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    • Jan 9, 2022
    • 5 min read

Twelfth Night or Music from Elizabethan England

GREATER FREDERICKSBURG CHAPTER OF THE ARS

January 9, 2022 Chapter Meeting

Chapter Representative: Dr. Kelly Kazik

Technical officer: Jarrett Rodriguez

Conductor: James Kazik

Instagram: @fredrecorder

DID YOU MISS OUR MEETING? You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/iSxwIOg0zTQ

Twelfth Night...Music of Elizabethan England...


What is Twelfth Night? Twelfth night is the evening of January 5th, the 12th day of Christmas. January 5th is also the eve before the Epiphany (January 6). The Epiphany is when the wise men presented gifts to the infant Jesus in the Christmas story. In Tutor England, Twelfth night was celebrated with special food, singing, dancing, and general merry making. In Elizabethan England, add a couple of plays to your merry making, and you’ve got a jam packed evening.


Shakespeare’s Plays and Music…

For the purpose of this discussion, we will assume that there was a person named William Shakespeare (https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Shakespeare) and he actually wrote the plays to which the music we will discuss is attached. (If you’d like to explore some of the hypothesis as to the REAL identity of William Shakespeare, knock yourself out.


William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford upon Avon, England. It is thought that he produced the bulk of his work between 1583-1613. His first plays may have been performed in London in 1592. Shakespeare acted as well as wrote and is listed as still acting in 1608. Some contemporary accounts indicated that Shakespeare retired around 1610. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of 52.


The role of music in Shakespeare’s plays...

In Tutor through Stewart drama it was customary to include at least one song in all but the most serious plays. William Shakespeare seems to have bucked this trend by including songs in all of his plays; both drama’s and comedies. The music itself would be used to move along the action or set an emotional mood, not unlike film music today.


The more lavish the production, the more music would be used. If a performance was given at court, instrumentalists would be employed to accompany songs and play background instrumental music. Small companies would have an actor or two who could sing and perhaps play a stringed instrument in the tradition of the minstrel.


In Shakespeare’s plays, Shakespeare used the following character archetypes to engage in singing: servants, clowns, fools, rogues, and minor characters. Major characters never sang unless they were in disguise or an agitated mental state. Most of the songs used by Shakespeare are ADDRESSED to the major character.



Who was writing the music for Shakespeare’s Plays?…


Robert Johnson (c. 1583-1633), Robert Johnson’s father died when he was around 13 years old. After his father’s death, he was sent to live in the household of George Carey, 2nd Baron Hudson. The Carey’s were patron’s of composer and lutenist John Dowland. Robert Johnson would eventually become lutenist to Queen Elizabeth I and work at the Blackfriar Playhouse.


Robert Johnson (c. 1583-1633), Where the Bee sucks, from The Tempest (Act V, scene I)


(Where the Bee Sucks 1:48:00)



Synopsis:

Prospero releases Alonso and the court party from their charmed state and renounces the further use of his magic. Alonso restores Prospero to the dukedom of Milan, and, in return, Prospero reunites him with Ferdinand. Ariel arrives with the ship’s master and boatswain, and all are soon joined by Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, whom Prospero sends off to decorate his cell. As they prepare to set sail for Naples, Prospero gives Ariel his freedom.


Thomas Ravenscroft was a music theorist, editor and a composer of rounds. He was most likely trained as a choir boy at St. Paul’s Catherdral in 1594. He studied and collected folk music, like a 16th century Bartok. He is mostly remembered for his collections of folk music.

Sometimes there is no specific song called for in the play itself, but music could be used in the background or for scene changes. This scene is the last of the scenes which takes place in Gloucestershire. The scene is considered to be playful and relaxed and invokes an idyllic setting.


Thomas Ravenscroft (1582-1635) Three Country Dances in One, from Henry IV, part 2 (Act 5, scene iii)




John Wilson (1595-1673) Take, oh take those lips away, from Measure for Measure (Act IV scene I)


John Wilson was a lutenist and the successor of Robert Johnson as the principal composer for the King’s Men. John Wilson earned a Doctor of Music (D. Mus) from Oxford.



(1:24:20 Mariana is singing it!)

Synopsis:

This song is from Measure for Measure, the only one of Shakespeare’s plays to be set in Vienna, and is sung by a boy to Mariana, the woman whom Angelo promised to marry before abandoning her, reneging on his promise. The tone, therefore, is bittersweet, and slightly more on the melancholy side.


More than many other songs that appear in Shakespeare’s plays, then, ‘Take, Oh Take Those Lips Away’ fits with the character in the play to whom it relates, on both an emotional and thematic level. In summary, the singer asks a false beloved to go away from them and leave off trying to kiss them with their lips – because the lips with which they would kiss are also the ones they used to perjure themselves (hence why the lips were ‘forsworn’).


John Whitfelde (fl. 1588-c.1620), Sweet Oliver, from As You Like It, (Act III, scene iii)




Synopsis:

Touchstone, desiring a goat-keeper named Audrey, has arranged for a country priest to marry them in the woods. Jaques persuades Touchstone to wait until he can have a real wedding in a church.


Instrumental Music…

Instrumental music was sometimes included in the play proper and not just as scene change music.



Anonymous, The Sinkapace (Galliard), from Twelfth Night (Act I, scene iii)



(dancing 12:15)

Synopsis:


At the estate of Lady Olivia, Sir Toby Belch, Olivia’s kinsman, has brought in Sir Andrew Aguecheek to be her suitor. Maria, Olivia’s lady-in-waiting, says that Andrew is a fool, and Andrew himself doubts his ability to win Olivia, but Toby encourages him to woo her.



Thomas Morley (1577-1602) Though Philomena Lost Her Love (Canzonet)



Thomas Morley was a composer, theorist and keyboard player. He knew Robert Johnston and lived in London at the same time as Shakespeare. He set a number of songs to music including “It was a Lover and his Lass” from As You Like It. Morley was known for his secular, instrumental music. This canzonet was NOT used in a Shakespeare play, (as far as I can figure). I just like it.


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