Chapter 9

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[Reads from the paper]

"A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth." Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief! That is, hot ice, and wonderous strange snow. How shall we find the _concord of this discord_?

In the _Merchant of Venice_, Shylock mentions the procession of a masque through the streets, forbidding Jessica to look out of the window at these 'Christian fools with varnished faces.' The music accompanying the procession is named--viz., drum and fife.

_Merchant_ II, v, 22.

_Lancelot._ 'You shall see a _masque_' ...

_Shylock._ What! are there _masques_? Hear you me, Jessica. Lock up my doors; and _when you hear the drum_, And the _vile squeaking of the wryneck'd fife_, Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street To gaze on _Christian fools with varnish'd faces_.

The 'vile squeaking of the wryneck'd fife' is of some musical interest. The adjective 'wryneck'd' refers, not to the instrument itself, which was straight, but to the player, whose head has to be slightly twisted round to get at the mouthpiece. Mersennus (b. 1588) says that the Fife is the same as the Tibia Helvetica, which was simply a small edition of the Flauto Traverso, or German Flute. That is, the Fife of those days was much the same as the modern Fife of the cheaper kind, with the usual six holes, and a big hole near the stopped end, where the breath was applied. The instrument was therefore held _across_ [traverso] the face of the player, whose head would be turned sideways, and hence comes Shylock's description of it as the 'wryneck'd' fife.

In _Much Ado_, Benedick draws a distinction between the Drum and Fife and the Tabor and Pipe. The former (see _Othello_ III. iii. 353) were of a decided military cast; whereas the latter were more associated with May Day entertainments, bull-baitings, and out-of-door amusements generally. The Tabor was a little drum, the Pipe (as explained before, in Section III., about Autolycus) a tiny whistle with only three holes. The two were played simultaneously by one person.

_Much Ado_ II, iii, 13. Benedick, of Claudio in love.

_Ben._ I have known, when there was no _music_ with him but the _drum and the fife_; and now had he rather hear the _tabor and the pipe_: ... but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; ... of good discourse, an _excellent musician_, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.

Besides these more civilised 'pipes,' the country-man's pipe of cornstalk is mentioned by Titania, in _Mids._ II. ii. 8. This was really a 'reed,' not a whistle of any kind.

The tabor leads one on to the Tabourine, which was the full-sized military drum, corresponding to the modern side-drum. See _Troil._ IV, v, 275. 'Beat loud the tabourines,' and _Antony_ IV, viii, 37, 'our rattling tabourines.'

The drum supplied the great proportion of military music in those days, besides having its importance as a means of signalling orders to the troops. This is dealt with more fully in the chapter on Stage Directions.

Parolles' sham anxiety about a lost drum is mentioned fourteen or fifteen times in _All's Well_ III. v. and vi.; and IV. i. Parolles earns his nickname of 'Tom Drum,' in Act V. iii. 320.

The following is an interesting passage of a more serious kind--

_K. John_ V, ii, 164.

_Lewis_ [Dauphin.] Strike up the _drums_! and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest, and our being here.

_Bastard._ Indeed, your _drums_, being _beaten_, will cry out; And so shall you, being _beaten_. Do but start An _echo_ with the clamour of thy drum, And even at hand a _drum_ is ready brac'd, That shall reverberate all as loud as thine; _Sound_ but _another_, and another shall, As loud as thine, _rattle the welkin's ear_, And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder.

An entirely different use of the Drum is alluded to by Parolles, in his slanderous evidence against Captain Dumain.

_All's Well_ IV, iii, 262.

_1 Soldier._ What say you to his expertness in war?

_Parolles._ 'Faith, sir, he has _led the drum before the English tragedians_, ... and more of his soldiership I know not.

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."

VII

ON THE USE OF THE MUSICAL STAGE DIRECTIONS

_With references to the same Words as they occur in the Text_

_Alarum, Alarums_ (of Drums), occurs as a stage direction about 72 times in fourteen of the historical plays, always in connection with battle. It is found alone, as above, about 45 times, sometimes qualified--_e.g._, Loud alarum, Low alarum, Short alarum, Alarum within. _Alarums and Excursions_ occurs about 21 times, always in fight. ['Excursions' merely means 'parties of men running about;' see the stage direction _H. 6. A._ IV, vi. 'Excursions, _wherein_ Talbot's son is hemmed about;' also _Id._ I, v, where the direction has 'Alarum. _Skirmishings_,' instead of the usual 'excursions.']

A few special cases are--Alarum _with thunder and lightning_, _H. 6. A._ I, iv, 97; _Flourish and Alarums_, used by Rich. III. to drown the reproaches of Q. Eliz., etc.; Alarum and _chambers_ [cannon] _go off_, _H. 5._ Act iii. line 33 of the chorus, and again _Id._ end of scene 1; Alarum _and cry within_, 'Fly, fly, fly,' _Jul. Cæs._ V, v; Alarum afar off, _as at a sea fight_, _Ant._ IV, x.

Out of the 72 cases in the stage directions, 70 mean a call to battle by _drums_. There are only two exceptions, where the Alarum is identified with trumpets, _H. 6. B._ II, iii, 92, and _Troil._ IV, v, 112, 117.

Skeat gives the original of the term as 'all'arme' (Ital.) a war cry of the time of the Crusades. For the _form_ of the word, he compares _arum_ (arm) and _koren_ (corn).

_'Alarum' in the text._

The word is used 13 times in the text of Shakespeare; and in 6 of these it refers to _drums_, as in the stage directions _H. 6. A._ I, ii, 18, I, iv, 99, II, i, 42; _R. 3._ I, i, 7; _Cor._ II, ii, 76; _H. 5._ IV, vi, 35.

But in two of the remaining examples, alarum is distinctly said to be _trumpets_, _H. 6. B._ II, iii, 93 and V, ii, 3; while other more extended meanings are found--_e.g._, in _Venus and Adonis_, l. 700, where it refers to the noise of the dogs hunting the hare; in _Macbeth_ II, iii, 75 and V, v, 51, where alarum is used of a Bell; also in _Lucrece_, 433, of Tarquin's 'drumming heart' 'giving the hot charge,' and _Othello_ II, iii, 27, of Desdemona's voice, which Iago says is 'an alarum to love.'

_Flourish_, either simply in this form, or 'Flourish of Trumpets' (six times) or 'Flourish of Cornets' (twice), occurs about 68 times in seventeen plays.

Out of these, it is used some 22 times for the entrance or exit of a King or Queen; 12 times for the entrance or exit of a distinguished person not a king; 10 times in the public welcome of a Queen or great general; 7 times it marks the end of a scene; 6 times heralds a victorious force; twice announces the proclamation of a King; twice signalises the entrance or exit of Senate or Tribunes; and twice gives warning of the approach of Play-actors [See Section VI., at end], or the commencement of a Play. [Players in Hamlet, and Pyramus and Thisbe in _Mids. Nt._].

Some solitary uses are where Rich. III. orders a Flourish to drown the reproaches of Qu. Eliz. and the Duchess of York; the occasion of the betrothal of H. V. and Katherine of France; and the public welcome of the three Ladies in Coriolanus. The last is _A Flourish with drums and trumpets_, which occurs several times. In Grove's Dictionary (under 'Fanfare') is given a seven bar Flourish which is believed to be of Charles II.'s time, and is still used at the opening of Parliament. [Appendix.]

'Flourish' in the text is only found twice. In _Richard III._ IV, iv, 149, 'A flourish, trumpets!--strike alarum, drums!' we have a clear definition of the two terms mentioned; and in _Merchant_ III, ii, 49, 'even as the flourish when true subjects bow To a new-crowned monarch;' a reference to the principal use of the Flourish, which was to signify the presence of Royal persons.

_Trumpets_, _A trumpet sounds_, _Trumpet sounded within_, _Drums and trumpets_, _Flourish of Trumpets_ (6 times).

One or other of the above occurs some 51 times in twenty-two plays, either alone, or in connection with Sennet, discharge of cannon, etc. On 18 of these occasions it announces the entrance or presence of a King or Royal personage; 13 times it figures as part of the proceedings in Duels; 10 times signifies the entrance or exit of principal persons, not royal, great generals, etc.; 3 times precedes a public procession, with Royal persons in it; twice it is connected with the advent of Royal Heralds; and once with the arrival of Players (_Shrew_, Prologue. See also Flourish).

Thus 'Trumpets' divides the honours with 'Flourish' as the mark of Royalty.

Examples of the use of the term in the text are numerous, and are found in most of the plays. They are not generally of very special interest.

_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.

Here are a few relics of Stage Music before Shakespeare's day.

The playing of the minstrels is frequently mentioned in the old Miracle Plays, and the instruments used were the horn, pipe, tabret, and flute. In the Prologue to the Miracle Play, Childermas Day, 1512, the minstrels are requested to 'do their diligence,' and at the end of the Play to 'geve us a daunce.'

In Richard Edwards's _Damon and Pithias_ [Transcriber's Note: 'Pithias' is correct for the title of this play], acted in 1565, there is a stage direction. "Here Pythias sings and the regalles play." Also, when Pythias is carried to prison, "the regalls play a mourning song." Thus the Regal, a tiny organ that could be easily carried about, was considered a proper instrument for the stage. In the old Comedy, Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1566, mention is made by one of the characters of the music between the acts--

"Into the town will I, my friendes to visit there, And hither straight again to see the end of this gere; _In the meantime, fellowes, pype up your fidles_: I say take them, And let your friends hear such mirth as ye can make them."

In Gascoyne's _Jocasta_, 1566, each act is preceded by a dumb show, accompanied by "viols, cythren, bandores, flutes, cornets, trumpets, drums, fifes, and still-pipes." In Anthony Munday's comedy _The Two Italian Gentlemen_ (about 1584), the different kinds of music to be played after each act are mentioned--_e.g._, 'a pleasant galliard,' 'a solemn dump,' or 'a pleasant Allemayne.' A little later, Marston, in his _Sophonisba_, 1606, goes into considerable detail as to the music between the Acts; after Act I., 'the cornets and organs playing loud full music'; after Act II., 'organs mixed with recorders'; after Act III., 'organs, viols, and voices'; after Act IV., 'a base lute and a treble viol'; and in the course of Act V., 'infernall music plays softly.' Fiddles, flutes, and hautboys are mentioned by other dramatists as instruments in use at the theatre at this time.

Rimbault's Introduction to Purcell's opera 'Bonduca' gives the names of twenty-six Masques and Plays produced between 1586 and 1642 (when the theatres were closed), all of which contained important music. Amongst them are Jane Shore, by Henry Lacy, 1586, with music by William Byrd; seven masques by Ben Jonson, dating 1600-1621, four of which had music by Ferrabosco; a masque by Beaumont (1612) with music by Coperario; a play Valentinian, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1617) set by Robt. Johnson; The Triumphs of Peace by Shirley (1633), with music by William Lawes and Simon Ives; several other masques, set by Henry Lawes, who did the music to Milton's _Comus_ (1634), etc. The list also includes Shakespeare's _Tempest_, with Robt. Johnson's music, two numbers of which, viz., 'Full fathom five,' and 'Where the bee sucks,' are printed in Bridge's Shakespeare's Songs, with date 1612.

_Retreat_, or _A Retreat sounded_, generally with Alarum, or Excursions, or with both.

_Retreat_ by itself occurs only three times, but in company with Alarums and [or] Excursions may be found in 16 other places. The whole 19 cases occur in eleven plays.

The word explains itself. The actual notes of a Retreat of Shakespeare's time are not known.

In the text it has the same meaning.

_H. 6. A._ II, ii, 3. 'Here sound retreat, and cease our hot pursuit.'

_H. 6. B._ IV, viii, 4. 'Dare any be so bold to sound retreat or parley, when I command them kill'?

_H. 4. A._ V, iv, 159. 'The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours.'

_H. 5._ III, ii, 89. _Macmorris_, 'the work ish give over, the trumpet sound the retreat.'

_March, Dead March._

There are 18 marches provided for altogether; 4 are Dead Marches; 3 National--viz., English, French, and Danish; and 11 ordinary military marches.

Probably all are identified with _Drums_, without any other instruments. For the three national marches, see _H. 6. A._ III, iii, 30 and 33 [Transcriber's Note: Added missing scene number], and _Hamlet_ III, ii, 91.

Hawkins gives (Hist., p. 229) the text of a Royal Warrant of Charles I., ordering the revival of the ancient 'march of this our English nation, so famous in all the honourable achievements and glorious wars of this our kingdome in forraigne parts [being by the approbation of strangers themselves confest and acknowledged the best of all marches].' The warrant goes on to say that this ancient war march of England 'was, through the negligence and carelessness of drummers, and by long discontinuance, so altered and changed from the ancient gravitie and majestie thereof, as it was in danger utterly to have bene lost and forgotten.' It appears that 'our late deare brother prince Henry' had taken steps to have the old march restored, at Greenwich, in 1610; 'In confirmation whereof' the warrant orders all English or Welsh drummers to 'observe the same,' whether at home or abroad, 'without any addition or alteration whatever.' 'Given at our palace of Westminster, the seventh day of February, in the seventh yeare of our raigne, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland.'

Then follows the march, expressed both in musical notes and onomatopoetic words. It consists of a Voluntary, and then seven lines of 'The March,' each of which ends with a 'pause.' The first line is given thus--Pou tou Pou tou [fermata symbol over next word] poung. The next three lines are very similar. Line 5 is more elaborate, and the last two lines run as follows:--

_R R R R_ [fermata symbol over next word] poung.

_R R R_ pou _R R_ pou tou pou _R_ tou pou _R_ [fermata symbol over next word] poung potang.

See the appendix for the translation into musical notes, which is given in the warrant itself, but the accuracy of which is questionable.

It seems pretty clear that this ancient march of England is of a period long anterior to the warrant of Charles I. Several passages of that document point to this. At any rate, it was so old as to have almost dropped out of knowledge in 1610.

Hawkins gives an interesting note, in which he mentions that the characteristic of the old English march of the foot was 'dignity and gravity,' in which it differed greatly from that of the French, which is given by Mersennus (_b._ 1588) as 'brisk and alert.'

There is a curious story of a conversation between Marshal Biron, a French general, and Sir Roger Williams, a gallant Low-country soldier of Elizabeth's time. The marshal observed that the English march _being beaten by the drum_, was slow, heavy, and sluggish. 'That may be true,' answered Sir Roger, 'but slow as it is, it has traversed your master's country from one end to the other.'

The references in Shakespeare all go to confirm the opinion that the March was played by drums alone--_e.g._, _H. 6. C._ I, ii, 69, where the stage direction is _A march afar off_, which is immediately followed by 'I hear their _drums_.' Again, in the same play, Act IV., sc. vii. line 50, '_Drummer_, strike up, and let us _march_ away. [_A march begun._]

_Hautboys._ This is an important musical term, and occurs about fourteen times in eight plays. It always implies a certain special importance in the music, and is generally connected with a Royal banquet, masque, or procession. In six cases, at least, the direction has some special qualification--_e.g._, Hautboys playing _loud_ music; _A lofty strain or two_ to the hautboys; Trumpets and hautboys sounded, and drums beaten _all together_. In _Ant._ IV, iii, 12, Hautboys supply the supposed ominous 'music in the air.'

The term is closely connected with 'Music,' the remarks on which apply equally to the present case. (See above, on 'Music,' and the music of 16th century plays).

Not long after Shakespeare's time, orchestral music for the theatre consisted of stringed instruments only (_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. Anything beyond this was supplied by the addition of trumpets, though this was rare; while Drums were very occasionally used.

The stage direction in Shakespeare may be taken to mean--'Let the hautboys be added to the usual band of strings.' In the last of the above examples, _Coriol._ V, iv, 50, we have the extreme limit of power of this time provided for--viz., trumpets _and_ hautboys _and_ drums, _all together_. It is interesting to notice the wording of Menenius's description of this stage music. 'The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries, and fifes, Tabors and cymbals.' The 'sackbut' was merely our modern slide trombone, while the rest of these instruments were in common use in the 16th century, except the Psaltery, which Kircher (b. 1601) says is the same as the Nebel of the Bible. The picture he gives is remarkably like the dulcimers which may be seen and heard outside public-houses to this very day, _i.e._, a small hollow chest, with the strings stretched across it. An instrument of this kind could be played with the fingers, like a harp, or with a plectrum, like a zither, or with two little knob-sticks, like the dulcimer. Mersennus (b. 1588) also identifies the Psaltery with the Dulcimer.

In the text, the Hautboy is only named once, in _H. 4. B_ III, ii, 332, near the end of Falstaff's soliloquy, on old men and lying, where he says that Shallow was such a withered little wretch that _the case of a treble hautboy_ was a mansion for him, a court.

The 'treble' hautboy corresponds with our modern instrument, and was the smallest in size of the hautboy tribe, of which only two now survive--viz., the Oboe proper, and its cousin, which is a fifth lower in pitch, and correspondingly larger, and which has curiously picked up the name of Corno Inglese, Cor Anglais, or English Horn. None the less it is the Alto Hautboy. The tenor and bass of the family have not survived. Hautboys in four parts were the backbone of the French regimental bands in Lully's time--_i.e._, about 1670. [Appendix.]

The spelling of the word in the old editions of Shakespeare is 'hoeboy,' which is very like the modern German Hoboe.

_Sennet._ This is a rare direction, and is found only nine times in eight plays, as against sixty-eight 'Flourishes' and fifty-one 'Trumpets.' The notes of a sennet are unknown. Three times it marks the entrance or exit of a Parliament, three times is used in a Royal or quasi-royal procession, and the remaining cases are royal, or near it.

In the 1st Folio of Hen. V., the word is spelt _senet_, but in later ones, _Sonet_, as if the former were a misprint. In Marlowe's Faustus (published 1604), Act iii. sc. i., we find '_sound a sonnet_' [enter Pope, Cardinal, etc.]. Also the French Cavalry of 1636 used trumpet calls named _Sonneries_. These seem to point to a derivation of the word from _sonare_, and thus the spelling ought to be _sonnet_, not _sennet_.

But other forms are found--Synnet, Signet, Signate, which may be proper derivatives of _signum_, and thus make this trumpet call 'a signal,' instead of 'a sounding'; or (which is as likely) may be corruptions, perhaps of the somewhat featureless form 'Synnet,' caused by a misunderstanding of the original misspelling 'senet.'

In the text of Shakespeare the word does not occur.

_Cornets_, or _Flourish Cornets_ (only twice).

This is also rare, occurring only eight times in four plays. One case only is in war, the others being all connected with Royal or triumphal processions.

The term is by no means synonymous with Trumpets. The Cornet was an entirely different instrument, and the use of it accordingly is very much more limited in these stage directions. 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.

Many people now living will remember the Serpent, a large, black, curly instrument, of thin wood covered with leather, which helped to play the loud bass in oratorios, within the last fifty years. This Serpent was a true Cornet in every respect. It may now commonly be seen in Exhibitions, Museums, and curiosity shops, for it has been entirely superseded by the Bass Tuba and the Euphonium.

In the text the word Cornet does not occur.