Shakespeare and Music Part 24

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 pa.s.sages of that doc.u.ment 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-ba.s.s) 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 k.n.o.b-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 ba.s.s 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 coa.r.s.e 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 ba.s.s 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 ba.s.s 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 Ba.s.s Tuba and the Euphonium.

In the text the word Cornet does not occur.

_Tucket._ Rare, only _seven_ times in six different plays. This is one of the several trumpet calls we have noticed. It seems to have been a French term, _toquet_, or _doquet_, and this is defined by Littre, as _quatrieme partie de trompette d'une fanfare de cavalerie_--that is, the name 'toquet' was applied to the fourth trumpet in a cavalry fanfare. Mr Aldis Wright, in his Clarendon Press Edition of Hen. V., gives Markham, quoted by Grose in 'Military Antiquities,' which explains 'Tucket' as a trumpet signal, which, 'being heard simply of itself without addition, commands nothing but _marching after the leader_.' Certainly in Shakespeare it seems to be used as a _personal_ trumpet call--_e.g._, _Merchant_ V, i, 121, Lorenzo says to Portia, 'Your husband is at hand; I hear his trumpet--'_i.e._, the 'tucket sounded' which is indicated in the stage direction. Other cases of the use of the Tucket are quite similar--for instance, the return of Bertram, Count of Rousillon, from war; the arrival of Goneril (_Cornwall._ What trumpet's that? _Regan._ I know't, my sister's:) or the emba.s.sy of aeneas. Once it is used to herald Cupid and the masked Amazons, in _Timon_; and twice at the entrance of Montjoy, the French Herald, in _Hen. V._

The derivation of the word from _toccare_, and its connection with _tocco di campana_, _tocsin_, and _tusch_, have already been explained in the notes on Hortensio's music lesson to Bianca. (See Sec. II.)

In the Appendix is given an Italian Tucket of 1638, and a French one of 1643.

In the text the word is only found once--viz., _H. 5._ IV, ii, 35, where the Constable of France orders the trumpets to 'sound the tucket-sonance, and the note to mount,' which fits in with Markham's definition, for the pa.s.sage appears to recognise the tucket as in some sort a _preparatory_ signal.

It is perhaps worth noting, that of the seven tuckets in the stage directions, only one, Goneril's, is supposed to be an English one. In the single instance just given of its use in the text, it is a _French_ general who uses the word. Perhaps this may be regarded as confirming the view of its foreign origin.

_Parley_, or _Trumpets sound a parley_, either alone, or with _Retreat_. This call is named in the stage directions 7 times in five plays, viz.--_H. 6. A._ _three_ times; _H. 6. B._ once; _R. II._ once; _H. 4. A._ once; and _H. 5._ once. It means either a trumpet call announcing an _emba.s.sy_ from one party to the other, or for _cessation_ of hostilities during the fight itself. Of course the name is derived from _parler_, with a reference to the proposed 'pow-wow'

of the opposing forces.

The notes of a parley do not appear to exist.

[Perhaps a little light may be got out of the symphony to Purcell's duet in King Arthur, 'Sound a Parley ye fair.']

In the text, the word is used several times. In three cases, _John_ II, i, 205, 226 [Transcriber's Note: Added missing scene number] and _H. 5._ III, iii, 2, 'the parle' means the conference of the parties itself, not the trumpet call summoning them. In the rest, 'parle' or 'parley' simply means the sound of the trumpet, as explained above.

_H. 6. B._ IV, viii, 4; _R. 2._ I, i, 192, III, iii, 33; _H. 6. C._ V, i, 16; _Oth.e.l.lo_ II, iii, 23.

_Horns_, or _Horns wind a peal_, or _Horns winded_.

This is very rare. Seven times in only four plays, one of which is the doubtful _t.i.tus Andronicus_.

Three times it is used of hunting horns, _t.i.tus_ II, ii, and _Id._ l.

10, and in the Induction of the _Taming of the Shrew_; twice as a part of Lear's lessened state, _Lear_ I, iii and I, iv; once announcing the Post from England, _H. 6. C._ III, iii; and once blown by Talbot as a military signal at the forcing of Auvergne Castle gates, _H. 6. A._ II, iii.

The 'peal' of horns referred to in _t.i.tus_ II, ii, 10 is a technical term in forestry for a particular set of notes on the horn. Mehul (1763-1817), in his overture 'Le jeune Henri,' introduces several old French hunting fanfares, which perhaps may give an idea of what was meant by 'Horns wind a peal.' [See Appendix.] Also in Purcell's 'Dido and Eneas,' No. 16 (date 1675), in the scene between the Sorceress and the two witches who are plotting the destruction of 'Elissa,' at the words 'Hark! the cry comes on apace,' the violins give an imitation of a hunting call.

The only instance of the use of the word 'peal' in the text is in the same pa.s.sage, _t.i.tus_ II, ii, 5, where t.i.tus tells his hunters to 'ring a hunter's peal.' Here we have a last example of punning on a technical term of music.

APPENDIX

1. Example of Descant [_Lucrece_, 1134] from Morley, 1597 (see Introduction, p. 6 and p. 24).

[Music]

If the lower part was added _extempore_, it was called Descant, but if written down as here, it was called p.r.i.c.k-song, because 'p.r.i.c.ked'

down. The Plain-song is perhaps more often found in a lower part, the Descant being higher. From the position of the added part, the above example is called 'ba.s.s' descant.