_As You Like It_ has not been dealt with much by musicians, though one
of them, Sir Henry Bishop, has been very hard upon it. The earliest
known opera on the subject is by +Francesco Maria Veracini+. It was
produced under the title of _Rosalinda_ during the composer's visit to
London in 1744. Mr W. Barclay Squire, in his article on Shakespearian
operas, mentions three operas of this name, by Capelli, Ziani, and J.
C. Smith, but adds that they have no connection with Shakespeare's
comedy. +Bishop's+ pasticcio opera on this subject was produced at the
Royal, Covent Garden, in 1819. The overture is a potpourri of
so-called Shakespearian songs, simply harmonised and roughly hung
together. The first number is a duet for Rosalind and Celia, "Whilst
inconstant fortune smiled," words freely adapted from _The Passionate
Pilgrim_. There is nothing much to say about it: it seems quite
innocuous, but very dull. Rosalind's song, which she sings after
having fallen in love with Orlando, is a setting of the 148th Sonnet,
minus the two last lines. It is again quite dull. Celia has a long
and depressing aria in praise of friendship, the words taken from the
123rd Sonnet. After these numbers it is quite refreshing to come
across a cheerful male-voice hunting glee--"Even as the sun" is the
title--the words being taken from _Venus and Adonis_. There are the
usual horn effects, _fortissimo_ chorus effects, and _pianissimo_
echoes, all the old tricks, but put together by a good old hand,
Bishop. Dr Arne's setting of "Under the greenwood tree" follows for
Amiens, and a beautiful setting it is. Touchstone, in this version, is
a tenor (somehow I never fancied him as a tenor), and sings a bright
little {8} song, "Fair was my love," from _The Passionate Pilgrim_.
This is followed by a trio for Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone,
beginning "Crabbed age and youth," the words again taken from _The
Passionate Pilgrim_ (what a useful poem it is to pasticcio opera
composers!). This trio is a very simple one. The first verse consists
of alternate phrases by the three singers, who then all sing together,
over and over again, the line "For methinks thou stay'st too long." A
welcome relief is Dr Arne's broad, flowing setting of "Blow, blow, thou
winter wind," by far the best to these words. The next number is a
terrible setting by Bishop of the first eight lines of the 7th Sonnet,
"Low in the Orient when the gracious light," for male voices. Silvius
now has a sentimental song to words taken, slightly altered, from
_Venus and Adonis_. The situation is inverted: Silvius sings Venus's
words reproaching Adonis, to Phoebe; but Bishop is undaunted, and "Oh
thou obdurate flint, hard as steel" is addressed to a woman! (By the
way, Shakespeare wrote "Art," not "Oh.") Rosalind sings a sentimental
ballad to the words from _Venus and Adonis_ beginning "If love had lent
you twenty thousand tongues," of no great importance. Dr Arne's
beautiful setting of "When daisies pied," from _Love's Labour's Lost_,
is another welcome relief, and I remember in several modern revivals of
this play managers introducing this song when they had a Rosalind able
to sing well enough. The next number is a march and dance for the
procession of Hymen, and is for orchestra only. It is a good example
of absolutely straight writing, with no bother about the romance or
mystery of the masque of Hymen--a good workaday march in D major and
common time. This is followed by the last number, words actually from
_As You Like It_. Hymen, who in the original production was played by
a boy, sings "Then is there mirth in heaven," a long, tedious, florid
song, full of endless repetitions of single words. It is a curious
fact that the beautiful lyric, "It was a lover and his lass," does not
occur in this version, though really part of the original play.
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It was a great pity that Sir George Alexander did not commission
+Edward German+ to write the whole of his music for the _As You Like
It_ revival at the St James's, instead of the Masque only. This Masque
is so very good that one would like to have an overture and full
_entr'actes_, but one must be thankful for what one has got. The work
is in four movements. First, an introduction, very quiet and
moderately slow, leading to the "Woodland Dance" in the minor,
beginning very quietly, but working up to twelve _ff_ bars in the
middle, and then dying away. The second number is a very graceful
"Children's Dance," _piano_ throughout, most melodious, and very
delicately scored. The last number, "Rustic Dance," is the longest and
most important. It begins _allegro con spirito_ and _fortissimo_, and
keeps it up till the first episode, which is in the same time, but
_pianissimo_ and in the minor. Soon this is worked up to a big _forte
rallentando_ effect, which leads into the last theme, _pianissimo_ to
begin with, getting quicker and quicker and more _crescendo_ to the
coda, which is _presto fortissimo_. This is by far the most effective
of the movements, but the "Children's Dance" is the most beautiful. Mr
German's setting of "It was a lover and his lass," one of the best of
this lyric, was not composed for this production.
+Clarence Lucas's+ overture to the comedy is one of the few purely
orchestral works associated with _As You Like It_. It begins very
brightly, the first theme being a rollicking one in Old English style.
This is developed until we come to the second subject, which is much
slower, and is first played on the clarinet. The whole overture is
really in valse time, and the second half of the second theme makes a
most interesting syncopated valse. The first half ends with a horn
passage, suggesting the banished Duke and his friends hunting. There
are no new themes. Those which I have described are taken through
their phases in various keys, and the work comes to a sparkling finish
by means of a _presto_ coda. It is a very lively comedy overture, and
not at all difficult to perform.
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