Today – Friday, April 23 – I am celebrating the birthday of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) with some of the music that was heard in productions of his plays during his own lifetime. For this purpose I have the valuable aid of Shakespeare’s Songbook, a comprehensive anthology by Ross W. Duffin that is both musically fascinating and visually delightful.
Throughout his written oeuvre, Shakespeare reveals himself as a savvy scholar of music. In Henry VII and other plays, he refers at length to Orpheus, the most famous musician of Greek mythology, to show the power of music to affect our emotions and behavior. He also mentions “the music of the spheres,” the harmonious sounds emanating from the outer reaches of the universe that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras claimed to be able to hear.
Shakespeare seems to have thought of music as a window into differences in character. In The Merchant of Venice, he suggests that those who do not like music may be untrustworthy. He also treats music metaphorically, as in this iconic line from Twelfth Night: “If music be the food of love, play on.” Some scholars even consider Shakespeare’s use of metaphor, imagery, and rhetorical devices to be analogous to the way a composer orchestrates a symphony.
In his plays and sonnets, Shakespeare mentions more than 100 songs, and often writes new words for popular melodies of his time. One of these is “Chi Passa,” an Italian song of 1557 well known in Elizabethan England. In Pericles, Shakespeare’s words to “Chi Passa” tell the musical tale of “the famous Prince of Macedon,” a conquering warrior who in turn is “conquer’d by a lady.” Here is the original song by Filippo Azzaiuolo, as interpreted by Swanne’s Alley:
Here’s a more meditative version by Yo-Yo Ma and his Silkroad Ensemble:
Performances of Shakespeare’s plays during his lifetime had many song and dance scenes, and were often framed by music. The play would open with an instrumental introduction, and at the end the cast would act out a comic dance, even in tragic plays such as Hamlet or Julius Caesar. Dating from 1599, “Kemp’s Jig” is an example of the kind of playful music that would have been heard in this final dance scene. Also known as “Nutmegs and Ginger,” the “Kemp’s Jig” melody might have been the one that Ariel’s song in Act I of The Tempest was sung to.
Nutmegs (“Nuttmigs”) and Ginger with Swanne’s Alley:
And this version by Cantiga (live Renaissance Faire performance in period dress, very festive!):
| Copyright © 2021 by Geoffrey Dean |
Thanks to Geoffrey and Morris for such a fun way to start the day. Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!
ReplyDeleteMusic in Shakespeare’s plays was a sign of harmony and happiness.
ReplyDeleteAs in life!
DeleteI posted this on my Facebook page on April 23:
ReplyDeleteOn this, the 457th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth in 1564, I pause to express how much his plays have influenced me. My mentor in 1960 was Harold Bloom, my professor at Yale [click to see the image of one of his book covers]. Even now, I can and do look to Stephen Greenblatt, a Yale classmate who went to the same high school I did and now teaches at Harvard. Since Bloom died, I see Stephen as the leading Shakespeare scholar [click to see the image of one of his book covers].
In my own way, I’ve tried to pass along my devotion to Shakespeare to my granddaughters and grandniece. Last summer, when the pandemic kept them housebound, we did 3 Zoom lessons a week and covered 12 Shakespeare plays. Frankly, I was surprised how much these 6-to-11-year-olds understood about the meanings of the plays.
Although no expert I can drop a Bard quote with the best of the dilettantes, but just never considered that the music might have survived with the plays. I played guitar and sang at bars, parties, weddings, etc, with and without partners, for the best part of 50 years, heck I was a saprano in the church choir at 7 years old. THANK YOU Geoffrey from making these plays come alive in a different way. It is no wonder Calliope's art was the origin of the very name of the spirit of art in the pre-modern mind ("Muse"). Think about this: until the era of recording, music, like all performance art, never existed except at the very moment it was being played or sang or recited or danced. Not for one millisecond before or after; it floated up to the skies and was instantly gone! Leaving the listener entertained, joyous, or devastated, in tears, at the beauty, and the loss! No one EVER heard an exact replica of a song, poem or tune; it wasn't possible. We are the most fortunate of humans, to live in the tiny, so far insignificant slice of time where we can enjoy a song or play or poem or dance over and over, any time we want. Pharaoh in all his glory could not order up a song precisely the way he'd heard it before, nor a poem, nor a dance. In Shakespeare's time performers were considered little better than Gypsies; mountebanks, charlatans, homosexuals and whores. But in most civilizations they have been held in much higher repute, due partly to talent and partly to the ephemeral nature of their art.
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