8-1Music

Music in Elizabethan England was very important to the people. Now, the people very much enjoyed theater, and music was always used in theater to heighten the scene. From the Internet Shakespeare Editions, it explains what Elizabethan music was like: “From popular ballads to solemn church music and the sophisticated music of the court, Elizabethan music was varied and inventive, delightful and moving.” They used many instruments such as the lute, the virginals (a keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked rather than struck), the viol, the recorder (a type of flute), the bagpipe, the fiddle, and the pipe-and-tabor (a combination of three-hole recorder played with the left hand and a drum played with the right hand). Also from the Internet Shakespeare Editions, it explains the use of music in Shakespearean plays: “By Shakespeare's time the music of the Church, the Court, and the stage had become sophisticated and varied, capable of communicating many moods. Virtually all plays--comedies and tragedies--used music to heighten the drama. Shakespeare would have heard in the Court and in the houses of the educated the sophisticated madrigals and instrumental music of Thomas Morley; in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's he would have heard the masses of William Byrd, and around the streets of London he would have heard ageless folk music: the street cries , the ballads , the love songs." On the stage, music played an important role. There was a special musicians' gallery above the stage; sometimes the music was played on the stage itself ; and there were even occasions when it was played under the stage to achieve an eerie effect . The comedies are full of song and the gentle twanging of the lute, while the tragedies and histories echo with the ceremonial sound of trumpets and drums. Only a few of the original settings of songs Shakespeare wrote have survived; those that do illustrate the variety and melodic inventiveness of the music of the period.” Many people would dance to these songs. They would do a dance called a “jig.” This was a simplistic way of dancing by spinning, raising your hands to the air, and doing a little English Hokey Pokey. In all of Europe, most city had a professional municipal bands, also known as waits. The waits in most of the cities in Europe only had about five people in it, but Elizabethan England had one that had, at the time, a massive twelve people and twenty apprentices. They would often give free concerts from the Balcony of the Royal Exchange every Sunday “to the great contentment of all who hear” (Hinds 64). So music was very important in Elizabethan times, whether it was used to heighten the intensity of a scene in a play, or heighten the intensity of chicken at dinner, and there were many instruments of the time to do so. -Zack S. Alchin, L.K.. "Elizabethan Education." __William Shakespeare: The Complete Works__. Shakespeare Info (The Complete Works) Online. 12 Mar 2009 . Alchin, L.K.. "The Old Globe Theater History." __William Shakespeare: The Complete Works__. Shakespeare Info (The Complete Works) Online. 12 Mar 2009 . "Blank Verse." __Internet Shakespeare Editions__. 29 Feb 2009. Internet Shakespeare Editions. 06 Mar 2009 . "Elizabethan music: the madrigal." __Internet Shakespeare Editions__. Internet Shakespeare Editions. 6 Mar 2009. . Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, "William Shakespeare."//The World Book// //Encyclopedia S //. 1st. 1960. Print. Gray, Terry A.. "Stanley Wells, Shakespeare & Co. Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and the Other Players in His Story." __Reviews__. 29 Feb 2009. Reviews. 6 Mar 2009. . Hinds, Kathryn. //Life in Elizabethan England: The City//. 1st. New York City, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. Print. Jokinen, Aniinna. "Christopher Marlowe." __Luminarium__. 16 Feb 2007. Luminarium. 6 Mar 2009 . Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Royal Palaces and Inns of Court." __Shakespeare Online__. 10 Dec. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatres/the royalpalaces.html >. Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Swan Theatre." __Shakespeare Online__. 15 Dec. 2000. Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Theatres: Inn Yards." __Shakespeare Online__. 18 Dec. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatre/innyards.html >. Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Theatres: Newington Butts." __Shakespeare Online__. 14 Dec. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/nbutts.html >. Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Theatres: The Curtain." __Shakespeare Online__. 18 Dec. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatre/thecurtain.html >. Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Theatres: The Rose." __Shakespeare Online__. 18 Dec. 2000. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatre/therose.html >. "Shakespeare and Music." __Internet Shakespeare Editions__. Internet Shakespeare Editions. 6 Mar 2009 . Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. Folger Shakespeare Library: A Midsummer Nights Dream. '1st ed'. New York CIty: Washington Square Press, 1993. Singman, Jeffrey L.. __Daily Life In: Elizabethan England__. 1st. United States of America: Greenwood Press, 1995. //The Life and Works of Christopher Marlowe//. 1st. New York City, NY: Mark Twain Publishers, Print. "The Life of Christopher Marlowe." __Houston Community College System Southwestcollege__. Houston Community College System Southwestcollege. 6 Mar 2009 [].
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