Musical Myths and Facts Volume I Part 17

One G.o.d is G.o.d of both, as poets feign; One knight loves both, and both in thee remain."

To conclude that Shakespeare must have been a practical musician, because he wrote beautiful poetry on the charms and power of music, would be as bold as to a.s.sume from certain pa.s.sages in his dramas that he was originally a lawyer, a soldier, a tinker or a horse-dealer.

Indeed, regarded as a critical opinion, his beautiful sonnet on Dowland is less valuable than the judgment of Dr. Burney, who remarks: "After being at pains of scoring several of Dowland's compositions, I have been equally disappointed and astonished at his scanty abilities in counterpoint, and the great reputation he acquired with his contemporaries, which has been courteously continued to him either by indolence or ignorance of those who have had occasion to speak of him, and who took it for granted that his t.i.tle to fame, as a profound musician, was well founded."[58]

John Bull, another English musician of some reputation, was a virtuoso on the harpsichord and organ. Perhaps the circ.u.mstance of his playing these instruments kept him aloof from the English Comedians on the continent; otherwise his restless and unsettled life would have fitted him well for their companionship. Born in Somersetshire, about the middle of the sixteenth century, John Bull, in the year 1601, made his first journey to Holland, France and Germany, where his organ performances, and even his compositions, found admirers. Having returned to England, he went, in 1607, a second time to the continent with the object, it is recorded, of restoring his shattered health,--or perhaps, as Dr. Burney surmises, to improve his shattered financial condition. He died in Germany. Sir John Hawkins, in his 'History of Music,' gives two Riddle Canons by John Bull, written in the shape of a triangle. The anecdote about the marvellous skill of this musician, exhibited by his adding forty more parts to a song composed in forty parts,[59] is so absurd as hardly to provoke a smile from anyone acquainted with the theory of music. John Bull has also been praised for having composed some pieces for the Virginal so difficult that even pianists of the present day are startled by his rapid pa.s.sages in thirds and sixths.

But, considering how rude and unmelodious these contrivances are, he would deserve greater praise if his music were easily executable, impressive, and better suited for the instrument for which it was composed, than is the case. If R. Clark's statement, according to which John Bull was the composer of the English National Anthem, were correct, he would have a greater claim to consideration than he deserves at present. The composers of old popular tunes are seldom known; it is therefore only proper to regard the whole nation as the composer of its princ.i.p.al national tune, if its origin has not been definitively ascertained; and in this sense it is perhaps right to a.s.sign the composition of the English National Anthem to John Bull.

Another English musician, Thomas Cutting, went to Denmark in 1607. He was a lutenist. There is no record of his having been in Germany. John Abell, an English singer and lutenist, gave concerts in Holland, Germany, and Poland, at the time of Charles II., consequently, after the period of the English Comedians' visit to the Continent.

It is a remarkable fact that, previous to the appearance of those musicians in Germany, England had already been visited by foreign musicians, whose talents, considering the positions obtained by several of them, must have had considerable influence upon the taste of their English colleagues. There were five German musicians in the service of Richard III., in the year 1483; eighteen foreign musicians in the service of Henry VIII.; and as far as can be made out from the corrupt spelling of the names, the bands of Edward VI. and of Queen Elizabeth contained about as many foreigners as that of Henry VIII. The Dutch lutenists, Philip van Welder and Peter van Welder, held a superior position in the band of Edward VI. The former had already been engaged by Henry VIII. as teacher on the lute to the royal children. The distinguished lutenist Jacques Gaulter (or Gouter), in the service of Charles I., was a Frenchman.

The generally acknowledged superiority of the foreign musicians explains the dissatisfaction with the popular taste expressed in the works of several English musicians. Already John Dowland complains in his Prefaces of being neglected. Matthew Lock, in his 'Little Consort of three parts, containing Pavans, Ayres, Corants, and Sarabands, for Viols or Violins,' London, 1657, remarks: "For those mountebanks of wit, who think it necessary to disparage all they meet with of their own countrymen, because there have been and are some excellent things done by strangers, I shall make bold to tell them (and I hope my known experience in this science will enforce them to confess me a competent judge), that I never yet saw any foreign instrumental composition (a few French Corants excepted,) worthy an Englishman's transcribing." John Playford, in his 'Musick's Delight on the Cithren,' London, 1666, complains: "It is observed that of late years all solemn and grave musick is much laid aside, being esteemed too heavy and dull for the light heals and brains of this nimble and wanton age; nor is any musick rendered acceptable, or esteemed by many, but what is presented by foreigners: not a City Dame, though a tap-wife, but is ambitious to have her daughters taught by Monsieur La Novo Kickshawibus on the Gittar, which instrument is but a new old one, used in London in the time of Queen Mary." Again, in his 'Introduction to the Skill of Musick,' John Playford complains: "Our late and solemn musick, both vocal and instrumental, is now justl'd out of esteem by the new Corants and Jigs of foreigners, to the grief of all sober and judicious understanders of that formerly solid and good musick." This is copied from the edition published in 1683; the first edition appeared in 1655. Christopher Simpson, in his 'Compendium of Practical Musick,' London, 1667, boldly a.s.serts: "You need not seek outlandish authors, especially for instrumental musick; no nation, in my opinion, being equal to the English in that way; as well for their excellent, as their various and numerous Consorts of three, four, five and six parts, made properly for instruments," etc. Thus also Christopher Simpson, at the conclusion of his 'The Division Violist, or an Introduction to the Playing upon a Ground,' London, 1659, says: "And here I might mention (were it not out of the Rode of my Designe,) divers others [besides Mr. John Jenkins]; most eminent men of this our nation, who, for their excellent and various compositions, especially for instruments, have, in my opinion, far outdone those nations, so much cryed up for their excellency in Musick."

The preference given by these musicians to their own music does not, however, throw much light upon the question: Of what kind was the music played by the English instrumentalists, who accompanied the comedians on the continent?

A satisfactory answer to this question may be obtained from an examination of the secular music popular in England about three hundred years ago, and from the stage directions in the dramas performed by the strolling actors.

As regards the diffusion of musical knowledge in England at the time of Queen Elizabeth, the historical records contain contradictory statements, which however may, with some discrimination, be reconciled with each other. It is well known that England possessed at that period some estimable composers of sacred music who would probably have obtained a hearing on the continent, had they not been obscured by the excellent Flemish and Italian church composers. Some intelligent foreigners who made a trip to England, at the time of Queen Elizabeth, praise the music which they heard in the princ.i.p.al churches of the country. Paul Hentzner, a German scholar, who visited England in the year 1598, remarks in his journal: "The English excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, though of a thicker make than the French." He subsequently expresses a less favourable opinion of the musical taste of the English: "They are vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells."[60] This statement accords with a remark of Dr. Burney in his History of Music, Vol. III., p. 143; and likewise with Handel's advice to Gluck, when the latter, after the performance of his opera 'Caduta de' Giganti' in London, anno 1746, complained of want of success: "For the Englishman you must compose something which is powerful, and which acts upon his tympanum."[61] Music was also called noise. For instance, in Shakespeare's Henry IV., Part II., Act 2, Scene 4:--

'And see if thou canst find Sneak's noise; Mistress Tearsheet would fain hear some music.'

It may be supposed that the popular taste for loud music was some centuries ago much the same as it is at the present day, where quant.i.ty is often more thought of than quality. But, there are some records from which it would appear that the cultivation of music was universal among the educated cla.s.ses. Henry Peacham in his 'Compleat Gentleman,' London, 1634, enumerates with the many requisite accomplishments of a gentleman, some practical and theoretical knowledge of the art of music. However, he does not describe the gentleman as he finds him, but, as in his opinion he ought to be. To conclude from his description that in the seventeenth century every English gentleman was musical, would be as unwarrantable as to conclude from Lord Chesterfield's well-known advice to his son to leave violin-playing to the professional musicians, that in the eighteenth century Englishmen of education considered it derogatory to play on a musical instrument.

In Thomas Morley's 'Introduction to Practical Musick,' London, 1597, which is written in dialogue, Philomathes says to Polymathes, in the beginning of the discourse, that recently when at a party he could not join in their madrigal singing after supper "euery one began to wonder.

Yea, some whispered to others, demaunding how I was brought up: so that vpon shame of mine ignorance, I goe now to seeke out mine old friend master Gnorimus, to make my selfe his scholler." This statement appears, however, to be in contradiction with one made about the same time in another instruction book, ent.i.tled 'The Schoole of Mvsicke; wherein is tavght the perfect Method of trve fingering of the Lute, Pandora, Orpharion, and Viol-da-Gamba; with most infallible generall rules, both easie and delightfull. Also a Method how you may be your owne instructor for p.r.i.c.k-song, by the help of your Lute, without any other teacher: with lessons of all sorts for your further and better instruction. Newly composed by Thomas Robinson, Lutenist; London, 1603.' This book likewise is written in the form of a dialogue, the persons in conversation being "Knight" and "Timothevs." In the beginning of the dialogue Knight remarks: "In mine opinion I think it impossible to be a good Musitien, except a man be seene in all the seauen liberall Sciences; for I know many great clarkes in Diuinitie, Phisicke, Law, Philosophie, etc., that haue small, or no knowledge at all in Musicke, nay, some quite reject it."

No doubt, these statements of two professional musicians contradictory to each other, as to the cultivation of music by English gentlemen towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, must not be taken literally, but rather as what the authors thought an ingenious and elegant manner of proving that their works supplied a want. Thus, Thomas Morley teaching vocal music, maintains that every young gentleman is expected to be a singer; and Thomas Robinson, teaching the lute and the cither, expresses his dissatisfaction that many gentlemen know nothing about musical instruments,--indeed, nothing of music. Moreover, Thomas Robinson is a "Student in all the liberall Sciences;" we know this from his own statement on the t.i.tle-page of his 'New Citharen Lessons,'

London, 1609; and being a learned man, he considers it impossible to be a good musician without being versed in "all the seauen liberall Sciences."

The fact that there is no English book dating from the sixteenth, seventeenth, or eighteenth century, which contains descriptions with ill.u.s.trations of the different musical instruments formerly in use in England, while a considerable number of such books were published on the continent, sufficiently proves, if other testimony were wanting, that instrumental music was not so much cultivated in England as on the continent. The English books of instruction for certain instruments were generally but poor compilations got up by the publishers themselves. The ill.u.s.trations of musical instruments given in Hawkins's 'History of Music' have most of them been copied from Luscinius and Mersenne.

Hawkins appears to have been unaware that these instruments, of which he gives descriptions derived from foreign sources, were formerly also in use in England. At any rate, he mentions several of them by their German names, without giving their English names.

Some English musicians who at the time of James I. visited the continent, Italianised their names, a rather unpatriotic act to which they probably would not have thought of resorting, had they not become convinced of the superiority of the continental music. John Cooper called himself Giovanni Coperario; and Peter Phillips, who lived for a time in the Netherlands, altered his name into Pietro Philippi.

As regards the national music of England at the time of the strolling instrumentalists, the inquirer may obtain reliable information by examining an old collection of popular tunes ent.i.tled 'The Dancing Master; or Directions for dancing Country Dances, with the Tunes to each Dance, for the Treble Violin.' The first edition was published by John Playford, about the middle of the sixteenth century. The work, which consisted of only one volume, became popular, and went through many editions with enlargements, until, at about the year 1700, it extended to three volumes containing nearly one thousand tunes. It may be surmised that this collection comprises nearly all the airs of the secular songs which were popular in England at the time of the Instrumentalists. It must be remembered that most of the airs of songs were also used as dance-tunes, and that comparatively but few of the dance-tunes in the earlier editions of the collection are instrumental pieces not derived from vocal music. Whether all these melodies are of English origin is another question. Some are known to be Welsh, others Irish, others Scotch; and some appear to have been derived from the continent. Some of the dances are of foreign origin, and most probably they became first known with the tunes which belonged to them when they were introduced into England. Afterwards, new tunes were composed to them, which more or less resembled the old ones. Irrespective of all those tunes in the 'Dancing Master,' which are apparently not English, there still remains a considerable number of specimens which may be accepted as genuine English tunes. They should be examined just as they are published, without modern harmony or any other arrangement which obscures their original character. Some of them are certainly odd. Take for instance the 'Cushion Dance,' with its melancholy tune, in which the dancers converse in song with the musicians.

[Music: JOAN SANDERSON, OR THE CUSHION DANCE.

AN OLD ROUND DANCE.

"_Note._--The first strain twice; the second once; and the last as oft as is required."]

"This dance is begun by a single Person (either Man or Woman) who taking a Cushion in their Hand, dances about the Room; and at the end of the Tune they stop and sing, _This Dance it will no further go_. The Musicians answer, _I pray you good Sir, why say you so?_ Man, _Because Jean Sanderson will not come too_. Musician, _She must come too, and she shall come too, and she must come whether she will or no_. Then he lays down the Cushion before a Woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing, _Welcome Jean Sanderson, welcome, welcome_. Then she rises, takes up the Cushion, and both dance, singing, _Prink.u.m-prank.u.m is a fine Dance, and shall we go dance it once again, once again, and once again, and shall we go dance it once again?_ Then making a stop, the Woman sings as before, _The Dance_, etc. Musician, _I pray you Madam_, etc. Woman, _Because John Sanderson_, etc. Musician, _He must_, etc. And so she lays down the Cushion before a Man, who kneeling upon it salutes her, she singing, _Welcome John Sanderson_, etc. Then he taking up the Cushion, they take hands and dance round, singing, as before; and thus they do till the whole Company are taken into the Ring. And if there is Company enough, make a little Ring in the middle, and within that Ring set a Chair and lay the Cushion in it, and the first Man set in it. Then the Cushion is laid before the first Man, the Woman singing _This Dance_, etc. (as before) only instead of--_come too_, they sing--_go fro_; and instead of _Welcome John Sanderson_, etc., they sing _Farewell John Sanderson, Farewell, Farewell_; and so they go out one by one as they came in. _Note:_ The Woman is kiss'd by all the Men in the Ring at her coming in and going out, and likewise the Man by all the Women."

The popular tunes of almost every European nation possess certain features of their own which the student of national music can ascertain and define. To p.r.o.nounce upon the original home of any one national tune is of course often as hazardous as to p.r.o.nounce upon a man's native country from his physiognomy. There are Germans who look much like Englishmen, but a number of Germans seen gathered together would not easily be mistaken for Englishmen. The same may be observed in every nation. We may occasionally meet with an Englishman who has the appearance of a Frenchman, a Chinese, or a Gipsy; but an a.s.sembly of Englishmen reveals a certain family-likeness appertaining to the English race. Thus also a collection of the popular tunes of a nation generally exhibits certain predominant peculiarities which enable us to determine whence the tunes came. Those in the 'Dancing Master,' regarded collectively, do not exhibit any family-likeness which it would be possible to indicate by words or by musical notation. They appear to have sprung from as many sources as the words of the English language.

The language has, however, a strongly marked individual character from the various adopted words having become Anglicized; while the musical compositions of Englishmen bear no stamp by which they could be recognized as English.

The English instrumentalists played, of course, chiefly the popular tunes of their time. It is unnecessary to explain in detail how the music was introduced into the dramatic performances. The works of Shakespeare, with which the reader is presumably familiar, show this sufficiently. They likewise contain many instances of the admission of popular songs or ballads,--such as Desdemona's "Sing willow, willow, willow;" Ophelia's "How should I your true love know?" or the Clown's "O mistress mine where are you roaming?" in Twelfth-night. Also vocal music composed for two or more voices was occasionally introduced,--even the jocular catch, which was especially relished in England, and which Shakespeare ridicules (Twelfth-night, Act II., Scene 3):--

'_Sir Toby Belch._--Shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch that will draw three souls out of one weaver? shall we do that?'

After some punning, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and the Clown sing together a catch.

_Enter_ Maria.

'_Maria._--What a caterwauling do you keep here? If my lady have not called up her steward, Malvolio, and bid him turn you out of doors, never trust me.'

In 'Hamlet,' Act III., Scene 2, strolling actors are introduced, and with them musicians playing on hautboys and recorders. In the representations of the English comedians in the Ottoneum, at Ca.s.sel, anno 1606, the instrumentalists always struck up after each act.[62] No doubt they played, besides their English tunes, also the most popular ones of Germany, which would ensure them a more favourable reception.

Travelling musicians who perform in public, almost invariably find it to their advantage thus to meet the taste of their audience. And it appears, likewise, very probable that the English Instrumentalists, on their return home, entertained their audience in England with the popular tunes, and perhaps some more elaborate pieces, with which they had become acquainted on the Continent, and which to the English public would possess the charm of novelty.

However this may be, the position of the Instrumentalists at home, after they had discontinued their continental tour, was by no means enviable, to judge from 'The Actors' Remonstrance, or Complaint for the silencing of their profession and banishment from their severall Play-houses, London, 1643,' in which the dejected actors remark: "Our Musicke that was held so delectable and precious, that they scorned to come to a Taverne under twentie shillings salary for two houres, now wander with their instruments under their cloaks, I meane such as haue any, into all houses of good fellowship, saluting every roome where there is company with, Will you haue any musike Gentlemen?"[63]

The English comedians in Germany generally performed in the German language. This must have been funny,--perhaps not the least so in pathetic pa.s.sages, solemn admonitions, or in reflecting monologues, where even the slightest foreign p.r.o.nunciation is apt to transform the sublime into the ridiculous. Here brevity must have been often desirable, and the falling in of the band may have afforded relief.

Thus, the English Instrumentalists, although they have exercised no influence upon the cultivation of the art of music, are certainly interesting, inasmuch as they have a.s.sisted in the earliest representations of the dramas of Shakespeare.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[45] 'The English Drama and Stage, under the Tudor and Stuart Princes, 1543-1664, ill.u.s.trated by a series of Doc.u.ments, Treatises, and Poems.

Printed for the Roxburgh Library, London, 1869.' P. 22.

[46] 'Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company of works entered for publication between the years 1570 and 1587; with notes and ill.u.s.trations by J. Payne Collier.' Vol. II., London, 1849. Printed for the Shakespeare Society. P. 142.

[47] 'The English Drama and Stage, under the Tudor and Stuart Princes; London, 1869.' P. 50.

[48] 'Geschichte der Oper and des Koniglichen Opernhauses in Berlin, von L. Schneider; Berlin, 1852.' Anhang, P. 15.

[49] 'Geschichte der Oper, etc., in Berlin, von L. Schneider; Berlin, 1852.' Anhang, P. 25.

[50] 'Shakespeare in Germany, by Albert Cohn, London, 1865.' P. lxxviii.

[51] 'Shakespeare in Germany, by Albert Cohn; London, 1865.' P. xxvii.

[52] 'Zur Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden, von Moritz Furstenau; Dresden, 1861.' Vol. I., P. 70.

[53] 'Zur Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden, von Moritz Furstenau; Dresden, 1861.' Vol. I., P. 96.

[54] 'Shakespeare in Germany, by Albert Cohn; London, 1865.' P. lx.x.xiv.

[55] 'Shakespeare in Germany,' P. lxi.

[56] 'Shakespeare in Germany,' P. xxix.

[57] 'England as seen by Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James the First, by W. B. Rye; London, 1865,' P. cvi.

[58] 'A General History of Music,' by C. Burney; London, 1789. Vol.

III., P. 136.

[59] Hawkins's 'History of Music.' London, 1776. Vol. III., P. 319.

[60] 'England as seen by Foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James I. By W. B. Rye; London, 1865.' P. 3.