The Power Of Music In Literature - Research Paper Example

The Power of Music in Literature   Music is an incredibly moving and expressive notion. Music can be very powerful, and can cause individuals to feel the mood of the song, and often times, songwriters are able to replicate their own feelings or emotions through their music. Thus, songwriters can present their music to their listeners so their listeners can also feel that emotion. Therefore, music can be a very moving and profound experience. When combined with literature, music can make the literature itself more powerful. Combining music with literature allows the audience to feel the moving emotions of the characters, which the author will intend the audience to feel, and thus make the connection between audience and action very tight. This close connection helps to create a very solid understanding of the literature itself, and can bring the audience’s own feelings and emotions deeply into the action. Music in literature can often be used to express mood in literature, and this expression can be stronger than using the written word alone. Examples of music’s strength can be found in drama, especially Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies. Shakespeare often uses music to create a strong emotional tone. By implementing music in his plays, Shakespeare was able to transcend his mood from the action and characters into his audience. His technique was quite successful, and besides his fantastic writing skills, this ability to combine literature and music allowed him to successfully demonstrate the feelings of his characters to his audience. Music, therefore, can be more powerful than the written word alone in literature, and by taking a close look at Shakespeare and the way he both used and understood music, we can gain a solid understanding of how music can create a strong feeling of emotion in the audience, backing up the action set in the play or piece of fiction. “Music oft hath such a charm to make bad good,” Shakespeare states in Measure for Measure. Shakespeare therefore realized the power of music and its ability to create and stir emotion in his audience. Shakespeare also realized that music could make something that seemed otherwise bearable quite bearable. In fact, the bard was so fascinated by music that many of his characters mention its power in his plays. He often uses music as a metaphor to compare its power to certain feelings, and it seems that the mere mention of music helps to make the words spoken even stronger. Consider another famous quote was spoken by Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night: If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O, it came oer my ear like the sweet sound, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more: Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou, That, notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, Of what validity and pitch soeer, But falls into abatement and low price, Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical. Orsino, thus sick with love as he mentions in the first few lines, is hoping to fill himself up with music, much as we fill ourselves up with food, so that the emotion is no longer desired, just as food is no longer desired when we eat too much. Like Shakespeare, Orsino would have believed that music was a good thing, so perhaps he is hoping to fill himself up with something good to distract his otherwise tormented feelings. Comparing music to love in the first few lines certainly demonstrates that Shakespeare felt that musical was a very powerful item to use in plays. In Shakespeare’s time, as in today’s time, love is considered perhaps the strongest emotion, and to put love on the same level as music shows how much Shakespeare believed in the power of music (Long 56). If anybody re-invented music to make it a powerful part of literature, it was certainly Shakespeare. He used music innovatively in drama, and thus this helped to shape the music we expect to see in plays and films in the present day. Music helped to strengthen the themes and focus of Shakespeare’s plays. Like many people of his time, Shakespeare believed that music had a strong power over people to both heal and transform, and thus he attempted to use music in his plays with this concept in mind. Dance and music were very popular in the court of Elizabeth I, and this popularity carried over into London, so Shakespeare would have been very familiar with the power of music. (Shirley 45) Music was played in the streets, houses, and churches. According to the article “Online Shakespeare,” The works of William Shakespeare are replete with musical references which attest to the Bard’s thorough knowledge of contemporary music. It is known that music and theatre were closely linked because there was music before the plays, at intermezzos and, very probably during the plays themselves. The importance of music in Shakespeare’s plays is further described by Michael Mikulin in his article “Teaching Shakespeare through Sound:” The plays of Shakespeare are filled with music. Out of the 37 canonical plays of Shakespeare, there are no less than 32 that mention music in the text itself; there are also over 300 stage directions that are musical in nature. The age of Shakespeare was an age of song, and Shakespeare certainly appreciated the importance of music for his audience. How did Shakespeare use and understand music? There were two systems of music that were used in Shakespeare’s time, and we still have these systems today. These systems are the staff and the tablature. The tablature, however, is usually only found in sheet music for guitars. Staff notation started in the 11th century and is assumed to have been founded by Guido d’Arrezo. This system is more modern, although originally there were only four lines to the staff and bar lines came much later. The staff allows the musician to see both pitches and rhythm, as well as the names of the notes (Online Shakespeare). Because he enjoyed the power of music, Shakespeare was able to see that music had a very important role to play in literature and drama. For Shakespeare’s plays, there was often a gallery for musicians above the stage, although sometimes the music was also played on stage. Shakespeare’s comedies demonstrate many happy songs, usually with the playing of a lute, while his tragedies are usually filled with the sounds of drums and trumpets. Unfortunately for us, only a few of Shakespeare’s original songs have survived, but what we do have demonstrate the power of music during that period to set the mood of the literature the bard was presenting to his audience. The songs that have been preserved are “It Was a Lover and His Lass” from As You Like It, set by Thomas Morley; two pieces sung by Ariel in The Tempest; “Full Fathom Five” and “Where the Bee Sucks.” The text of one of these songs are as follows: “It Was a Lover and His Lass”: It was a lover and his lass, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, That oer the green cornfield did pass In springtime, the only pretty ringtime, When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding, Sweet lovers love the spring. Between the acres of the rye, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, These pretty country folks would lie In springtime, etc. This carol they began that hour, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, How that a life was but a flower In springtime, etc. And therefore take the present time, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, For love is crowned with the prime In springtime, etc. This song would have set the stage for a happy feeling, and would have included the happy instrument, the lute. Therefore, the presentation of the song and the music within this scene would have helped the audience to feel what the characters were feeling. The lute was often used as an uplifting type of instrument, and it could replicate feelings of happiness when people heard its sound. Shakespeare used the lute often for this in his comedies, and the example in this scene is no exception. Often used to set the mood of a comedy or tragedy, music was often called for on stage. Courtly music was usually presented on the lute, recorder, or viol. For instance, Hamlet asks for a recorder when he wishes to poke at Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Other instruments were also used. Oboes, for instance, were usually used for mysterious sounds, as for when characters were lost of magic spells were cast. Other instruments were used to conjure up the feeling of war. For example, the fife, drum, and trumpet stood out for battle and royalty. Trumpets are often used to announce Kings in plays, and Benedick is shocked when Claudio switches music as he changes from soldier to lover (Noble 114). The article “Online Shakespeare” also states: “Of the plucked instruments the steel strung pandora (bandora) and the cittern were used for chordal effect and the lute was allowed to run free with elaborate embellishments. The viols and recorder played the polyphonic lines.” Phillip Henslowe, who worked with Shakespeare, provided a list of some of the items that were in the possession of the company: “Item, iii trumpets and a drum, and a treble viol, a bass viol, a bandore [an instrument rather like a bass guitar--the name became corrupted to "banjo"], a cithern [an early form of the regular guitar]. . . “ (qtd in Best). Thus, history demonstrates that Shakespeare’s theatre troop regularly had instruments with them, and as we can assume from looking at the songs and other items we have, music was commonly used in plays. Although we only have the text of a few songs remaining today, it would have been standard for there to have been music throughout the play in order to set the mood for the audience. The bard is obviously such a famous and successful writer that he has been emulated throughout history. Many writers have used Shakespearean techniques in order to better their own fiction stories (Sternfeld 111). This is also true of Shakespeare’s use of music. By intertwining theatre and music so successfully, Shakespeare created an example for the present day. Since people of Shakespeare’s time were able to feel the mood of the play through music, and thus be more intertwined with the action, movies and drama today also consider this fact. If music did not successfully help make the written word stronger in literature, we would certainly not see the continuation of this trend. However, because this trend continues, and will continue, one can easily see why music becomes a powerful part of literature. 1. Lutes dancing The piece you will hear if you click here is a dance for lute by Francis Cutting, a contemporary of Shakespeares. Click for more on lutes. Listen to the music ( mp3 format). 2. Hamlet and the recorders Hamlet: Will you play upon this pipe? Guildenstern: My Lord, I cannot. . . Hamlet: It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages [holes] with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. . . (3. 2. 356-67) Listen to some recorder music (the melody is Robert Johnsons setting of the song from The Tempest, "Where the Bee Sucks"; a version for voice is also available from this page): Listen to the music ( mp3 format). 3. Mysterious music In Antony and Cleopatra there is a moment towards the end when a number of unidentified soldiers are keeping guard outside Antonys camp. The stage direction reads: "Music of the hautboys is heard under the stage" (4. 3. 11). The soldiers speculate that it is "the god Hercules whom Antony loved, now leaves him." 4. Screaming shawms Listen to the electronic recreation of the bagpipe-like sound of shawms (midi files) in two arrangements of popular dances by Curtis Clarke: a "Volte" by Michael Praetorius Listen to the music ( mp3 format). and an anonymous Pavane. Listen to the music ( mp3 format). 5. A song from The Tempest The song available from these links, "Where the bee sucks," was set by Robert Johnson, a contemporary of Shakespeare. In this performance, the singer is accompanied by recorder and lute. Listen to the music ( mp3 format). 6. Soldier to lover I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabour and the pipe. (Much Ado About Nothing, 2. 3. 12-14) The tabour and pipe were instruments suitable for clowns and dancing--see the woodcut of William Kempe). Works Cited Best, Michael. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions, University of Victoria: Victoria, BC, 2001-2005. 7 June 2009. . “The Life and times of William Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Online. 8 June 2009. . Long, John. Shakespeare’s Use of Music. Ft. Lauderdale: University of Florida Press, 1955. Mikulin, Michael. “Teaching Shakespeare Through Song.” Shaeksongs.com. 8 June 2009. Noble, Richmond. Shakespeares Use of Song: With the Text of the Principal Songs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1923. Shirley, Ann. Shakespeares Use of Off-Stage Sounds. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1963. Sternfeld, F.W. Music in Shakespearean Tragedy. New Jersey: Routledge and Kegan, 1963. Read More