Music in Shakespeare: The Bard's Innovative Use of Music as a Dramatic Tool

Is it not strange that sheep's guts should hale souls out of men's bodies?

- William Shakespeare

"Music oft hath such a charm to make bad good"is a quote from the play, Measure for Measure,and is indicative of the importance that William Shakespeare assigned to music in relation to the universe, his life, and his work. Shakespeare re-invented the way that music was used in drama, and in doing so, he shaped the utilization and adaptation of music in dramatic productions, films, and television to this day.

While still remaining complementary to the text and drama of the plays, music furthered the dramatic purpose of nearly all of Shakespeare's works, especially in his comedies. Shakespeare's had a belief in the healing and transformational power of music, and also in music's ability to "tame the savage beast" or, control nature. This was a driving force in his use of music in his dramatic works, and provides a thematic unity among some of his most compelling songs.

This paper will provide a brief exploration into: the different types, styles and musical "conventions" that were utilized in Shakespeare's plays; the different ways that music was used as a dramatic force in the plays; and finally, Shakespeare's influence on the development of modern-day soundtracks for films, stage and television productions and his impact the evolution of classical ballet.

However, it must be noted than an exploration of this type can only be a mock-exploration. American avant garde composer John Cage said that, "The only valid statement or criticism of a piece of music is another piece of music." This statement strikes a responsive chord with this author as he starts to explain the myriad and complex uses of music in Shakespeare. Without hearing the music, we can only speculate on its aesthetic value to the dramatic work. Without experiencingthe music and play together we can only hypothesize on what such an experience would be like.

With only a limited knowledge of Elizabethan culture, we are sure to miss many of the subtleties and nuances in the music that are specific to that culture. Because most of the songs do not have a surviving score, we can not hear what they originally sounded like, and are left with the adaptations of a seemingly endless line of musical interpreters, from the 17^th through 20^th centuries. Few of these interpretations contain the original melodies of the songs, nor are they played with the original Renaissance-era instrumentation.

What we are left with are songs, read as poems, stage directions that cause us to close our eyes and imagine, (but not experience), and distant memories of the sounds of the lute, which we may have heard on public television, or at a Renaissance Faire.

With these inadequate tools, I will offer an overview of music in Shakespeare: his utilization of different musical conventions, his inventive uses of music in the furtherance of dramatic tension and resolution, and the impact of Shakespeare's approach to the employment of music in drama on everything that has come hence.

Types of Music:

Shakespeare made use of songs that were established in the popular repertoire of the period as well as original works. In both cases, the songs in his plays never seem to be extraneous, and often serve a multitude of intricate purposes, all of which support the dramatic progression of the plays.

Shakespeare and his collaborator, Fletcher, exhibited mastery in choosing musical genres, songs and styles that would further audiences' understanding of the characters in each work, and also allow them to experience the works on a more visceral level. The types of musical conventions which appeared in the plays represent a cross-section of Elizabethan musicology and include: serenades; drinking songs; work songs; odes and laments; lullabies; sea shanties; and rounds, all used very much in imitation of real life in Renaissance England, or of one of the different locales that make up the settings for each of the respective plays.

In Act II Sc. ii of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses an established musical convention, the lullaby, to lull Titiana to sleep. She is later awakened by a song from Bottom, founding a pattern on which fairy music puts people to sleep and mortal music awakens them. This pattern is repeated in the denouement scene of the same play, in which Oberon and Titiana dance while the cast of the "play within a play" sleep. The sleeping workers-turned-actors are later awakened by the hunters' horns of the mortal, Thesus.

In The Tempest we are introduced to the "sea shanty" by Stephano and Caliban. This sea shanty doubles as a "drinking song," as the singers are involved in Bacchanalian reverie when they sing it. A drinking song, recognizable as such, also appears in Othello, Act II Sc. iii, as Cassio and Iago sing while they drink.

In Act IV, Sc.iii of Othello, Desdemona sings to poignant effect. This famous song: "The Willows Song" is a lover's complaint, and may be regarded as a Renaissance version of the blues.

Orpheus, an archetypal symbol for the power of music, is first mentioned in The Tempest, but is later more fully utilized in Henry VIII, when we observe the Queen singing a ditty that is known in Shakespearean parlance as "Orpheus' Song." This may be, like the sea shanty in The Tempest, the drinking song in Othello, or the Renaissance version of the blues in Othello, another time-tested musical convention: the "work song;" sung while the women are spinning.

In addition to the songs, the language of the verse in the plays of Shakespeare is exquisitely musical. Verse and music are closely intertwined and each provides and enhancing effect to the other. Songs like: "Over hill; over dale" and "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows" are notable for their poetic imagery as well as their melodies. The distance between verse and song is not so great and the songs in Shakespeare's plays often wield as much dramatic intensity as the speeches.

The varied uses of song in character development and dramatic progression:

Music in Shakespeare usually serves multiple purposes. Attempting to categorize songs by the purpose they serve presents challenges as the musical selections often fit into more than one category. Terms like: "revelatory songs," "ritualistic songs," "epiphantic songs" and "atmospheric songs" often fall short in describing the full depth of the playwright's purpose in choosing a musical passage. What follows is an overview of some of the more inventive and replicated uses of music, as well as the nomenclature that describes them.

Revelatory songs serve the purpose of distilling the themes of the play or the complex elements of a certain character's personality down to a digestible and easy to understand medium. In the Arden Shakespeare edition of As You Like It,Agnes Latham, speaking of "feigned friendship" as a theme in the play, states that: "It is the songs that establish it as a theme in the play."[1] These revelatory songs are often employed to establish the character or mental state of the singer. In Act V of The Tempest,Ariel reveals his self-image to the audience in the "Where the bee sucks" song. In Othello, Iago uses songs to give himself the appearance of a tough soldier. In King Lear, Edgar fakes madness by singing snatches of a folk song.

Many revelatory songs,like the "Willow Song" in "Othello," have carefully chosen imagery that supports the playwright's quest to have the audience better understand his characters and themes. The image of the willows is one of "love lost," which is expository of Desdemona's sense of loss at this critical point in the dramatic progression of the play. But, "The Willow Song" is also a good example of a song serving multiple purposes, as stated above. The Willow Song distills the theme of the play, comments on the power of music and also gives insight to Desdemona's mental state in her hour of crisis.

This song tells not only of Desdemona's extreme sadness, but is also used as a metaphor, and as a tool for foreshadowing. The use as a tool of foreshadowing is illustrated when the reader combines the words of the song with the dialogue preceding the song. Desdemona says that she heard the tune from a former maid of her mother's. The maid sang this song the night she died, after her love had forsaken her. The eventual death of Desdemona by Othello's hand is the event alluded to in the singing of the song.

Also in Othello, Act II, Sc. iii, the "Iago Song" exhibits the lowbrow nature of the villain, Iago, and has been described by one Shakespearean scholar as akin to the singing of a television commercial in modern times.

In As You Like It, Amiens, like Desdemona, sings as a character in the play from the stage. His "Under the greenwood tree…" song from Act II, Sc. v. is atmospheric in that it is about the forest, a magical and healing place. It is also revelatory-revealing Jaques, whom we come to understand on a deeper level as he interacts with Amiens in the singing scene.

Like the "Willow Song," Amiens' song is foreshadowing, telling us of the impending banquet of the Duke.

In two of the plays, songs are used to enchant and, after enchanting, to deceive. In OthelloAct II, Sc. iii, we see Iago use liquor, in conjunction with the aforementioned drinking song, to trick Cassio. This scene is re-enacted-almost in its entirety-in The Tempest, when Stephano and Caliban drink, sing sea shanties, and strike an unholy allegiance that is later dissolved.

"Ritualistic songs" are used for incantatory, magical, and ceremonial purposes. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses music and dance to prepare us for, or introduce us to, the supernatural, and as an extension of this, magic and alchemy. The fairies use "You spotted snakes" as a sleep-inducing charm; the use of the lullaby described above prepares us for the magic of the love-juice that is to be sprinkled into Titiana's eyes.

Like "The Willow Song," the imagery is carefully chosen: the poem invokes Philomen, a nightingale, whose song has ever since been associated with love. This parallels the careful choice of imagery in Othello's "Orpheus Song," which invokes an archetypal symbolic figure for the power of music.

Jaques' "What shall he have that kill'd a deer" in As You Like It, is named by Agnes Latham, as a song that is "related to very ancient rituals.[2]"

Ritualistic songs sometimes occur near the conclusion of a play; at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream, for example, a fairy ensemble closes the play with a dance, when Titania calls upon her fairies to:

"First, rehearse your song by rote,

To each word a warbling note

Hand in hand, with fairy grace

Will we sing, and bless this place."

Dance is used to symbolize the reconciliation of Oberon and Titiana, and is precursored by Oberon's earlier refusal to dance with Titiana. Dance is again used as a ritual to bless the home of the mortals and draw the play to a close. Likewise, Juno's song "Honor, riches" in Act IV, scene i, of The Tempest is clearly the ritual blessing of a marriage and a charm incanted to promote fertility and ward off illness and disfigurement in the children that will come as a result of that fertility.

The introduction of magic through musical accompaniment is repeated in The Tempest,Act I, Scene iii,where "heavenly music" introduces alchemy that causes the shipwrecked cast to "stand charmed." Like A Midsummer Night's Dream, the music is used by one character to bewitch another; in this case Ariel is casting a spell on Ferdinand.

Shakespeare certainly believed in the power of music as a healing force and in its power to influence nature-the idea of the "music of the spheres" and the effect of both heavenly and earthly harmonies on the wellness of the human spirit. The healing power of nature, as exhibited in the Forest of Arden in As You Like It, is supported in that play by a series of songs (more songs than any other play) that support the audience's experience of the pastoral setting of the work. In the Arden Shakespeare edition of As You Like It, Agnes Latham says, "The songs evoke a carefree mood and conjure up the woodland on the stage."[3]

Perhaps Shakespeare's most telling evocation of this concept of the transformational power of music comes from Act V, Sc. i, of The Merchant of Venice, where Lorenzo again speaks of Orpheus, and of the power of music:

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears. Soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony…

And a little further in this speech:

…Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

Lorenzo goes on to describe the calming effect of Orpheus' music on wild beasts:

…Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage
But music for the time doth change his nature.

In The Tempest, music introduces mystical and magical scenes, and like our modern-day soundtracks, provides "background music" for parts of the scenes. Background or atmospheric music also provides emotional cues for audiences, and (when it is played between scenes) an ambiance that frames the drama-to-come-a technique that is in wide usage in modern-day movie theaters. Readers of the plays can gain insight into authorial intentions by reading the stage notes to the plays, which often reveal directives like "soft solemn music."

The idea of background music is revisited and further developed in Henry VIII,Act I, Sc.iii,where Shakespeare uses-like the French mélodrame-proserecited over music.

The directive "solemn music" appears once again in the stage directions of The Tempest Act II, Sc. i., where Ariel lulls Antonio and Gonzalo to sleep. During the playing and singing of this song, the singer, the sprite Ariel, is invisible to Ferdinand, who is listening. This type of musical placement might be categorized as an "atmospheric," or "background" usage, but both the choice and the placement of music show that it serves dual, and even multiple purposes, and as such, gives witness to Shakespeare's genius.

As discussed above, music is used to let the audience know, either through text or how performed, about the personality of the singer. Ariel's song "Come unto these yellow sands," in The Tempest, reassures the shipwrecked arrivals in Prospero's magical realm, but also tells the audience that Ariel is a sprite. The sense that the music is coming from somewhere that cannot be seen promotes the feeling that it is also atmospheric, in that it gives audiences the feeling that something magical is about to occur.

The aforementioned "sea shanty" in Act II, Sc. ii of The Tempest: "I shall no more to sea, to sea," in addition to being a song used to enchant or deceive, is also a character piece, showing Stephano's vulgarity and lack of caring for others. This piece is also a good example of a song taken from the popular culture of Shakespeare's time, as it is representative of the many English tavern songs of that era.

Music sometimes resolves issues that the play cannot. In these "epithantic"uses, music is employed to announce an epiphany. An excellent example of this comes in Act V Sc. iii of King Lear, when Reagan enters with a trumpeter as Edmund has his anagnorisis.

Trumpets and other brass instruments also sounded "flourishes," which were brought into the plays to announce royalty with all is gradient levels. In King Lear, horns announce royalty, and in Shakespeare's time, each of these royal crescendos served as "codified" themes that announce different levels of royalty or specific characters, who through codifying, were provided with individual musical themes.

Through these examples, we can see that the multiplicity of purpose in Shakespeare's usage of music makes the songs in his plays defy categorization.

How Shakespeare's use of music relates to all that comes after it:

From a chronological distance, we are able to see the emergence of music as an increasingly important element in drama in Shakespearean times, and also how the use of music in Shakespeare has set the pace for Broadway playwrights, television producers and filmmakers ever since.

Although music had been used in dramatic presentations as far back into history as the age of ancient Greeks, Shakespeare facilitated a paradigm shift in the way that music was used.

It was customary in Tudor drama to include at least one song in every play. Only the most profound tragedies occasionally eschewed all music except for the sounds of trumpets and drums. In his later tragedies, Shakespeare defied this orthodoxy and used songs startlingly and movingly, particularly in Othello and King Lear.

In performance, small onstage bands accompanied serenades, dances, and masques. Vocal songs, (such as Desdemona's "Willow Song") would be sung by the character on the stage itself. In Othellothe musicians actually appear on the stage.Other times, however, music would be performed from under or to the side of the stage, or from a "music room," all of which might be viewed as forerunners to the contemporary orchestra pit.

Offstage, these bands provided interludes between acts and atmospheric music to establish the emotional climate of a scene, very much as film music does today. By way of the stage instructions, "solemn," "strange," or "still" music often accompanied pageantry and magic in many of the plays. This mood-setting usage, which has been an integral ingredient to film presentation since the days of "the silents", was pioneered and developed by Shakespeare and his Globe Theater cronies.

It is interesting to note that in Shakespearean drama, with rare exception, major figures never sang, except when in disguise or in distracted mental states. Singing was done by servants, clowns, fools, rogues, and minor personalities; a group which (it may be argued) includes all women. Most songs, in fact, are addressed to the protagonists themselves.

In Henry VIII,we witness the Shakespearean roots of modern ballet demonstrated in the "Dance of the Blessed Spirits." Here, Shakespeare introduces structured dance that is integral to the story line; a precursor of ballet, a medium in which an entire story is told through dance. This phenomenon appears again in The TempestAct III, Sc. iii, where the supernatural is introduced ("several strange shapes") and a dance precedes a magical, (actually imaginary), banquet. The spectacle of dance also plays a mammoth role in the resolution of the story line in A Midsummer Night's Dream, as both the rift between Titiana and Oberon is mended through a dance, and the play itself culminates in the dance of the fairies. This, perhaps more than any other play, integrates story and dance, thus providing seminal creative fodder for the development of ballet.

In conclusion, Shakespeare intended for music in his plays to encompass a larger role than simply an interruption or distraction; he carefully inserted the music in support of his overall dramatic goals for the work. This is a testimony to the innovative nature of Shakespeare's creative genius. His use of music represents a departure from the norm, as well as a bold, and eminently successful step in the furtherance of artistic achievement, which, like many aspects of Shakespeare's work, has been instrumental in the development of dramatic productions ever since.

***

Works Cited:

1. Long, John H.: "Shakespeare's Use of Music: A Study of the Music and Its Performance in the Original Production of Seven Comedies"
2. Sternfeld, F.W. "Music in Shakesperean Tragedy"
3. "The ArdenShakespeare, 2^nd Editions" of: As You Like It, edited by Agnes Latham;

King Lear, edited by R.A. Folkes;

Measure for Measure, edited by J. W. Lever;

A Midsummer Night's Dream, edited by Harold Brooks;

The Tempest, edited by Virginia Mason Vaughn and Alden T. Vaughn;

Much Ado About Nothing, edited by A. R. Humphreys; and

Merchant of Venice , Edited by Agnes Latham.

[1] The Arden Shakespeare, As You Like It, p. xxiii

[2] The Arden Shakespeare, As You Like It, p. xxiv

[3] The ArdenShakespeare, As You Like It, p. xxiv