Shakespeare and Music Part 11

_Sir And._ Good, i'faith. Come, begin.

[_They sing a catch._]

_Enter_ MARIA.

_Mar._ What a caterwauling do you keep here!

_Sir To._ My lady's a Cataian; we are politicians; Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey, and "_Three merry men be we_."...

_Tilly-valley_, lady! [_Sings._] "There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady!"

_Sir To._ [_Sings._] "O! the twelfth day of December."----

_Mar._ For the love o'G.o.d, peace!

_Enter_ MALVOLIO.

_Mal._ My masters, are you mad? or what are you? Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to _gabble like tinkers_ at this time of night? Do ye make an _alehouse_ of my lady's house, that ye squeak out your _cozier's catches_ without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, or _time_ in you?

_Sir To._ _We did keep time, sir, in our catches._ Sneck up!

L. 103-114, another song, "Farewell, dear heart" [Appendix].

It is perhaps necessary to explain the nature of a Catch, or Round, more clearly. The two names were interchangeable in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was not till quite modern times that 'Catch' implied a necessary quibble in the words, deliberately arranged by the writer.

First, a Catch or Round of the best type of Elizabethan times consisted of _one melody_, generally perfectly continuous. Secondly, the said melody was always divisible into a certain number of _equal sections_, varying from three to six, or even eight; and as many sections as there were, so many voices were necessary. Thirdly, each of these equal sections was deliberately arranged so as to make _Harmony_ with every other.

Here are the words of a Round of the 17th century, which is divisible into three equal sections, and therefore is sung by three voices.

1. 'Cuckoo! Hark! how he sings to us.

2. Good news the cuckoo brings to us; 3. Spring is here, says the cuckoo.'

Now, the way for three persons, A, B, and C, to sing this Catch or Round, is as follows:--

A begins [see above, line 69, '_Begin_, fool'] line 1, and immediately proceeds to line 2; at this very instant, B in his turn begins line 1, and acts similarly. When A has reached the first syllable in line 3, and B is at 'Good' in line 2, it is time for C also to begin at line 1. As soon as A has finished line 3, he begins again; and so on with the others--'round' and 'round' till they are tired of 'catching' each other up.

Thus when they are all three fairly set going, their _one_ melody produces _three part_ harmony, and the catchers have drawn 'three souls out of one weaver.'

The principle in all other Catches or Rounds is exactly the same, however great the number of parts.

In the following we have another case of catch-singing. The original music of 'Flout 'em' has not come down to us.

_Tempest_ III, ii, 122.

_Stephano._ Come on, Trinculo, _let us sing_.

[They sing a _catch_, 'Flout 'em and scout 'em.']

_Caliban._ That's not the tune. [Very likely, as they were tipsy.]

[ARIEL _plays the tune on a tabor and pipe_.]

_Ste._ What is this same?

_Trin._ This is the _tune of our catch_, played by the picture of n.o.body.

L. 136.

_Cal._ Be not afeard; the isle is _full of noises_, _Sounds_, and _sweet airs_, that give delight, and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand _tw.a.n.gling instruments_ Will hum about mine ears; and sometime _voices_, &c.

_Ste._ This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I _shall have my music for nothing_.

L. 152.

I would, I could _see_ this taborer: [Ariel] he _lays it on_.

Also _Id._ III, ii, 119.

Stephano, like most of the scamps in Shakespeare, is a good musician.

He leads the catch, appreciates Ariel's tabor playing (l. 152), and is overjoyed to think that he will have all his music 'for nothing' (l.

145) in the magical isle.

Finally, in the _Taming of the Shrew_, we have the t.i.tle of another old catch, of which the music has survived--viz., 'Jack, boy.'

_Shrew_ IV, i, 42.

_Curtis._ Therefore, good Grumio, the _news_.

_Grumio._ Why, "_Jack, boy! ho, boy!_" and as much _news_ as thou wilt.

The words of this catch, which takes four voices, are--

'Jack, boy, ho! boy, news; The cat is in the well, Let us ring now for her knell, Ding, dong, ding, dong, bell.'

The music [see Appendix], like that of so many other catches, is anonymous, and is of some date long before Shakespeare.

_As You_ V, iii, 7.

_Touchstone._ By my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and a _song_.

_2 Page._ We are for you; sit i' the middle.

_1 Page._ Shall we _clap into 't roundly, without hawking, or spitting_, or _saying we are hoa.r.s.e_, which are the _only prologues to a bad voice_?