Renaissance Music and the function of lyrics and inset poetry in the play
Cheyenne DeMulder '01

Music in Elizabethan theater was an unwritten factor in the script of a piece of theater. Music was a force and social presence that is important to consider when taking a full view of any piece of drama or it's presentation from that time period. The use and role of music has especially interesting implications in Love's Labor's Lost because of the poetics and self-awareness of the lines.

Elizabethan music was plentiful and popular. The occasions where music was enjoyed, ranging from sacred music in church services and prayers, to the secular performances in banquet halls, were constant. There was also a higher participation then in modern day because the number of performers was in a higher demand (Sternfeld 214). Music was a very important independent cultural phenomenon, however it was also very important and inseparable with theater productions. Many playing companies, "notably the Children's companies, were accounted particularly strong in music"(Manifold 3). It was very common for companies of actors to have trained musicians in their employment or to have actors who were multi talented and could accompany themselves (Greenblatt 33). Some critics argue that the band that accompanied a performance or company was of a standard make up of the time and live musical support was treated in much the same way by many of the dramatists of the time (Manifold 4). A generalization from this point of view could say that a string band of five players would be sufficient for any play. Brass and drums were added as needed by the play being performed (Manifold 5). Other critics argue that each of the major theatre groups of the time developed their own musical traditions (Stevens 5). Regardless of the uniformity or not uniformity of the bands, a certain amount of adaptation had to occur with each production, to create the desired effect (Stevens 5).

While the appreciation of the music during this time is undeniable and similar to modern day, the function of the music in Elizabethan drama is different in many ways. The music was naturalistic and some times symbolic but never atmospheric "-- that is, specifically directed towards heightening emotional tension in the audience"(Stevens 5). According to some critics the most likely dramatic explanation for the use of music, besides perhaps an underlining of the prophetic, was as an added attraction the an audience who appreciated music. The public's views held great sway in what was preformed and the theatre-managers would cater "generously for their tastes throughout the period"(Stevens 7).

A common view of Elizabethan music was that it could influence the disposition of men. This had both a positive and a negative effect on popular views of music. "If religious music could turn the mind to God, martial music bend the soldier to battle, surely, lascivious music would degrade those easily tempted"(Sternfeld 217). This connection between "lewd music" and "loose morals" brought a lot of negative attention to the playhouses, which would frequently have injunctions brought against them by "preachers, parents, and solid citizens"(Sternfeld 217).

Another cause for attacks on the playhouses concerning the music was the dancing that went along with it. Along with the public occasions that called for dances in the plays being performed, and most plays did call upon the characters to dance, virtually all the plays of the period ended with a dance after the final scene in the script. These jigs brought great crowd approval along with official disapproval because of the connection with "filthy lewdness" in the music as well as the dancing (Greenblatt 32). Although it has been shown that the playwright's of the time did not like the ending jigs "(Ben Johnson speaks of 'the concupiscence of jigs and dances'), there is no doubt the audience did"(Stevens 9). Again the popular demand sways the theatre and it's performances.

One of the reasons that Elizabethan theatre is not immediately thought of as including a lot of music is because there is a lack of stage direction for the inclusion of music. The text of the plays may be the biggest clues as to when the music that was directly included in the play made it's entrance (Manifold 2). Another reason is that the lyrics of the songs are included but not the music. That is possibly because many of the songs may have been set to popular tunes that everyone would have known (Greenblatt 33).

There are many occasions where characters in Shakespeare's plays include a discussion of music in their speeches along with calls to minstrels to add music to the stage. "They also repeatedly give voice to the age's conviction that there was a deep relation between musical harmony and the harmonies of the well-ordered individual and state" (Greenblatt 33). In Love's Labor's Lost there is an ambitious use of music, because of the use of boy singers. This resulted because of the large number of boy parts that would be required because of the number of women in the cast. This points away from "the regular actors' companies [and towards] some great household where a troupe of choristers was maintained."(Stevens 20).

There is a great emphasis on language the Love's Labor's Lost and the play itself seems in great part to be about language itself. The play possesses the "highest ratio of rhyme to blank verse among [Shakespeare's] dramatic works, endow[ing the play] with an unusually poetic feel"(Greenblatt 736). Another contributor to this poetic feel is that the play is, according to Granville-Barker, never far from the formalities of song and dance. This adds to the artificiality of the play, which would not have been looked on as a bad thing in Elizabethan culture (Stevens 20).

Along with the dances and music included directly in the play, there is also wordplay involving commonly know music. Armado states in Act 1, scene ii, ln 179 of Love's Labor's Lost, "Love is a familiar; love is a devil . . . Yet Samson so tempted, and he had an excellent strength: yet was Solomon so seduced, and he had a very good wit." What is not obvious to the modern reader is that Armado is making a reference to two widely known ballads of the time that would have been familiar to the Elizabethan audience (Sternfeld 219).

While the importance of music in Love's Labor's Lost is a real phenomenon, it is not "deeply ingrained into the dramatic structure of the play"(Stevens 21). However, like with other Elizabethan theater, the incorporation of music is not just 'fluff' either. The music shows an example of what was demanded by the public and therefore an important and controversial factor in Elizabethan culture. In order to get a complete idea of Love's Labor's Lost one needs to look at all the relevant cultural aspects surrounding that work, and music was definitely a key player.

Works Cited
Greenblatt, Stephen. "Music and Dance." Greenblatt, 32-33.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Introduction. "Love's Labor's Lost." Greenblatt, 733-740.

Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Manifold, J. S. The Music in English Drama: From Shakespeare to Percell. London: Templar Printing Works, 1956.

Shakespeare, William. "Love's Labor's Lost." The Norton Sheakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Sternfeld, F. W. "Music and Ballads." Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespeare Studies and Production. 17 (1964): 217-222.

Stevens, John. "Shakespeare and the Music of the Elizabethan Stage: An Introductory Essay."

Shakespeare in Music. Ed. Phyllis Hartnoll. London: Macmillian & Co Ltd., 1964.

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