Edward W. Naylor

“ Immediately after Shakespeare's time, we find a courtier of James I., and the ill-fated Prince Charles himself, both enthusiasts in both church and chamber music; and lastly, two years after the Regicide, we find the University of Oxford to have been a perfect hotbed of musical cultivation. Men who afterwards became Bishops, Archdeacons, Prebendaries, besides sixteen Fellows of Colleges, and sundry gentlemen of family, were not ashamed to practise chamber music and singing to an extent which really has no parallel whatever nowadays. ”

“ That will be music.
L. 54.
Host. How do you, man? (i.e., Julia) the music likes you not.
Jul. You mistake: the musician (i.e., Proteus) likes me not. [Pg 100]
Host. Why, my pretty youth?
Jul. He plays false, father.
Host. How? out of tune on the strings?
Jul. Not so; but yet so false, that he grieves my very heart-strings.
Host. You have a quick ear.
Jul. Ay; I would I were deaf! it makes me have a slow heart.
Host. I perceive, you delight not in music.
Jul. Not a whit, when it jars so.
Host. Hark! what fine change is in the music.
Jul. Ay, that change (Proteus' unfaithfulness) is the spite. ”

“ The Pavan has been mentioned before, as the dance in Duple time which preceded the Galliard which was in a triple rhythm. It was a stately dance, with a stately name, for the derivation is most probably from Pavo, a peacock, with a reference, no doubt, to the majestic strut and gay feathers of that bird. It was de rigueur for gentlemen to dance the Pavan in cap and sword; for lawyers to wear their gowns, princes their mantles; and ladies to take part in the fullest of full dress, the long trains of their gowns being supposed to correspond in appearance and movement to the peacock's tail. ”

“ Perhaps it is sufficient to remark that many of the italicized words above are still in ordinary use by musicians—e.g., to 'give the note' in order to 'set' the pitch for singing; to 'keep in tune,' to 'sing out'; or one voice is 'drowned' by another, as the 'mean' (alto) by the 'bass.' Once more we have quibbles on musical terms—Lucetta says the 'tune,' i.e., Julia's testiness about Proteus' letter, is 'too sharp,' and that her chiding of herself is 'too flat,' meaning, that neither is in 'concord' with the spirit of the love-letter. ”

“ The very meagre celebrations of May Day, which can be seen in London even now, are a survival of the ancient customs with which the Morrice-Dance was always associated. Hawkins gives this account of the Morris; "there are few country places in this kingdom where it is not known; it is a dance of young men in their shirts, with bells at their feet, and ribbons of various colours tied round their arms, and slung across their shoulders. Some writers, Shakespeare in particular, mention a Hobby-horse and a Maid Marian, as necessary in this recreation. ”

“ To 'descant' meant to sing or play an extempore second 'part' to a written melody. The point was that it should be extempore; if written down [Pg 25] it ceased to be true descant, and was then called 'prick-song.' A rough example may be had in the extempore bass or alto which some people still sing in church instead of the melody. A more accurate example of descant would be this—let A sing a hymn tune, say the Old 100th, and let B accompany him extempore with a separate melody within the bounds of harmony. B is 'descanting' on the melody that A sings. ”

“ Moreover, he adds, that the drum is not a necessity, but is good to keep the time equal; and that for dancing you may use violins, spinets, flutes, both traverse and 'à neuf trous' (nine-holed flute—i.e., a flageolet) , hautboys, and, in fact, 'all sorts of instruments'; or you may sing instead.
Arbeau's account of the Passemeze, or Passy-measures-pavin of Shakespeare, is very simple. He says that the instrumentalists increase the speed of the pavan every time they play it through, and by the time it has reached the moderate speed of a basse-dance, it is no longer called Pavan, but Passemeze. ”

“ There were two instruments called Cornet, the one with a reed, a coarse sort of Oboe which was nearly obsolete in the 17th century; the other, with which we are concerned, a sort of Horn (hence its name) , with a cup mouthpiece, and finger holes for the intermediate notes of the scale. Hawkins gives pictures of a treble, a tenor, and a bass cornet, copied from Mersennus, who remarks that the sounds of the cornet are vehement, but that those who are skilful, such as Quiclet, the royal cornetist (i.e., of France, 1648) are able so to soften and modulate them, that nothing can be more sweet. ”

“ We find that one music master was accustomed to have his gentleman pupils so constantly "in his company" that they would practise their singing while "walking in the fields."
Finally—that part-singing from written notes, and also the extempore singing of a second part (descant) to a written plainsong, was a diversion of such young University gentlemen, and was looked on as a proper form of recreation after hard reading.
In the 16th century music was considered an essential part of a clergyman's education. ”

“ In me, it seems, it will make wise men mad.
[Pg 33] The simile is perfect, and the play upon 'time broke' admirable. In l. 45 Richard reflects on the sad contrast between his quick 'ear' for 'broken time' in music, and his slowness to hear the 'breaking' of his own 'state and time.' The 'disorder'd string' is himself, who has been playing his part 'out of time' ('Disorder'd' simply means 'out of its place'—i.e., as we now say, 'a bar wrong') , and this has resulted in breaking the 'concord'—i.e., the harmony of the various parts which compose the state. ”

“ Pericles compares the lawful love of a wife with the performance of a good viol player, the proper characteristics of which would be, 'in tune,' and 'in time.' The comparison in l. 84 is of this girl's lawless passion with the 'disorder'd' playing of a bad violist, who has got 'out,' as we say; who is playing 'before his time,' thus entirely spoiling the music, which becomes a dance for devils rather than angels. ”

“ The lute, having at least eleven strings, took a long time to get into tune. Even our modern violins, with only four strings, want constant attention in this respect; and the lute, therefore, especially in the hands of an amateur, might well get a name for being a troublesome instrument. The reference to the 'treble' and 'bass' strings (i.e., the 1st and 6th) has been explained before. 'Spit in the hole, man,' Lucentio's very rude advice to Hortensio, will direct our attention to the variously shaped 'holes' which were made in the belly of all stringed instruments to let out the sound. ”

“ This phrase, 'breaking' notes, may be taken as a partial explanation of several passages on Shakespeare, where 'broken music' is referred to, although it is likely that a better account of this may be found in the natural imperfection of the Lute, which, being a pizzicato instrument (i.e., the strings were plucked, not played with a bow) , could not do more than indicate the harmony in 'broken' pieces, first a bass [Pg 31] note, then perhaps two notes at once, higher up in the scale, the player relying on the hearer to piece the harmony together. ”

“ Not long after Shakespeare's time, orchestral music for the theatre consisted of stringed instruments only [Pg 176] (i.e., the violin family, violins, violas, violoncellos, and the sole surviving 'viol,' the double-bass) with harpsichord, for general use; while in the more important pieces, hautboys, and sometimes flutes as well, were added, playing, as a rule, with the 1st and 2nd violin parts. This, at any rate, is the case in Purcell's operas. (Purcell died 1695) . Thus the word Hautboys represented very nearly the climax of power to 17th century ears. ”

“ You would play upon me: you would seem to know my stops; ... you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ [the recorder] , yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood! do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.
The holes in a flute have always been called 'ventages,' because the 'wind' comes through them [Pg 52] when the fingers are removed. ”

“ Juliet evidently agrees with Portia that 'nothing is good without respect.' The lark heralds the dawn, so Romeo must leave her, ergo, the lark sings 'out of tune,' his strains are full of 'discords' and 'sharps.' The last two lines contain an interesting allusion in the word 'division,' besides the pun on 'she divideth us.'
'Division' means roughly, a brilliant passage, of short notes, which is founded essentially on a much simpler passage of longer notes. ”

“ There are several occasions in Shakespeare when trumpets are sounded to herald the approach of play-actors, but drums are not mentioned in this connection except here. Rimbault's Preface to Purcell's Opera 'Bonduca' (Musical Antiquarian Society) says that a Play was always introduced by the trumpet sounding three times, after which the Prologue entered. Dekker, referring to the list of errata in his 'Satiromastix,' 1602, says—"Instead of the trumpets sounding thrice before the play begin, it shall not be amiss for him that will read, first to behold this short Comedy of Errors." ”

“ Toby's musical gifts asserting themselves, confused recollections reeling across his brain, of that old rule in Morley about the right number of semibreves in a strain, 'fewer then eight I have not seen in any Pavan.' 'Also in this you must cast your musicke by foure: ... no matter how manie foures you put in your straine.' Bull's Pavan, 'St Thomas Wake,' has two strains of sixteen bars each—i.e., two 'eights.' [Appendix.]
The last passage given here shows clearly that the Lavolta and Coranto were considered exotic in England in Shakespeare's time. ”

“ Mariana and the Duke speak of a certain doubleness that may be noticed in the action of music on the mind. Jessica is 'never merry' when she hears sweet music: Lorenzo descants on the evident effects of music on even hardened [Pg 157] natures; while Portia and Nerissa preach a neat little sermon on the text 'Nothing is good without respect,' with musical illustrations of the powerful influence of time and place—e.g., the silence of night, makes the music sound sweeter than by day ”

“ Music, Music plays, Music within.
This direction is found 41 times in twenty-two plays, half of which are comedies.
In 8 cases we have Music during a speech or dream of one of the characters; 7 times as the symphony or the accompaniment to a Song; 7 times in Wedding processions or Pageants; 6 times for Dancing; and 5 times during a banquet.
To give a just idea of the amount of Stage Music considered necessary in or near Shakespeare's time, there must be added to the above, all the stage directions in other terms—e.g., Hautboys, which is found about 14 times. ”

“ Aut. My clown (who wants but something to be a reasonable man) grew so in love with the wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes, till he had both tune and words.
The tabor and pipe, in the servant's first speech, were common popular instruments. The tabor, of course, was a small drum, which was used as accompaniment to the pipe, a small whistle with three holes, but with a compass of 18 notes. (See Frontispiece.) In its curiously disproportionate compass, it may be compared to the modern 'Picco' pipe of the music shops. ”

“ There is an old song, given in Chappell's Popular Music, 'O Death, rock me to sleep,' which might be the very one, for both music and words are singularly appropriate. The Refrain is as follows:—
The song is most plaintive, and has a very striking feature in the shape of a real independent accompaniment, which keeps up a continual figure of three descending notes, like the bells of a village church. Hawkins gives the poem, with certain variations, and two extra verses at the beginning, the first commencing—
and he says the verses are thought to have been written by Anne Boleyn. ”

“ John Playford, in 1683, published his 'Introduction to the Skill of Music,' which gives an account of the viols, and Thomas Mace, of Cambridge, lay clerk of Trinity, in his 'Musick's Monument,' pub. 1676, gives full instructions how many viols and other instruments of this kind are necessary. From these we learn that viols were always kept in sets of six—two trebles, two tenors, and two basses—which [Pg 46] set was technically known as a 'Chest' of viols. Mace also says that the treble viol had its strings just half the length of the bass viol, and the tenor was of a medium size between these. ”

“ Sir Toby gives Feste sixpence [Pg 87] to sing a song; Sir Andrew follows it up with a 'testril.' The Clown then sings them 'O mistress mine.' [For the original music see Prof. Bridge's 'Shakespeare Songs,' Novello, a collection which every reader of Shakespeare ought to have. Price 2s. 6d.] Then, at Sir Toby's suggestion, they all three sing a catch, or, in his own words, 'draw three souls out of one weaver,' an allusion to the three vocal parts which are evolved from the one melody of the catch, as well as a sly reference to 'weavers' singing catches. ”

“ This time they are speaking, not of descant, but of Prick-song. The chiefest virtue in the performance of Prick-song, by which Falstaff and Nym probably understood both sacred and secular part-music, is that a man should 'keep time,' religiously counting his rests, 'one, two, three, and the third in your bosom,' [Pg 43] and when he begins to sing, that he should 'keep time, distance, and proportion,' as Mercutio says Tybalt did in his fencing, see Romeo II, iv, 20. ”

“ The viol was decidedly the most important stringed instrument played with a bow that was in use in Elizabethan times. There were three different sizes.
The reader will get a sufficiently accurate idea, [Pg 45] both of the sizes and the use of viols, if he will consider the treble viol to have corresponded closely with our modern violin, the tenor viol to the modern viola [which is also called Alto, Tenor, or Bratsche—i.e., braccio, 'arm' fiddle] , and the bass-viol, or viol-da-gamba [so called because held between the knees] , to the modern violoncello. ”

“ The 'chanson'—i.e., the dance tune, was played on the flute, and accompanied by the 'tabourin' or drum, which beats all the time. Every 'bar' of the music is called either a 'battement' of the drum, or a 'mesure' of the chanson. ”