ground. Its thatch roof was ignited by a discharge of ‘chambers’ during a performance of King Henry VIII, and within an hour the great Globe was in unsubstantial wrack.’
The ‘discharge of chambers’, which triggered the devastating fire, was a spectacular event in Shakespeare’s magnificent historical drama. This play, subtitled ‘All is true’, recreates the great moments of the reign of King Henry VIII and has many careful and detailed stage directions. All the pomp and pageantry of the Tudor age is represented in this magnificent ‘Hymn’, praising the English Monarchy and especially the Tudor Dynasty. Shakespeare incisively blends the history, politics and religion of the wise and just rule of King Henry VIII, England’s political and spiritual ruler, head of the church and Vicar of Christ. The dramatic episodes of the play are linked by common themes like medieval mystery plays and all England is represented as a heavenly realm of voices and instruments in harmony and praise of the divine.
The play is replete with exalted ritual and ceremony and nearly all the music is ceremonial or associated with public events. There are two exceptions, which are the performances of music associated with Queen Katherine. These are intended to reveal her character through her reaction to the song and music performed before her. Shakespeare has been very careful to balance the portrayal of Queen Katherine and King Henry. He does not have her sing like Desdemona or Ophelia nor does the music and song reveal her character directly, yet Shakespeare has treated the character with pathos and sympathy.
The major protagonists apart from Wolsey, speak of Queen Katherine as blameless; like a Queen Dido losing her Aeneas by the will of the Gods, she is portrayed as a martyr to the future welfare of England. In Act II Scene IV she gives an impassioned defence in the face of the power of the Church and State and the ceremonious music of the scene emphasises her loneliness and helplessness. In sharp dramatic contrast Act III Scene I opens in her private apartment, where with her few ladies in waiting, she is listening to the quiet sweetness of a lute song; ‘Orpheus with his lute’. She is no longer a Queen but a deserted wife trying to carry on her daily life and holding back her emotions by listening to a song.
QUEEN KATHERINE Take thy lute, wench. My soul grows sad with troubles; Line 1
Sing and disperse ‘em if thou canst. Leave working.
The lute song, probably sung by a trained boy singer dressed as a maid, may have been especially composed for this play by Shakespeare or his co-writer John Fletcher. It was intended to please the audience and lift the oppressive mood of the previous act but it also had other dramatic intentions. The lyrics subtly reflect the divine powers and human talents of the King. It is known and documented that Henry played the lute and composed, but it is also worth considering that as a ‘renegade’ King and divine leader, he forged a new kingdom and commanded everything within it. Like Orpheus he is glamorous yet also deadly powerful. The song seals Katherine’s fate but it also makes us a little more sympathetic to Henry. Even after Queen Elizabeth’s death Shakespeare was being delicate to the sensibilities of the Court. Perhaps he was also disguising his alleged Catholic sympathies.
The Passionate Pilgrim
The Passionate Pilgrim was first published as a small pamphlet in 1599. It is a poem of twenty verses, of which only fifteen are attributable to Shakespeare. The verses describe experiences of love and are often very passionate. Some are stories of Venus, Adonis and Cythera, which are very bawdy and quite explicitly sexual at times. All the verses are very earthy and suggest various encounters and exchanges of passion. They are similar to the sonnets in their variety of moods and approaches to the subject matter.
Shakespeare wrote his poems and sonnets between 1591 and 1593, when the plague and other troubles had closed London theatres and theatrical companies had begun touring provinces to make a living. ‘Venus and Adonis’ was published 1593 and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ in 1594, which was dedicated to his patron Lord Southampton. Shakespeare then joined the Chamberlains men and he bought ‘New Place’ at Stratford in 1597. In 1599 the Globe theatre opened.
Some verses of The Passionate Pilgrim were intended to be set to music and at least five of the pieces are found elsewhere in his works; three appear in ‘Love’s Labours Lost’ and two are sonnets 138 and 144. The verse ‘Crabbed age and youth’, which has been attributed to Shakespeare may well be addressed to his wife Anne Hathaway, who was older that himself. It is one of the wittiest and light-hearted of the verses and its strong rhythmic style of lends itself readily to musical setting.
© H Kean
Bibliography
‘An Elizabethan Songbook’ ed. by W H Auden, C Kallmann & N Greenberg Faber & Faber Ltd
‘English Ayres: Elizabethan and Jacobean’ Volumes 1-6, P Warlock & P Wilson OUP
‘Shakespeare Music Catalogue’ Volumes 1-5, B Gooch OUP
‘Shakespeare in Music’ ed. by P Hartnoll Macmillan & Co Ltd 1964
‘Shakespeare’s Use of Music’ John H Long University of Florida Press
Volume 1 1955, Volume 2 1961, Volume 3 1971
Letters and Conversations with: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust & Library, The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC
All text book resources were obtained by Burnley Music Library and the British Library Service.
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