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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Shakespeare's intimate acquaintance with the music of his time and his enthusiasm for the art are well known, and there can be little question that he consorted to some extent with the London musicians of 1600. Certain of them may have been actively associated with the production, and possibly with the composition, of his plays. Precisely what form such association took, however, is a matter upon which investigation has hitherto yielded only meagre and confusing results. Speculation links Shakespeare's name with many composers and performers of the period, some of whom must indeed have supplied both the incidental music so abundantly required for his stage productions and the earliest settings of his lyrics.
1 About 500 Shakespearian passages dealing with musical matters provide ample testimony on this point. Summarized statistics are available in E. W. Naylor, “Music and Shakespeare,” The Musical Antiquary (April, 1910), pp. 129–130. See also Naylor, The Poets and Music (London: Dent, 1928), pp. 89–91.
2 The subject has been treated in detail in Louis C. Elson, Shakespeare in Music (Boston: L. C. Page & Co., 1900); in A. H. Moncur-Sime, Shakespeare: His Music and Song (London: Kegan Paul, n.d.); in E. W. Naylor, Shakespeare and Music (London: J. M. Dent, revised ed., 1931).
3 E.g., with John Dowland the lutenist, who was at the Danish Royal Court after 1598 and may have associated with Shakespeare when he came to England in 1601; with the two Danyl brothers, John the lutenist, who was also a poet, and Samuel, tutor to Lord Herbert, later the Earl of Pembroke, who has been mentioned as possibly the “rival poet” of the sonnets. See Peter Warlock, The English Ayre (Oxford University Press, 1926), pp. 52–63; E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare, a study of facts and problems (Oxford, 1930), i, 568.
4 A full discussion of the subject is provided by G. H. Cowling, Music on the Shakespearian Stage (Cambridge, 1913).
5 Besides the two Morley settings to be discussed in this paper, the following should be mentioned as important, although lack of space and certainty as to conclusions prevents their analysis here: Thomas Ford's setting of “Sigh no more, ladies,” in Much Ado, found in a MS. of the mid-seventeenth century (MS. 726–28, Christ Church, Oxford); and Robert Johnson's settings of “Full fathom five” and “Where the bee sucks,” in The Tempest, possibly for its first performance, published at Oxford in 1659; see J. Frederick Bridge, Songs from Shakespeare (London: Novello, n.d.), prefatory note; J. F. Bridge, Shakespearean Music (London: Dent, 1923), pp. 24–49.
6 See Tucker Brooke, The Shakespeare Songs (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1929), pp. 141–145, for a list of such items in the plays.
7 The most striking instance of this procedure is provided by Shakespeare's burlesque of Robert Jones's ayre, “Farewell dear love,” which had appeared in Jones's First Book of Songs in 1600, as “Farewell dear heart,” sung by Sir Toby Belch with interruptions by Malvolio and the Clown in Twelfth Night. See Chambers, Shakespeare, I, 405. The Jones music is found in The English School of Lutenist Song Writers, 2nd Series, vol. iv (London: Stainer & Bell, 1925), No. xii, pp. 24–25. Elson, op. cit., pp. 216–218, shows how Shakespeare's actors divided Jones's music amongst themselves. See also E. W. Naylor, Shakespeare Music (music of the period) (London: Curwen, 1912), pp. 22–24.
8 For biographical details on Morley, see E. H. Fellowes, English Madrigal Composers (Oxford, 1921), pp. 177–190; Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, art. “Morley” by G. E. P. Arkwright; W. H. Grattan Flood in The Musical Times, London, March 1, 1927, pp. 228–229; Warlock, op. cit., pp. 117–121.
9 Chambers, E. K., The Elizabethan Stage (Oxford, 1923), iii, 168, n.; Arber, Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers (London, 1875–1894), iii, 93. Morley may also have participated as an actor in a “device” in honor of the Queen on November 17, 1595. Chambers, op. cit., p. 212.Google Scholar
10 See Joseph Hunter, New Illustrations of the Life, etc., of William Shakespeare (London: Nichols, 1845), i, 76–79; Charles I. Elton, William Shakespeare, his Family and Friends (London, 1904), p. 218; John W. Hales, “London Residences of Shakespeare,” Athenaeum, no. 3987 (London, March 26, 1904), pp. 401–402; M. S. Guiseppi, “The Exchequer Documents relative to Shakespeare's Residence in Southwark,” Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archeological Society, n.s., v (London. 1929), 283–287. The goods of both Shakespeare and Morley were assessed at the same amount (thirteen shillings and four pence on five pounds) in 1598. The inference that they both appealed against this assessment is subject to modification. See correspondence of E. Brennecke, Jr., and E. H. Fellowes, in The Musical Times (London), Feb. 1938, pp. 138–139; and April, 1938, p. 288. It does, however, seem reasonable to conclude from the data now at hand that Shakespeare and Morley were associated as acquaintances, neighbors, and possibly as co-workers in some of their songs.
11 The first Professorship of Music at Gresham College in Bishopsgate Street was at this time held by the celebrated virtuoso John Bull. See J. F. Bridge, Twelve Good Musicians (London: Kegan Paul, 1920), pp. 1–5. In the same parish lived the numerous Bassano family, prominent in musical annals from 1587 until well on in the seventeenth century; also Giles Farnaby, virginalist and madrigalist. See G. E. P. Arkwright, “Notes on the Parish Registers of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate,” in The Musical Antiquary, October, 1909, pp. 41–42. John Wilbye, the most accomplished musical stylist of the period, spent at least some of his time in Broad Street Ward nearby. See The English Madrigal School, ed. by E. H. Fellowes (London: Stainer and Bell, vol. vii, 1914), pp. iii, vi, xxiii.
12 Chambers, Shakespeare, ii, 90.
13 Chambers, Shakespeare, i, 401.
14 A note on the title page reads: Imprinted at London in litle S. Helen's by William Barley, the assigne of Thomas Morley, and are to be sold at his house in Gracious streete. 1600.
15 Op. cit., p. 125.
16 Shakespeare, i, 402.
17 Moore, John Robert, “The songs of the public theatres in the time of Shakespeare,” JEGP, xxviii (1929), 182.Google Scholar
18 English School of Lutenist Song Writers, vol. xvi (Morley's First Book of Airs) (London: Stainer and Bell, 1932), pp. iii, 28 n. If Fellowes's conclusion is correct, there would still remain some doubt as to whether the words are to be attributed to Morley or to some other poet. See also note 26.
19 Chambers, Shakespeare, i, 401–402.
20 Formerly the Advocates' Library. See Warlock, English Ayre, p. 118; R. Noble, Shakespeare's Use of Song (Oxford, 1923), p. 76 n.
21 The First Booke of Ayres, or little short songs, to sing and play to the lute with the base viole. Newly published by Thomas Morley, Bachiler of Musiche, and one of the Gent. of her Maiesties Royall Chappel. 1600. The copy is incomplete, ending at the middle of the fourteenth song. Songs 15–21 are missing and also the two final instrumental numbers, a pavan and galliard. After many vicissitudes this volume, now in the Folger Library at Washington, was edited and printed by Dr. Fellowes in 1932, as vol. xvi of The English School of Lutenist Song Writers (see notes 14 and 18).
22 Chambers, Shakespeare, i, 145–146.
23 He refers to “the solitarie life which I lead (being compelled to keepe at home)” in his Plaine and Easie Introduction, page 1 of the address “To the curteous Reader.“
24 Rimbault, E. F., The Old Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal, Camden Society (1872), pp. 71–73; 123.Google Scholar
25 Nichols, John, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (London, 1823), iii, 439–441; 498–515.Google Scholar
26 Noble, op. cit., p. 76. Dr. Fellowes has kindly supplied an ingenious argument in support of this position, in a letter to the writer, dated July 2, 1938. Referring to the altertion of Morley's arrangement of the stanzas and the juxtaposition of the first two in the Folio without any space between them, he remarks, “It is thought by many that in any case this scene and the song hold up the action rather unduly, even if only two verses are sung. If Shakespeare wrote the whole song (as in Morley) why did he write so many stanzas if he only needed two, as seems indicated, altering the first line of Morley's fourth stanza so as to make it follow better as a second and concluding stanza? The alteration of the order, the alteration of this line, and the spacing of the four stanzas in the Folio all point strongly in my mind to the adaptation of Morley's song by Shakespeare for his purpose in As You Like It. It is also quite possible as an explanation that the song was not included in the play at its first production, but added later, possibly even after Shakespeare's death.“
This argument seems doubtful, and its evidence may point in another direction. The jamming together of the two stanzas in the Folio was possibly a typesetter's error; but if it has any significance it might in even greater likelihood indicate that the entire lyric, as it appears in the Morley text, was composed by Shakespeare and sung in the first production of the play; that its compression and alteration took place between 1600 and 1623 as experiences with stage performances seemed to make a speeding-up of the action desirable. Further, if no more than two stanzas were ever used on the stage, how did the whole song get into the Folio? More conclusive evidence seems needed before Shakespeare's authorship of the words can be confidently denied, or before the whole scene can be rejected from the play.
27 Chambers, Shakespeare, i, 402. Thomas Lodge, Rosalynde, ed. by E. C. Baldwin (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1910), pp. 126–127.
28 Chambers, Elizabethan Stage, iii, 173 ff.
29 Fellowes, English Madrigal Composers, p. 142.
30 “The Ape, the Monkey, and Baboon did meet,” no. x in Airs or Fantastic Spirits, 1608. See Fellowes, English Madrigal Composers, p. 204. English Madrigal School., xiii, xvi, 24–25.
31 Fellowes, English Madrigal Composers, p. 142.
32 Chambers, Shakespeare, i, 405.
33 The title page of the second edition reads, The First Booke of Consort Lessons, made by diuers exquisite Authors, for sixe Instruments to play together: viz. the Treble Lute, the Pandora, the Citterne, the Base-Violl, the Flute, and the Treble-Violl. Collected by Thomas Morley, Gentleman, now newly corrected and inlarged. Printed by Thomas Snodham for Iohn Brown . . . The Assigne of William Barley, 1611. 198 pp. The New York Public Library has issued a copy in score, in “a black and white direct positive contact print of MS. (1932), made by Sydney Beck, from the citterne and bass-violl parts of the 1599 ed., and pandora, flute, and treble-violl parts of the 1611 ed. . . . Photostat reproduction of 1611 t.-p., dedication, and table of contents.“
34 Chappell, W, Popular Music of the Olden Time (London: Chappell & Co., 1859), i, 209; Music to Shakespeare's Plays, ed. by Steuart Wilson, no. 1, Twelfth Night (Oxford University Press, n.d.), arrangement by Elizabeth Maconchy, p. 1; Naylor, Shakespeare Music, p. 14; Moncur-Sime, Shakespeare: his Music and Song, harmonized by A. Eagle-field Hull, pp. 178–179; Bridge, Shakespearean Music, pp. 77–78; Bridge, Songs from Shakespeare, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar
35 In the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book ed. by Maitland and Squire (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1894–99), no. lxvi, i, 258–262. The Fitzwilliam MS. was probably written between 1608 and 1619 by the younger Francis Tregian while in the Fleet Prison—see Introduction, vol. i, pp. viii-ix. Bridge presents an additional setting, adapted to Byrd's harmonization as well as his rearrangement of the tune, in his Songs from Shakespeare, pp. 4–6.
36 Quoted in Noble, op. cit., p. 81.
37 The English Ayre, pp. 120–121.
38 William Byrd (Oxford University Press, 1936), p. 210.
39 There is still another “Mistress mine,” no. viii in Morley's First Book of Airs; but this has nothing to do with the present song, its opening line being “Mistress mine, well may you fare,” and its tune being entirely different.
40 Proceedings of the Musical Association, 60th Session, 1933–1934 (Leeds: Whitehead & Miller, 1934), p. 81.
1 Warlock, Peter, The English Ayre (Oxford Univ. Press, 1926), p. 118.Google Scholar
2 Ibid., p. 120.
3 “Shakespeare and Music” in (A Companion to Shakespeare Studies, ed. H. Granville-Barker and G. B. Harrison (New York: Macmillan, 1934), pp. 158–159.
4 From a letter to me (Jan. 9, 1938).
5 From a letter to me (Jan. 11, 1938).
6 From a letter to me (Jan. 9, 1938). In a subsequent letter (Jan. 21, 1938) Dr. Fellowes refers me to his William Byrd (Oxford Univ. Press, 1936), p. 210.
