Shakespeare and Music

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Title: Shakespeare and Music

Author: Christopher Wilson

Release Date: March 30, 2011 [EBook #35721]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE AND MUSIC ***

Produced by Al Haines

THE LATE CHRISTOPHER WILSON

SHAKESPEARE AND MUSIC

BY

CHRISTOPHER WILSON

LONDON

THE STAGE OFFICE

16 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 2

1922

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHRISTOPHER WILSON: A MEMOIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii INTRODUCTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 AS YOU LIKE IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CORIOLANUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CYMBELINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 HAMLET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 KING HENRY IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 HENRY VIII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 JULIUS CAESAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 KING LEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 MACBETH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 MEASURE FOR MEASURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 OTHELLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 KING RICHARD III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 ROMEO AND JULIET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 THE TEMPEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 TIMON OF ATHENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 TWELFTH NIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 THE WINTER'S TALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 SHAKESPEARE'S SONGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

CHRISTOPHER WILSON

A MEMOIR

(Reprinted, by kind permission of the Editor, from

The Musical Times of April 1, 1919)

When Christopher Wilson published his master-song, Come away, Death, in 1901, The Times said of it that it was "all that such a song should be—fantastic, yet deeply pathetic, and as musicianly as a work by a Mendelssohn scholar ought to be." The words italicised remain true of all that this gifted composer left us; and the pity of it is that for various reasons, some of which will appear in the present notice, so little of his work has been printed.

Chris Wilson, as he was known to hosts of friends in Bohemian circles, was born at Melbourne, in Derbyshire, on October 7, 1874. He came of musical stock on both sides. Many stories, based on undoubted fact, are current as to the boy's proficiency on the pianoforte, even before he reached his teens; and while at Derby School, where his headmaster was J. R. Sterndale Bennett, a son of the composer, he played for the eleven—a somewhat rare combination of talents. There was never a doubt as to young Christopher's future calling; and his brilliant career at the Academy more than fulfilled his early promise. He carried off no fewer than three bronze and three silver medals, and was at the end of his third year awarded three certificates: for the pianoforte, harmony, and sight-singing. He also gained the Agnes Zimmermann Prize. Wilson received every encouragement from the Principal, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, while his professors for harmony and composition, pianoforte, and viola (his second subject) were Mr Frank Davenport (his uncle), Mr Oscar Beringer, and Mr Walenn, respectively. No one was surprised when he capped all his previous successes by carrying off the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1895. He went abroad—as winners of the British Prix de Rome usually do—and studied under Wüllner at Cologne, von Herzogenberg at Berlin, and Widor at Paris. His gifts were appreciated by his foreign teachers as they had been at home. The beautiful Suite for strings (since, 1901, published by Schott) was performed at Cologne at one of the principal concerts—a compliment that had been paid to only one young Englishman before him, Arthur Sullivan. Moreover, he was selected by Wüllner to coach a tenor at the Opera in the part of Tristan—no small distinction. There can be no question that Wilson brought back to England one great asset[1]: he had heard all the great operas over and over again, and it was as a composer and conductor for the theatre that he was destined to make his mark. His sense of the stage and of atmosphere and his love for everything relating to the theatre were remarkably keen; so his success in this sphere was not surprising. His gifts were quickly recognised by Sir Frank Benson, Mr Oscar Asche, Miss Ellen Terry, Mr and Mrs Fred Terry, Mr Otho Stuart, Mr Waller, and others; for the two first named he acted as musical director for well over ten years. Apart from the numerous Shakespearian productions for which he wrote the music, his most striking successes were obtained in Kismet, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and the Greek plays. In these latter he made no more use of the ancient modes than Mendelssohn had done; but the result was highly effective and true to atmosphere. Opinions are bound to differ as to the comparative merit of the music written for the Shakespeare plays: on the whole, perhaps, King Lear, Richard II., Antony and Cleopatra, Much Ado about Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, and Measure for Measure mark his highest level of achievement. Wilson was, of course, acquainted with all the traditional music, of which he availed himself whenever he considered it suitable; the numerous gaps he filled in with unerring taste and skill. Future searchers in the British Museum Catalogue may consider his output relatively small, in spite of the fact that he died in his forty-fifth year. But it should be remembered that incidental music of this kind, apart from the lyrics, mostly remains in MS. None the less, one may rest assured that its spirit and traditions will live on, and that much of it will be handed on by successive conductors for the enjoyment of future generations.

His published works include, besides those mentioned elsewhere in this memoir, settings of On the Ground, Take, oh take those lips away (1906), and a duet, It was a Lover and his Lass (1907); Rest in Peace (words by W. Melville, 1900); If we may not meet (H. Kendall, 1901); Roses for my Lady (Harold Begbie, 1903); To a Nosegay (E. Broad, 1903); There lived a Singer (Swinburne, 1903); When Roses blush (E. Lyall Swete, 1904); I bring thee Roses (F. Stayton, 1908); Ave Maria for S.A.T.B. (unaccompanied—organ part for rehearsal only—1910); three Duets and a Song from Kismet (1911); and a Novelette in D for the piano, (1903). Of the unpublished works, the most important are the music to a wordless play Inconstant Pierrot (the scenario by Sidney Dark); a second Suite for strings; a Mass; a Pianoforte Quartet; two String Quartets; two Violin Sonatas; and a number of lyrics (including several by Shakespeare and a fine setting of Browning's Prospice). He also wrote the music for two pageants.

During the last year of his life, when his health was beginning to fail, Wilson worked much at the British Museum on a series of papers for The Stage, dealing with Shakespeare and the host of composers who have set him to music; here his knowledge and experience, if not unrivalled, were certainly unsurpassed. Of these articles, five had appeared up to the time of his death: (1) and (2), Introductory and A Midsummer Night's Dream (October 31 and November 7, 1918); (3) and (4), Macbeth (December 5 and December 27, 1918); (5), Romeo and Juliet (February 6, 1919). The last of the series was published eleven days before the end came suddenly—for Chris died of heart failure in the early morning of February 17. A few hours before he fell asleep he was asked to write the music for the forthcoming production by Miss Doris Keane of this same play of Romeo and Juliet—a pathetic coincidence!

Anyone anxious to form some faint idea of Chris Wilson's delightful personality, his kindness to all, his utter selflessness, his childlike simplicity of nature, and his humour, should read the two articles on his experiences as a conductor which he contributed to The Stage in 1917. But it is the humbler members of his orchestras who probably know more of his goodness of heart than even his most intimate friends; and it is their testimony he would have valued most highly. It should be added that he was a widely-read man, and possessed a sound knowledge of art and of architecture.

A fine tribute to his memory was paid him by his brother Savages—among whom he had spent so many happy hours—on the Saturday night of the week in which he died, when Mr George Baker sang his Come away, Death with an effect that will never be forgotten by those who were present.

[1] Another natural result of his stay in Germany was that his interest in the folk-songs of that country was stimulated; and he edited for Messrs Boosey the volume of German Folk-Songs in their Imperial Edition, the English versions being by his friend Paul England (1909). Wilson's accompaniments and harmonies to these are models of what such things should be; and a notable feature of the collection is that it contains a large proportion of songs that had never been translated into English.

INTRODUCTORY

When I first contemplated writing these articles it seemed to me to be a very interesting, amusing, and pleasant job indeed. I had seen a great number of Shakespeare's plays, read some of them, and written or conducted music for most. All I had to do, I thought, was to jot down a few notes of what I had heard or read, and out of them make a readable couple of columns. I began to make the notes, and swiftly it dawned upon me what an enormous task I had taken on. I found that nearly every composer, great or small, since Shakespeare's time had been inspired, directly or indirectly, by our poet. True, Handel avoided him (I can find no trace of Shakespeare in the opera Julius Cæsar), and I don't suppose Bach ever heard of him; but I feel sure that Beethoven's Coriolan Overture owes something to Shakespeare as well as to von Collin, the direct author of the play. But when the plays began to be translated and circulated abroad, composers all over Europe came under his extraordinary influence, and began composing music to his plays or about characters in them.

No music to the plays by contemporary composers has survived. Most people associate him with Purcell, Locke, Robert Johnson, Bannister, or Pelham Humphrey; but all these were born some years after his death, except Johnson, whose settings of Where the Bee Sucks and Full Fathom Five are supposed to be the original; but, as Johnson was only twelve years old when Shakespeare died, The Tempest must have been produced without these songs, or Johnson must have been more than usually precocious. The Encyclopaedia Britannica definitely says that Johnson's settings are the original.

There are many theories to account for the singular absence of contemporary musical settings of Shakespeare's lyrics: a quite possible one being that he wrote his songs to popular tunes of the day, which everyone knew and no one troubled to write down and print. Many of our great revue composers hammer out the tune first and then get some versifier to write words to it. Anyhow, if one is going to produce Shakespeare's plays and only use settings composed for the original productions, one would have very little music; and, as he was always calling for music, both in his stage directions and from the mouths of his characters, the performances might please the Stage Society, but certainly would not have pleased the author.

Musically, there are many ways of producing Shakespeare's plays. One is the absolutely correct method—that is, to play The Tempest, say, with the precocious Johnson's two songs only. Another way, not so correct, would be to use the precocious one's two songs, and also use contemporary music not written originally for the words, but adapted by the producer. Yet another way is the broad-minded, and includes any setting of Shakespeare's words written within a hundred years or so. This method is still roughly described as Elizabethan, but if you include yet another hundred years the music is called Shakespearian. After that you get the Old English Wardour Street variety, and, later still, the tambourin school. To some people a liberal tambourin part in two-four time denotes Old English music:

(The same figure on the tambourin with the tinkling bells, is called Eastern.)

A quite good method is to use the best of all the written music and make it into a hotch-potch. This is really a very practical way, and often gives good results. Finally, one takes the whole music written specially for one play by one composer of any period, and does it as written, with no addition or alteration: this is an ideal method very rarely put into practice. Even when commissioning a living composer, managers try to bring in a favourite number by Arne or Horn, and, unless the composer is a very strong or a very rich man, his musical scheme will be broken by some well-known tune not in the least in the style of the rest of his music.

It is difficult to persuade the average Shakespearian producer that Shakespeare, Arne, Sir Henry Bishop, and Horn were not great friends who used to meet daily at the Mermaid Tavern to discuss incidental music.

CHRISTOPHER WILSON.

SHAKESPEARE AND MUSIC

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

There is a long list of operas under the names Cléopâtre and Kleopatra in Clément et Larousse's Dictionnaire Lyrique, and in Riemann's Opernhandbuch, but it is doubtful if a single one of them can be said to be founded on Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. There seems material in it for hundreds of operas, but no one seems to have been inspired to write them.

Sir Henry Bishop has certainly written an Epicedium, or funeral dirge, for the end of the play, for the production at Covent Garden; but though no author's name save Shakespeare's appears on the title-page, I can trace no text