Open Writing

In June last year I was asked to do a musical presentation for the local Shakespeare Circle’s year-end function, to be held in early December. Just as well I was given so much notice: it took a long time and a huge amount of research for me to reach the conclusion that, although there is a veritable range of mountains of music written as a result of Shakespeare’s collected works, very little of it is purely for the flute. Doing a flute and piano recital based on these works would be impossible, without taking a lot of time and effort to arrange them, an area in which I have little talent and no facility.

It took about three months for me to realise that many works that I play regularly could be made to suit the ambience of many of the plays and poems written by the Bard, though they may not specifically be inspired by them. And so I began working on my programme, and the words to go with it.
Here is my tribute to the art of Shakespeare and the beauty of music:

“If music be the food of love, play on…”
Thus spoke Duke Orsino in Act I of Twelfth Night.

The Bard was a writer of note –
And it’s notes that we deal in,
The musical variety.
And so – tying words to notes
Is our purpose here this evening.
Many were the instruments
Our Will would have heard:
Consorts of viol – that’s v-i-o-l, not v-i-l-e –
Predecessors of violins and ‘cellos and such…
Scraping away in renaissance modes.

Here, Susan and I played a short and sweet Mode by Thomas Tallis. Then I continued:

There were pipes – mostly fifes,
Shrill and out of tune,
Coupled with drums a-banging:
“Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
”The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
”The royal banner, and all quality,
’Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!”
That was said by Othello, in Act III, Scene iii.

Of course, here we played an extract from Elgar’s famous Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. It was a short extract, not translating particularly well from the full orchestral score.

In Shakespeare’s day,
Voices singing sweet Madrigals and Ayres,
Simple, easy to sing,
Easy to listen to,
Would have been heard on the street,
In theatres and parlours…
Such as Greensleeves, of which we played a fairly short version. Contrary to many centuries’ rumour, this was not written by Henry VIII. Its composer remains anonymous.

Throughout the ages, from the Renaissance of Shakespeare’s times, through the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods in music, composers have written songs, operas, incidental music and ballets, inspired by the Bard’s poems and plays. “In sweet music is such art…” said Shakespeare, and:

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:-
O no! it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out ev’n to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”

At this point, my imagination, musically speaking, came to life: we played a Chanson, or song, written by John Rutter, part of his Suite Antique for flute and piano. John Rutter was born in 1945 and is still, to my knowledge, writing music today. It was not, as far as I know, written with Shakespeare in mind, but it seemed, to me at least, to echo the sentiments in the sonnet just quoted.

Shakespeare dealt with love
Bright and shining and new:

"It is my soul that calls upon my name.
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!"
That was said by Romeo in Act II, scene 2 from Romeo and Juliet. The work that most suited that quotation was, of course, ‘A Time for Us’, the theme from the particularly beautiful 1968 Franco Zefferelli movie, starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.

But there was a darker side to our playwright.
Think of The Scottish Play –
Of Witches and plots,
pathos and touches of tender love,
ending in Murder and Mayhem and Madness –
The witches begin the action:
“When shall we three meet again
”In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
“When the hurlyburly's done,
”When the battle's lost and won.”
Lady Macbeth is bent on seeing her husband commit murder:
“The raven himself is hoarse
”That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
”Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
”That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
”And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
”Of direst cruelty…
“…Come, thick night,
”And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
”That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
”Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
”To cry 'Hold, hold!'”

Later in the play, as we all know, Lady Macbeth goes mad:

“Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,
”then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my
”lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
”fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
”account?--Yet who would have thought the old man
”to have had so much blood in him.”

And later:
“What’s done cannot be undone”

The 2nd Movement of Cesar Franck’s sonata, which we played at this point, contains elements of all this ‘sturm und drang’.

Returning to Romeo and Juliet,
Our Will dealt with death and grief and love lost,
The agony of a soul left alone:

Juliet, wakening in the tomb, finds Romeo dead beside her:
“What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand?
”Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end…”

Juliet takes Romeo’s dagger, exclaiming,
“O happy dagger!
“This is thy sheath;”

And she stabs herself in the heart:
“there rust, and let me die.”

The 3rd Movement of Franck’s sonata, titled Fantaisie, eloquently describes the series of mis-haps and mis-communications that lead to the tragic death of the lovers, their devastation, pain, grief and anger.

But, with Shakespeare, not all is doom and gloom.
Shakespeare celebrates life
And laughter,
and love-ever-after.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon instructs Puck:

“Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
”The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
”Will make or man or woman madly dote
”Upon the next live creature that it sees…”
Puck departs on his errand and Oberon continues:
“Having once this juice,
”I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
”And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
”The next thing then she waking looks upon,
”Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
”Or meddling monkey, or on busy ape,
”She shall pursue it with the soul of love…”

As we know, it was foolish Bottom in the guise of an ass, with whom she fell in love!

Mendelssohn’s Scherzo* embodies the joyful capers

Of elves and fairies and humans –
and poor Bottom –
And so, with these many notes, we salute you,
And wish you all:
A very merry Midsummer Night’s party!

*Mendelssohn’s Scherzo from his suite of incidental music, written for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was the only work we played which was designed to fit in with Shakespeare’s plot. Originally the work was written for full orchestra with several flute interludes. We performed a fiendishly difficult version transcribed for flute and piano. It was a grand flourish to end a presentation that was much appreciated by everyone. Another challenge was well met, ending our musical year on a wonderful ‘note’.

Until next time…. ‘here comes Treble!’
The End
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by Isabel Bradley