Dr Arne'sversion of "Who is Sylvia?" is really a very charming song, very melodious, very vocal, and full of delicate grace-notes. The last verse is set as a trio, but can be sung as a solo without spoiling the composer's intentions; in fact, he says it may be done without additional voices.
Macfarren'spart-song is very good—I mean Sir George's, not Walter's. Both have set the words. But the best setting of "Who is Sylvia?" must for ever remainSchubert's—one of the perfect songs of the world.
There is only one opera,Hermione, byMax Bruch, founded onThe Winter's Tale, and very little other music has been inspired by it, though the story possesses great operatic possibilities.
Engelbert Humperdinck'smusic for the Reinhardt production in Berlin, September 15, 1906, is, as usual with his incidental music, perfectly appropriate—not a superfluous note in it; and also as usual in these productions, Shakespeare's Act i., Scene 1, is Reinhardt's. Before the rise of the curtain an orchestra of wood wind, horns, and harp plays soft and solemn music (called "Tafelmusik" in the score) behind the scenes, and the orchestra continues till a fanfare of trumpets announces the entrance of Leontes, Hermione, and their suite.
There is no more music until we come to Act iii., Scene 2, when, to open the Court of Justice scene, we have a broad, dignified fanfare,quasi marcia, scored for trombones, tuba, and drums, and part of this is played at the end of the scene. This is the motive associated with the Oracle.
At the end of Act iii., Scene 3, Time, a chorus, enters, and solemn music plays during his speech, composed in the manner of the Oracle. In the meantime, an act-change has been made, and without pause the curtain rises on the fourth act; the music dying away as Polixenes and Camillo speak, swelling up on their exit and running into the symphony of Autolycus's song, "When daffodils begin to peer." This is very beautifully set, and the composer adds the verse from the end of the scene, which makes six versesinstead of five; but this is quite legitimate, as the last verse is obviously part of the whole lyric, though separated from the rest by some dialogue.
The music to open the fourth scene is called "Sunday Bells." I confess I don't understand why it is introduced, unless it be to cover a scene-change, and I can find no mention of bells or Sunday in the text; but I am quite sure there is some good reason for this number, apart from its own beauty. It ispianissimo, scored for very high tremolo violins, celesta bells, and harp; and I should very much like to know exactly what it means in its present position in the play.
Now comes a long and elaborate march of shepherds and shepherdesses, beginning in march time, four in a bar; then the time changes to two in a bar, and a very wild dance follows. Again the time changes, to mazurka rhythm now, three in a bar, and a very graceful dance in this time follows; finally we return to the fast two-in-a-bar passage, and the whole dance finishes with a coda, during which the music gets faster and faster to the end. The whole number makes a short ballet, with plenty of rhythmic changes. It is most effective, as well as being part of Shakespeare's plot.
Almost immediately comes Autolycus's song, "Lawn as white as driven snow"; this also is very carefully set. The next number is very interesting. It is a trio, sung by Autolycus, Dorcas, and Mopsa, accompanied by abouche ferméemale-voice chorus—not singing the usual slow, sustained harmonies, but a quick four-part syncopated rhythm. This is a very ingenious number. After a little dialogue comes Autolycus's last song, "Will you buy any tape?" to a simple tune with an elaborate accompaniment. The Satyrs' dance that follows is a good example of strong but grotesque dance music in its first theme, but the trio is sensuous and suave, and the number finishes with a repetition of the first theme and a short but brilliant coda on the same melody.
In the last scene of the fifth act we have musicagain. Paulina says, "Music, awake not; strike!" and very mysterious music is played until Hermione moves; then occurs a fine theme for brass and strings, while Hermione descends from the pedestal; after which, with a few pauses, the music continues to the end, when the curtain falls very slowly on Shakespeare's own last words. The melodrama music here is so superlatively good that one hardly notices it, such is its absolute Tightness. The situation, dramatically, is so strong that, though the music also is very individual, it does not for a moment counteract the strength of effect of the closing scene, but just helps it to a complete finish. Rarely has Shakespeare been better served by his acolytes.
William Linley, born 1771, edited two volumes octavo of settings to Shakespeare's lyrics, calledDramatic Songs. Some of them are by Purcell, Arne, etc.; but unfortunately the majority are by the editor, who seems to have had no exaggerated respect for Shakespeare's text, but a very high opinion of his own powers.
Mr Linley has some very naïve remarks to make in the observations printed after the preface. Writing of the lyrics sung by Feste inTwelfth Night, he says: "Though there is a whimsical point about them, they are not inelegantly written." (This of "Come away, Death"!) Linley proceeds: "Shakespeare evidently meant that it should be sung with pathetic expression, but one is not prepared to relish it from the Clown; and there is nothing ludicrous in the words, and the plaintive wildness which they seem to demand from the music could not, by any aid of preparation, be given by the Clown so as to produce a feeling of melancholy—it would be more likely to excite laughter."
After these preliminary remarks, one may expect anything from our editor; and when one remembers the exquisite pathos of Mr Courtice Pounds' singing ofAugustus Barratt'ssetting at His Majesty's one can smile at the pretentious want of knowledge displayed in Linley's short introduction.
His own setting, which is before me, is sorry stuff. Words and phrases are repeated over and over again. He does not even set the first sentence correctly; he says, "Come away, Death, come away," and continues his "improvement" throughout the song.
The same kind of thing occurs throughout his two volumes; but it is interesting to note that for a long time it was considered a standard work, and Roffe, so late as 1867, speaks of it in hisHandbook of Shakespeare Musicas "a happily conceived work."
It is a curious thing that the lyrics in the plays most popular with composers are either frankly not by Shakespeare or are very doubtful. The one most frequently chosen, "Take, oh take those lips away," fromMeasure for Measure, has been set, according to Roffe (1867), seventeen times; and, according to a work not quite truthfully describing itself asA List of All the Songs and Passages in Shakespeare which have been Set to Music, thirty times. Now, the second verse, "Hide, oh hide," is undoubtedly by Fletcher, fromThe Bloody Brother, and it is likely that Shakespeare merely quoted the first verse without acknowledgment, as he often did.
The next in order is "Orpheus with his lute." Roffe gives it sixteen settings, andA List of all the Songs, etc., twenty-two; the latter boldly states, "By John Fletcher." Act iii., Scene 1 is part of the Fletcher portion ofHenry VIII. "Shakespeare wrote only 1168-½ of the 2822 lines of the play; the rest are Fletcher's." The editors responsible for this note are F. J. Furnivall and W. G. Stone.
"Come live with me" (Merry Wives) has been set, according to Roffe, sixteen times, and according to the "List" eighteen—the words being quoted from Kit Marlowe. "The Willow" song fromOthello(Roffe six and the "List" eleven) is much older than Shakespeare, and is quoted by him from a long poem now in Percy'sReliques.
Very naturally, since these dates (1867 and 1884) many other settings of songs from Shakespeare's plays have been made. Still, these four, two certainly not Shakespeare's and two quite doubtful Shakespeares, keep ahead in the list of music composed for or concerning the plays. I have referred to the "List," and think it only fair to give an account of it. It was published for "The New Shakespeare Society," and compiled by J. Greenhill, theRev. W. A. Harrison, and F. J. Furnivall; but unfortunately it was published in 1884, and has not been brought up to date. Here one may find that composers were not content with juggling and altering Shakespeare's perfect lyrics, but chose chunks of blank verse and snippets of sonnets to set, for no earthly purpose that I can see. Some of the composers' selections are quite incomprehensible. WhyR. J. Stevensshould have chosen Prospero's magnificent lines, beginning "The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces," and made them into a glee for S.A.T.T.B.B., passes my wit to understand.
Also, whySir Henry Bishopchose Sonnet 109, "Oh, never say that I was false of heart" (lines 1-4 and 13-14), or Sonnet 29, "When in disgrace with fortune" (lines 1-4 and 9-12), with several verbal alterations. All this tends to show that the composer could not have had the smallest conception of the sonnet form, to cut and chop it about as he has done. Personally, I think that no sonnet ought to be set to music, but I know that quite good musical authorities differ from me, and I am content to say that either the whole sonnet or none of it must be set. It is impossible to cut a word or a sentence out of a sonnet without spoiling its form and balance; and, if these essentials are gone, how can it make a perfect song?
Adam, Adolphe,87.Alexander, Sir George,9,105.Allitsen, Frances,6.Alma-Tadema,16.Ardevies, Jules,76.Armbruster, Carl,25.Arne, Dr,xiii,7,8,11,92,94,134-136,141,157,159,160,164.Asche, Oscar,22,130.Atterbury, Luffman,73.Attwood,65.Auber,67.Bach,xi,86.Balfe,80,81,137.Balling,5,55.Bannister,xi.Barbier,29,118.Barker, Granville,95.Barratt, Augustus,156,164.Battishill,94.Bavaria, King of,56,70.Bazzini,51,52.Beecham, Sir Thomas,100.Beethoven,xi,14,15,58,123.Bellini,119,120.Benayet,98,99.Benda,128.Benson, Sir Frank,5,22,54,55,88,130,141.Bentley,22.Berio, Marquis de,107.Berlioz,3,25,36,50-52,56,98,100,119,122-126,129,142-144.Berlioz, Louis,98.Bernhoff,100.Berton,138.Bethmann,68.Bishop, Sir Henry,xiii,1,5,7,8,10-12,13,63,65,92-96,130,153-155,158-160,166.Blau,104.Bloch,59,61.Blow,39.Boieldieu,87.Boito,29,32,50,56,83,84,108,111.Bourchier,78.Braham,80,130.Brahms,155,156.Brayton, Lily,130.Brian, Havergal,3.Bridge,38.Broughton, The Misses,43.Browning, Robert,27,86,154.Bruch, Max,17,161.Bülow, von,47.Burney, Dr,28,29.Butt, Clara,6.Callcott, D.,154.Calvert,77.Campbell, Mrs Patrick,78.Canepa,117.Capelli,7.Carlyle,126.Carré, Albert,60.Carré, Michel,18,29,118.Chaplin,51.Chelard,56,57.Cherubini,125,137.Chilcot, T.,5,71.Chorley,68.Choudens, Paul,18.Cibber, Colley,29,31.Cimino, G. T.,74.Clark, Hamilton,22.Clément,1,14,32,47.Coleridge Taylor,114,157.Collier, J.,6.Collin, Baron von,xi,14,58.Cooke, Dr,88,94,130,131.Coppa,120.Corder, Frederick,145,146,156.Corelli, Archangelo,28.Corfe,65.Costa,120.Crescentini,120.Crotch,13.Cumberland,3.Cummings, W. H.,54.Dalayrac,121.Dante,108.Davenant,29,54,134,142.Davison,68.Davy,135,136.Debussy,100.Deffès, L.,17,75,76.Dent,99.Déschamps,124.Dickens, C.,141.D'Ivry, Marquis,121.Dixon, C.,72.Doppler,20.Dryden,134,136,142.Duggan,146.Dumas, A.,27.Duvernoy, A.,138.Dvorák,107.Eberlin, J. E.,117.Eccles, John,55.Edward VII.,121.Edwards, Richard,118.Eggers, J.,58.Elgar, Sir Edward,40.Elias, J. F.,137.Enna, August,2.Erdmann, J. V.,130.Faccio,29,32.Fauré, G.,78,79.Ferrand, H.,98,99.Fibich, Zdenko,112,113,138.FitzGerald,57.Fleg,59.Fletcher,43,45,46,71,72,96,154,156,165.Forbes-Robertson,25,127.Ford, T.,154.Frank, Ernst,132.Frederick the Great,27.Fuller-Maitland,5.Furnivall, F. J.,46,47,165,166.Gade,2,38.Gainsborough,72.Galliard,71.Garal, Pierre de,31.Gasparini,28,29.George III.,73.German, E.,9,37,38,42-44,105,115,116,127,128.Giordani,72.Girard,143.Godfrey, A.,62.Goethe,143.Goetz,130.Gounod,118,119,129.Graun,2,21,27.Greene, Plunket,156.Greenhill,47,165.Grieg,35,38.Grisi,80,81,137.Grove,1,18,32,70,72,73,110,137.Guglielmi,122.Guillaume,34.Hale,140,141.Halévy,32,76,137.Handel,xi,2,27,38,47,73,90,91,93,94,130,134.Haraucourt,78,79.Harrison,47,166.Hatton,42,87,157.Hauk, Minnie,133.Haydn,120,141,155.Henry VIII.,45.Henschel, Sir George,22,23,117.Hignard, A.,31.Hodson, Henrietta,141.Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Prince of,51.Holbrooke, Joseph,128.Horn,xiii,12,80,88.Hueffer, Francis,108,111.Humperdinck,77,108,112,142,151,152,161.Humphrey,xi,39.Immerman,137.Irving, Sir Henry,15,16,22,37,43,55.Irving, H. B.,22.Jackson,72.Johnson, Noel,130.Johnson, Robert,xi,xii,134,136.Joncières, Victorin de,27.Jonson, Ben,136.Judith, Mme.,28.Kean, Mrs C.,42.Kemble, Fanny,57.Kemble, J. P.,57,135.Kemp, Dr,10.Kipling,89.Kirchner,9,70.Kreutzer, K.,51.Kreutzer, R.,2.Krug, Arnold,112.Lablache,80,137.Laboix,14.Lampe, J. F.,92.Lampe, Mrs,92.Larousse,1,14,32,47,138.Laurence, Dr,136.Leborne,28.Lennen,87.Leonhardt, Caroline,63.Leopold I.,148.Leveridge,55.Levey,57.Linley,5,135,136,141,164.Lisle, Rouget de,56.Liszt,34,57,62,65.Locke,xi,54,55,134.Longhurst, Master,158.Loubbert,143.Lucas,9,146.Lumley,137.MacDowell, E. A.,37.Macfarren,20,45,160.Mackenzie, Sir A. C.,15,16,31,152.Maeterlinck,108.Maggioni,80.Mansfield, Richard,115,116.Marescalchi,128.Marlowe,12,154,165.Marshall, Julian,148.Martin Harvey, Sir John,26,27.Mascagni,19.Massenet,31.Maurel, Victor,84,109.Mendelssohn,43,63,65,75,88,89,96,97,124,137.Mercadante,40.Meredith, George,112.Metzler,45.Meurice, Paul,27.Meyerbeer,27,63,115.Missa,18,19.Moke, Miss,142.Monnel,121.Moody,21.Morgan, M.,40.Morley,124.Mosenthal,81.Mozart,86.Napoleon I.,120.Nicolai,80,81,82.Nicolini,28.Novello,54.O'Neill,26,27.Paganini,124.Parry,80.Pelham,39.Pepys,38.Percy, Bishop,106,165.Perrier,28.Peters,63.Piave,56.Pierson, H. H.,63,126,127.Pinsuti, C.,74.Plançon, Pol,102,118.Playford,71.Pleyel, Mme.,143.Plimmer, W. G.,112.Podesta, C.,104.Porta,128.Portland, Earl of,28.Pounds, Courtice,164.Prout, E.,48.Prussia, King of,89.Puget, P.,104.Purcell, Dan,55,77.Purcell, H.,xi,12,54,55,71,77,90,134,135,136,148,149,164.Raff,63,107,126.Rameau,130.Ravenscroft,154.Reinhardt,77,151,161.Richter,37,152.Ricordi,85.Riemann,1,18,32,47,110.Roffe,165.Romani,119.Ronald, Landon,40.Rosa, Carl,99,133.Rosse, Frederick,78.Rossini,45,106,107,108.Rousseau,159.Rôze, Raymond,47,48.Rubens, Paul,156.Rubini,80.Rumling, Von,128.Saint Georges,87.Saint Saëns,43.Salvayre,115.Sankey,21.Santley, Sir Charles,146.Sardinia, King of,50.Scarlatti, D.,29.Schott,70.Schroeder-Devrient,57.Schubert,5,19,20,45,160.Schumann,47,48,62,63,131.Schuster,128.Schwanenberg,128.Scribe,137.Ségur,121.Shadwell,29,134,142,148,149.Sharp, Cecil,95.Shaw, Bernard,47.Silvestre, A.,137.Smetana,116.Smith, J. C.,7,90-92,134-136.Smithson, Henrietta,123.Smyth, Dr Ethel,5.Sontag,137.Spaight,146.Spohr,62-63.Squire, Barclay,7,34,47,128,148.Stadfeldt,34.Stanford, Sir Charles V.,100,103,156.Steibelt,120,121.Stephens,11.Stevens,166.Stevenson, Sir John,73.Stone,165.Strauss, R.,65,66,100,112.Stuart, Otho,22.Sturgis, Julian,100,103.Sullivan, Sir Arthur,45,55,77,141,142,157.Svendsen,128.Tamagno,109.Tamburini,80.Taubert, Emil,150.Taubert, Wilhelm,58,141,142,150.Taylor, Coleridge,114,157.Terry, Ellen,37,44,55.Thomas, Ambroise,29,30,31.Tindal, W.,73.Tree, Sir Herbert,22,23,47,88,114,156.Troutbeck, the Rev. J.,36.Tschaikowsky,23,25,35,125,126,144.Vaccaj, N.,120,121.Verdi,2,40,50,51,55,56,80,83-86,106,108,111,112,115.Veracini, F. M.,7.Viardot, Mme.,27,57.Vogler, Abt,27,154.Wagner,2,28,30,56,57,60,62,65,67-70,81,84,86,108,112,125.Wagner, Cosima,55.Webb, Gilbert,41.Weber,27,88,89.Weingartner, F.,52.Weiss,5.Weldon, John,71.Wilde, Oscar,100.Wilson, Dr John,71.Winter, Peter von,154.Wolff,51.Wood, Sir Henry,2.Young, Isabella,92.Zeno, Apostolo,28.Ziani,7.Zingarelli,120.