_Hamlet_ offers great scope for composers to show their virtues and
their limitations, and a large number have done so from Graun, 1701, to
the present day. This is the more curious, as there are fewer
references to music in the text or the stage directions than in most of
the plays. True, there are many fanfares, Ophelia's mad songs, and the
gravedigger's song in the last act; but, as a whole, music is kept in a
very subordinate position. I can find no trace of contemporary
incidental music for this play. I should like to hear a real Hamlet
tucket. From the text, we know that whenever King Claudius drank a cup
of Rhenish a trumpet and a kettle-drum played a flourish, and a cannon
was fired to let the Danes know exactly what the King was doing at that
time. But, alas! I can find no trace of a real contemporary Hamlet
fanfare. The versions still in use in this country of Ophelia's mad
songs and the first gravedigger's song are supposed to be the
originals, handed down by aural tradition from mother to daughter, from
father to son; but I know something of the wonderful things,
transformations, etc., that appear as the result of aural tradition. I
have heard Zulus singing what the ordinary white visitor to Africa is
told are native folk-songs; but these I have been able to trace from
their sources, though the original composers, Messrs Moody and Sankey,
would have some difficulty in recognising their own inspired tunes! It
is well known, if a story is repeated from one to the other by a number
of people, how strangely the last version varies from the original. If
this is so in words, how much more so must it be in music, {22} where
the varying compass of the voices must be taken into consideration: the
singer substituting a high note for a low note that he cannot touch, or
_vice versa_. Still, the songs in _Hamlet_ may bear a general likeness
to the songs sung in the first production. I wonder!
Of course, an enormous amount of incidental music has been composed for
_Hamlet_. Every producer must have some Ghost music, fanfares, a
King's march for the Play scene, and a funeral march for Ophelia. Also
scene music helps to pass the time during the frequent scene changes
that are necessary in this play, and this has been done and re-done by
hundreds of composers, orchestrators, arrangers, and hack workers. But
this stuff is mostly ephemeral, and at the end of the run or the tour
the music goes to the stores in a basket (the remnants that have been
collected from the orchestra), and is heard no more; unless, indeed,
the stage manager thinks that perhaps the _Hamlet_ march would suit a
situation in the new modern patriotic play just about to be produced,
or, with the assistance of a tam-tam, could be converted into a grand
Oriental march for the forthcoming production of _Ali Baba_.
On the other hand, several important producers have commissioned
celebrated composers to write for them. Thus, Sir Herbert Tree asked
Sir George Henschel to do the music for his production, and, what is
more, actually allowed it to be played more or less as written. Sir
Frank Benson's music was obtained with the scenery and props, prompt
books, etc., when he took over the company from Bentley, and is rather
a hotch-potch. It has been added to from time to time, but it is
beyond improvement. The Otho Stuart-H. B. Irving-Oscar Asche _Hamlet_
music was insignificant. +Hamilton Clark's+ music to Sir Henry
Irving's production I cannot find, even at the British Museum, but I
remember it well as thoroughly sound, effective incidental music, a
great help to the play, and never obtrusive.
The +Henschel+ music was far more complicated. Tree produced _Hamlet_
at the Haymarket in January 1892. The {23} prelude is a solemn _largo_
movement, lasting about five minutes, with nothing very distinctive
about it. The Ghost music is the usual 'cello and bass effect, long
_pianissimo_ holding notes (octaves), with plenty of pauses. The
cock-crowing imitation on the oboe is most effective. The triple
_piano_, high B flat, triplet dropping an octave, gives a most
realistic effect. The next number is very important. It is called
"Danish March," and I take Sir George Henschel's word for it that it is
one. It is very long, and serves to bring the King, Queen, and court
on and off whenever necessary. The prelude to Act ii. is called
"Ophelia," and is quite conventionally _affettuoso_.
The fanfares are all good. There is a prelude to Act iii., _allegro
impetuoso_, but it has no label, and might suit Hamlet or Laertes
equally well. The prelude to Act iv., called "Ophelia's Death," is a
funeral march for muted strings and _timpani_. There is very effective
melodrama music while the Queen describes Ophelia's death, muted
strings _pianissimo_, and the clarinets playing broken snatches of the
mad songs. The prelude to Act v. is a pastorale for full orchestra,
and the churchyard music is for solo organ on stage. At the end of the
whole play, at the cue "And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest," a
female chorus on the stage sings, in three parts, "Good-night, sweet
Prince, good-night," which makes a pretty ending. I gather this was
Sir Herbert Tree's idea.
In addition to the fine "Fantasy Overture," which I discuss later as a
separate piece of orchestral music, +Tschaikowsky+ composed an
overture, _entr'actes_, and full incidental music for _Hamlet_. It was
written for a special production at Petrograd, and is much the finest
music for the play. The whole is composed for small orchestra, double
wood wind, two horns, two trumpets, trombone, and drums, and these
limitations seem to have suited Tschaikowsky's genius particularly
well. The overture is founded on the themes of the "Fantasy Overture,"
but is considerably shorter. The Ghost music is very {24}
awe-inspiring and original, very _piano_, deep notes on the trombone
and trumpets, combined with strange, eccentric scale passages on the
clarinets. The fanfares throughout are particularly fine, the first
being an elaborate and long flourish in nine-eight rhythm, scored for
the full brass, but, curiously enough, without kettledrums; nor are
these used in any of the subsequent fanfares. Now, Shakespeare in his
text makes Hamlet say (Act i., Scene 4), "The King doth wake to-night,
and takes his rouse, Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels.
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, The kettledrum and
trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his pledge." And, later (Act v.,
Scene 2), the King says, "Give me the cups; And let the kettle to the
trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without," etc. Now, this
seems to me to be a strange omission. It cannot have been done
intentionally. Perhaps in the Russian version the text is altered and
the kettledrum missed out. Of course, the side-drum is generally used
in England, because it is easy to take on the stage, and our managers
do not like hiring extra stage kettledrums; but this would scarcely
apply to Petrograd or Moscow. No. 3 is a powerful piece of melodrama
music, mostly on the Hamlet theme, on the solo bassoon at first, and
subsequently taken up by the clarinets, all on their low register: a
very sinister number this. No. 4 is another melodrama, very _agitato_,
scored for _pizzicato_ strings and bassoon, with a very curious and
ominous kettledrum figure, frequently repeated. The _entr'acte_
between Acts i. and ii. is marked _allegro semplice_; it is a graceful
waltz, very characteristic of the composer, and is obviously meant for
Ophelia. Then comes a strange fanfare for two oboes, two clarinets,
two bassoons, and tamburino: this is long and florid, rather like a
street march. No. 6 is a long florid fanfare for two trumpets; the
first leading off with the theme, and the second following a bar or so
later, in canon style: this is a most interesting fanfare. The
_entr'acte_ between Acts ii. and iii. is a beautifully melodious
movement for strings only, sad, and exquisitely written {25} for the
instruments. The melodrama music in this act is the same as in the
first act.
Before Act iv. is an _elegie_ for strings: one of the most beautiful
works of the kind ever written. Tschaikowsky has composed several
elegies for this combination of instruments, but none better than this.
Nothing more ideal as preparation for the Ophelia scenes could be
imagined. Next follow Ophelia's songs. These are all freshly set by
the composer in folk-song manner, accompanied very delicately by the
orchestra. Before the last act comes the Funeral March, very striking,
very _funebre_, very dignified, and very wistful; in all, a perfect
piece of elegiac writing, than which nothing more thoroughly in keeping
with the spirit of the play could be imagined. It is on the same lines
as Berlioz's "Marche Funebre" in the same situation. The Gravedigger's
song is newly set, to a lively and very Russian-sounding tune,
accompanied by full orchestra; but I doubt the wisdom of having
orchestral accompaniment either to Ophelia's songs or to the
Grave-digger's single one. A long and florid fanfare for two trumpets
accompanies the King's toast to Hamlet (without kettledrums). The
Funeral March is repeated at Hamlet's death, and the martial music for
Fortinbras is in splendid contrast. It is a short, quick movement,
only nineteen bars in length, marked _allegro risoluto_, and makes a
great end to the play. The music is absolutely worthy of the play, and
is a perfect example of what incidental music should be. Sir Johnston
Forbes-Robertson was wise enough to use nearly all this music in his
fine production. He did not adopt Tschaikowsky's settings for
Ophelia's songs or the Gravedigger's, but used the so-called
traditional ones, and I am sure he was right here. But why, after
having played the great funeral march as an _entr'acte_, he did not use
it again, as directed by the composer, for Hamlet's funeral procession,
I can't understand. Instead, he used a march by +Carl Armbruster+,
quite good in its way, but very pale after Tschaikowsky. Still, it was
a praise-worthy act of Sir Johnston to use the large amount of the {26}
music he did, and he deserves great thanks for only interpolating one
number.
Unfortunately, the music composed by +Norman O'Neill+ for Martin
Harvey's production of _Hamlet_ in 1907 is as yet unpublished. Mr
O'Neill wrote the entire score. He had already composed an overture
built on the themes on which he draws largely for the incidental music
in this production, and he uses the overture itself in its entirety as
a prelude to the second act, under the title "Prelude, _Hamlet_." The
prelude for the first act is sombre, quiet, and brooding, with a very
curious cuckoo effect at the end, which is repeated in the subsequent
Ghost music. Of course, I do not know the habits of the Danish cuckoo,
but obviously, according to Mr O'Neill, he is either a very late or a
very early bird. Perhaps he is cracking an Elizabethan wheeze at the
expense of the Ghost's widow's unholy marriage. The big processional
march for the entrance of the King and Court is, curiously enough, not
founded on the King's theme, but on Hamlet's theme from the overture
now used as the prelude to the second act. The scene-change music
before Ophelia's first scene is founded on "How shall I my true love
know?", with varied accompaniment, sometimes simple, sometimes complex,
and once as clarinet solo with harp accompaniment. At the cue, "Held
his wont to walk," there is a fanfare for the clarinet, but, as in most
incidental music, no kettledrums. The Ghost music in this act is all
founded on the Hamlet theme. The prelude to Act ii. is, as I have
said, the overture proper. It begins with the Hamlet theme, _allegro
maestoso_, very bold and rhythmic, which suddenly breaks off with a
_pianissimo_ suggestion of "How shall I my true love know?", which is
used as the second subject, and very much developed. These themes are
worked out in a complex manner, and there is a curious fanfare effect
before the coda, which is marked _grandioso_, in the major key, and is
very triumphant. The players come on to perform their tragedy to a
pretty little tune, {27} quite light and graceful, played on the oboe
and clarinet, which has a quaint and interesting effect. Before Act
iii. (the arrangement of the scenes is according to Mr Harvey's stage
version) is an _entr'acte_ entitled "Ophelia," founded on her
traditional songs; but I wish Mr O'Neill would use more of his original
melodies. An _entr'acte_ entitled "Laertes" is a fine, vigorous
number. In the last number of all, on the cue "The rest is silence,"
we have the Hamlet theme in the major, with sweeping arpeggios for the
harp, a gradual crescendo to a _fortissimo grandioso_ finish to the
act. This makes a fine theatrical curtain.
+Karl Heinrich Graun+, Court musician to Frederick the Great, composed
an overture and incidental music to _Hamlet_; but as the only known
score is in the Court Library at Berlin, it is impossible, at the time
of writing, to get hold of it.[1]
Robert Browning's Abt Vogler (+Abbe Georg Joseph Vogler+) composed an
overture and incidental music for this play for a production at
Mannheim in 1779. Born at Wuerzburg in 1749, he was educated by the
Jesuits at that town, and soon became a famous musician. He was
ordained priest at Rome in 1773, but still continued his career as a
composer and organ virtuoso. He was a famous teacher also, Weber and
Meyerbeer being his best pupils.
Some very good incidental music to this play was written by +Victorin
de Joncieres+ for Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice's version. The
composer was born in Paris in 1839, and entered the Paris
Conservatoire, but left suddenly, as he disagreed with his counterpoint
master, Leborne (a very conservative musician), concerning {28} Richard
Wagner, who had just given his first concert in Paris. This work
consists of an overture, march, _entr'actes_, and melodramas. It was
performed at the Grand, Nantes, on September 21, 1867, the composer
conducting the orchestra, and the part of Hamlet being played by Mme.
Judith, ex-societaire of the Comedie Francaise. When the play was
produced the following year at the Gaiete in Paris, this excellent
music was for some strange reason refused by M. Perrier, the producer.
The earliest known opera on _Hamlet_ is by +Francesco Gasparini+, and
was produced in Venice in 1705 and in London at the Queen's in 1712.
The composer was born near Lucca in 1668, and was a pupil of Archangelo
Corelli, the celebrated violinist and composer. The libretto is by
Apostolo Zeno, and the work is in three acts. The style is very much
like Corelli's, florid and melodious. Dr Burney, the musical
historian, who wrote a _General History of Music and Musicians from the
Earliest Ages to the Present Period_, has a short account of this opera
in the fourth volume of his work. He does not seem to like it. He
writes (in 1789): "_Hamlet_, in Italian, _Ambleto_; written by Apostolo
Zeno, and set for the Venetian Theatre, 1705, by Francesco Gasparini,
was brought on our stage under the conduct of Nicolini, who dedicated
the poem to the Earl of Portland. There is very little resemblance in
the conduct of this drama to Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name,
though both seem to have been drawn from the same source, the Danish
history of Saxo Grammaticus. But if Zeno is much inferior to our
divine Shakespeare, in variety of character, knowledge of the human
heart, and genius in its most unlimited acceptation, his drama is
exempt from all the absurdities and improprieties which critics,
insensible to the effects of music, had leisure to find in former
operas." So much for the libretto. For the music, there is an
overture, ending in a jig; but whether the curtain rises on the last
note of this dance for the "Rampart" scene, is not shown in the score.
Dr Burney {29} seems to like the music even less than the libretto. He
writes: "There are few songs, however, in this opera which would please
modern judges of music either by their melody or harmony." And on the
whole I agree with the doctor.
Though _Hamlet_ has been treated many times operatically, the only
setting that is ever performed is that of +Ambroise Thomas+, in five
acts, book by Carre and Barbier, produced in Paris 1860. Boito did the
libretto for Faccio's _Hamlet_, produced in Genoa 1865, but I cannot
get a copy. Anyway, Boito's libretto would certainly be the best
_Hamlet_ one ever written. After Gasparini comes a whole list of names
of _Hamlet_ composers, much too tedious to quote, the only interesting
name between him and Faccio being +Domenico Scarlatti+, the famous
harpsichord player and composer, whose opera was produced in Rome, 1715.
Thomas's prelude is very short, and obviously connected with the
supernatural happenings at Elsinore. The opening chorus is bright, and
all in praise of the King and Queen. Everyone seems happy until Hamlet
and Ophelia come on, and their first duet opens very sadly. All
through this work one gets glimpses of familiar quotations, but there
is no close adherence to Shakespeare; rather have MM. Carre and Barbier
followed in the paths of Shadwell, Davenant, and Colley Cibber.
Laertes, on his entrance, sings a very stirring patriotic song, and
manages to get away without any advice from Polonius. The part of
Polonius is mercilessly cut down to almost nothing. Fancy a singing
Polonius! Scene 2 is a very serviceable Ghost scene, with the clock
striking twelve, fanfares and plenty of _tremolo_; and the operatic
version gives a very fair idea of the original scene.
Act ii. opens with a short prelude on one of Ophelia's themes, and then
there is a long recitative and aria for her (Ophelia). I do not think
it would be wise or expedient {30} to give an exact analysis of this
work, so I will pass over with but few references.
Act iv. begins with a long and complicated ballet, which is about the
changes of weather from which we suffer, and Ophelia's "mad scene"
comes in the midst of it. The tyranny of the grand-opera ballet is one
of the most cramping things that have ever helped to ruin the fine
spontaneity of dramatic art. Everyone knows how Wagner fought against
it, and of the final _debacle_ in Paris. Wagner, as a sop to the
Jockey Club and Napoleon III., put a ballet in _Tannhaeuser_, but it was
a logical ballet, and in keeping with the general idea of the opera.
But because it was performed in the only possible place in the work
where it was suitable, the Parisians hooted the opera off the stage.
So why should not Ambroise Thomas have put a ballet in _Hamlet_?
Wagner gave way to his producer, but was firm as to where the ballet
should come. The ballet ran on from the overture, and there was no
question of a superimposed ballet. The Paris ballet music, Wagner
using the _Tannhaeuser_ melodies with the _Tristan_ technique, is one of
the most interesting of all Wagner's struggles against what he loathed
so much. In spite of his giving way to the Paris convention, the
ballet was a failure, because he would have it in the first act; but it
still serves to remind us English people that we are not the only
inartistic nation in the world, though we seldom sing paeans in our own
praise.
A very entertaining innovation of our French adapters is that instead
of Hamlet telling the players how to act, or in opera how to sing, he
calls for wine, and sings a merry drinking song, which probably pleased
the performers much more than a free singing lesson or a few tips on
elocution. I should very much like to see how Wagner would have
treated this scene. I feel sure he would have made Hamlet tell the
singing players to use the Italian _bel canto_ production, but, at the
same time, to sing the words as if they meant something and were not as
unimportant as the perpetual A--A--A of the singing exercises.
{31}
The usual end of the opera differs a little from Shakespeare's. The
Queen, Laertes, and Polonius live, and Hamlet is crowned King of
Denmark to music very similar to that which is sung in the first act,
in praise of Claudius and his Queen. But there is another ending
sometimes played to this opera. It is an ending that ought to make
Cibber blush! Sir Alexander Mackenzie told me he saw this closing
scene in Paris. The poor, unimaginative, bourgeois English producer
could never rise to such Latin heights. Here it is:--At the end of the
play, Ophelia marries Hamlet, and the Ghost, with full
melodrama-musical accompaniment, gives them his blessing. It is a dull
thing to be a simple Anglo-Saxon!
One of the most interesting things about this opera is that Hamlet is a
bass-baritone; very few people would believe this unless they heard the
opera, or saw it in black and white in the score.
A very interesting opera on this subject is +Aristide Hignard's+ lyric
drama in five acts, book by Pierre de Garal. The composer finished the
score in the well-founded hope of a speedy production, neither he nor
his friends knowing that Ambroise Thomas's work on the same subject was
already accepted and being rehearsed at the Opera, Paris, which fact
upset all his hopes. In this deeply studied work the composer had made
an effort to discover a new form, and believed that he had succeeded.
The new form consisted in this, says M. Hignard in his preface to the
score: in the vocal part of his work he interpolates declamation,
replacing the recitatives, and fully backed by the orchestra. This
procedure, which Massenet employed much later in _Manon_, was
undoubtedly new then, and the honour of inventing it falls distinctly
to Hignard. The composer was so disappointed at not being first in the
field, that even before the production and subsequent success of his
colleague's opera he abandoned all hopes of producing his work on the
stage in Paris, but published the score, not only to make it known but
also to prove that it had {32} been conceived by him at the same time
as his illustrious _confrere's_ opera. After twenty years it saw the
light in his native town of Nantes, and its success gave some
consolation to its composer for his earlier disappointment. Clement
and Larousse, in their account of it, say: "This _Hamlet_ is remarkable
in more than name. In it one finds much music of a real and high
inspiration; in the numbers it is necessary to mention, the Platform
scenes are treated very dramatically; the beautiful septuor which
follows the Play scene, and particularly the music that accompanies the
funeral of Ophelia, when the composer finds music of great pathos, are
most suitable. The _entr'actes_, ballets, and character passages make
delightful episodes, being full of charm and grace, and very
picturesque in colouring. To sum up, it is the work of an artist,
always learned, and does great honour to the hand that signed it."
Grove's _Dictionary of Music_ does not mention this composer's name,
but Riemann says he was born in Nantes, May 22, 1822, was a pupil of
Halevy at the Paris Conservatoire, composed much music, including
several comic operas, and died at Vernon in 1898.
+Franco Faccio+ had the inestimable boon of the services of Boito as
librettist for his _Hamlet_ opera. Faccio was born 1840, at Verona,
and at the age of fifteen entered the Conservatoire at Milan. He and
Boito fought together in the Garibaldian Army in 1867-68, after the
opera had been successfully produced at the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa,
on May 30, 1865; it was revived at the Scala in 1871, but was a
failure. The work is called _Amleto_, a lyrical tragedy in four acts.
"Dubita pur che brillino (sortita d'Ophelia)" is a sort of paraphrase
of Hamlet's letter:--
Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.
It is quite a beautiful song, very melodious and dramatic, and in a
style of its own. Ophelia is a high soprano. There {33} is a fine
drinking song for the King and Queen, Hamlet, and Ophelia, with a
chorus of courtiers. After an ironic recitative, mostly addressed to
Hamlet, the King leads off singing very solemnly and slowly the words
"Requie ai defunti," and immediately afterwards in a most lively style,
"e colmisi d'almo liquor la tazza." Then slowly and solemnly again,
"Oriam per essi," and quickly, "e calice sia vittima ed altar." The
song now continues as a very lively bolero, until just before the end
of the first verse, when the King sings, solemnly again, "Requie ai
defunti," and the chorus brings the first verse to a close with shouts
for the King. The Queen has the next verse just on the same lines as
the King's verse. Hamlet and Ophelia both have serious asides in the
next verse, but the chorus does not notice them, and finishes up the
number in a fine, reckless operatic way. The second part of the first
act opens in a remote part of the Castle ramparts. The night is very
dark, but the light in the banqueting-hall can be seen in the distance.
The opening music is intensely dramatic; the 'cellos are divided into
five parts, and while the orchestra in front are playing this most
tragic music, one can hear occasionally, beautifully blending with the
rest of the score, the lively strains of the King's private band
playing in the great dining-hall. Dramatically the Ghost enters just
as the lively music is dominating. Hamlet, in an impassioned outburst,
calls on the Ghost for an explanation; and, beginning very quietly, the
Ghost works himself up to a tremendous pitch of excitement in telling
his story. Finally he disappears, and his voice is heard below the
stage singing "Giurate" ("Swear"). Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus
finish the act singing, _pianissimo_, "De profundis clamavi." This is
indeed a fine concerted number, and much the most dramatic in any of
the _Hamlet_ operas. The famous soliloquy, "Essere, o non essere!"
("To be, or not to be!"), is faithfully and dramatically set, a strange
'cello part giving singular point to the words "To die, to sleep."
Hamlet and Ophelia have a very elaborate duet in this act, the former
pretending to be mad. The King and Queen also have a duet, entitled
{34} "Vieni, compagna," a very pretty, melodious, and light number.
The third act opens with the King's prayer; the orchestra plays a long
and solemn introduction, and the prayer is beautiful and dignified.
The last number is a trio for Queen, Hamlet, and Ghost. Hamlet
upbraids his mother in bolero rhythm, to which she replies tragically,
and then the Ghost appears, and the dance rhythm stops suddenly. They
sing a grim trio, and the act finishes in a tragic manner.
The next number is called "The Madness of Ophelia." She sings a
touching, sad little song, sometimes quite frivolous, but always
pathetic, Laertes and the King joining in now and again. This is
broken in upon by the populace, who have revolted, and wander about
singing songs of pillage and sacking. Ophelia finishes by laughing
quite madly, and Hamlet first, and then the King, says "Unfortunate
one." Unluckily, this is the last published number, so one has to
guess how the opera ends, as there is no copy of the libretto to be
found in the British Museum Library. Mr W. Barclay Squire, in his
contribution to _Homage to Shakespeare_, says of the work: "It had the
advantage of an admirable libretto, in which Shakespeare's tragedy was
closely followed." Hence one concludes that the opera ends more or
less in the same way as Shakespeare's play.
An interesting opera on this subject is +Alexandre Stadtfeldt's+ lyric
drama _Hamlet_, book by Jules Guillaume. The composer, a Belgian, was
a distinguished pupil of the Brussels Conservatoire, winning the Prix
de Rome in 1849. As he was unable to produce his opera in his native
country, he had the libretto translated into German, and the work was
performed with success at Bonn in 1881, and subsequently at Weimar.
_Hamlet_, +Franz Liszt's+ great symphonic poem, was one of the latest
of the series, being composed in 1859. It was first performed at
Sondershausen in 1886. The work is {35} planned on a large scale, and
is very difficult to perform. So far as I can find out, it is the only
Shakespearian work of the composer, but it is a very important one.
The main key of the work is B minor, and the greater part of it
passionate and _agitato_. The prelude opens slowly, sombrely, and
_piano_, with occasional sudden _crescendos_ and _sforzatos_, and
significant tremolo string passages, marked "stormy" in the score.
Then comes the principal theme, a quick, passionate subject, given out
by the violins, and presently taken up by the rest of the orchestra.
This is quickly followed by a strongly marked theme, allotted to the
full strings in unison, and these subjects are developed until the
Ophelia music is heard. This, naturally, is very different from the
preceding music, being slow, _piano_, with a violin solo accompanied by
_piano_ wood wind. It is soon broken in upon by the Hamlet music,
first on the bassoons, marked "ironical" in the score, and later
repeated by the rest of the wood wind. One fresh theme is introduced,
also _agitato_, and this thematic material suffices for the composer.
After much excitement and working up, we get a return to the slow
opening, followed by an _a funebre_ episode, founded on the Hamlet
motive, which finishes the whole movement. The end is very tragic, and
the whole a notable and interesting addition to our modern
Shakespearian music.
+Tschaikowsky's+ Phantasie Overture, _Hamlet_, is dedicated to Edvard
Grieg. It is really a great work, full of dignity, strength, and
beauty. The twelve o'clock effect is curiously given by twelve
_sforzato_ semibreves on muted horns, beginning _pianissimo_, and
swelling up until the twelfth note is given triple _fortissimo_. The
first subject is energetic, obviously for Hamlet, with his mind very
much made up; but gradually the theme gets more and more undecided and
vacillating, and leads to the second theme, Ophelia, a beautiful and
tender subject given out by the oboe. The whole development is long,
complicated, and interesting; towards the end a strange quasi-_funebre_
theme is given out on the brass and drums, closely followed by a long
passage {36} for full orchestra, marked triple _fortissimo_,
culminating in a chord for the wind marked with five _f_'s. Then comes
a very solemn and dignified ending, strings muted and everything dying
away to a whisper. This work is one of the finest commentaries on the
play ever written.
+Berlioz's+ contributions to _Hamlet_ music consist of two numbers: a
ballad for two female voices, entitled "La mort d'Ophelie," done into
English by the Rev. J. Troutbeck under the title "Ophelia"; and a
funeral march for the last scene in the play. The words of the ballad
are by Berlioz, and are a description of Ophelia's last hours, her
wandering by the brook making fantastic wreaths, with many very
ingenious references to Shakespeare's scene so beautifully described by
the Queen in the play. Naturally, the music is throughout exquisitely
sad, and is beautifully descriptive of Ophelia's death. It is not at
all difficult to perform, and very melodious; I cannot understand why
Ladies' Choral Societies do not take it up.
The "Marche Funebre" is not in ordinary march form. There are no trios
in it; it is all the development of one theme. It begins _pianissimo_
in A minor, and ends _pianissimo_ in the same key. It has a monotonous
bass throughout, and Berlioz uses all kinds of drums with his usual
weird skill. The impression of many men marching slowly and solemnly
must be realised by even the most unimaginative hearer, and it is a
work that requires no programme. It tells its own story absolutely to
anyone who cares to hear it. There is a tremendous _fortissimo_
triumphant effect in the middle, the bass stalking up and down in slow
dotted notes, while the rest of the orchestra sustains a slow, heavy
melody. After a terrific triple _forte_ effect, there is a dead
silence; then a long, deep, sustained note; then occur about twenty
bars of the most hopelessly despairing music I have ever heard, and
then the drums again take up their dreadful figure; and so the whole
march winds to a close. It does not end on any note of hope. There is
no thought of a glorious resurrection--all is lost, hopeless,
despairing. It {37} would make a splendid _entr'acte_ played before
the last act of _Hamlet_, and would put the audience into exactly the
proper state of mind. The march should be oftener used on occasions of
national mourning.
+Edward Alexander MacDowell+, the best-known American composer, wrote
two symphonic poems for orchestra entitled _Hamlet_ and _Ophelia_.
These works are dedicated jointly to Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. The
composer was born in New York in 1861, but studied mostly in France and
Germany, afterwards teaching at the Conservatoires of Darmstadt and
Wiesbaden. In these two poems there is no attempt to tell any story.
The _Hamlet_ one is naturally more excited than the _Ophelia_; but as
there seem to be no Ghost, King, or any of the accustomed secondary
characters, I presume that the composer means exactly what he says,
viz. that the one represents his conception of Hamlet, and the other
that of Ophelia. The result is two excellent, if rather dull, works.
The theme for French horn at the beginning of the Ophelia poem is the
most striking in either of the pieces, and is the only melody that
stands out at all. It is also very skilfully developed.
+Edward German's+ symphonic poem, _Hamlet_, dedicated to Hans Richter,
the conductor, was first produced at the Birmingham Festival of 1897.
The composer, in a preface to the printed copy, says: "In this
symphonic poem the composer has endeavoured to depict the character of
Hamlet as stern and relentless, yet in this mood alternately hesitating
and impetuous. The influence of this character may be said to dominate
the entire work. Hamlet's love for Ophelia is overpowered by his
doubts, his distrust of the Queen, and his determination to avenge the
murder of his father. His fury reaches its height as he stabs the
King. The poison which Hamlet has received from the weapon of Laertes
now begins to take effect, and hence to the end the music is
descriptive of the ebbing away of his life." This gives the reader a
very fair idea of Edward {38} German's work. It is planned on a large
scale for a large orchestra, and is quite the most important serious
work that Mr German has given us. It opens with a picture of night,
sombre and serious, followed by the inevitable bell tolling twelve.
Then a short _agitato_ episode leads to a bold theme entitled "Hamlet"
in the score. Shortly afterwards come a very pleading Ophelia theme
for clarinet and harp, and a fine _pomposo_ march theme for the King.
All these are freely worked out, and in the middle of this development
occurs a very touching episode called "Death of Ophelia." Mr German,
following his own programme, works now for his great climax, the
killing of Claudius by Hamlet, after which the music grows slower and
slower and more and more _piano_ till it finally dies away.
It is a beautiful and ambitious work, and well worthy of the colossal
theme that it is founded upon. It is a great credit to British
musicianship, and I only wish it could be heard oftener.
I have frequently wished that +Grieg+ had composed music for _Hamlet_.
In several productions I have heard numbers from his _Sigurd Joersalfar_
suite, played as _entr'actes_, and sometimes as incidental music, and
they always sounded exactly in keeping with the feeling and atmosphere
of the play. I have just discovered the reason. His master and
fellow-countryman, Niels Gade, had composed a _Hamlet_ overture, and
Grieg, unlike some of our modern English composers, who freely set
poems and stories immortalised by Handel, was a very modest man, and
left his master alone in the field, to our great loss.
Some time ago Sir Frederick Bridge unearthed in the Pepys Library at
Cambridge a strange setting of the soliloquy "To be, or not to be," for
bass voice, viol de gamba, and lute. Pepys is supposed to have had the
music specially composed for him, but, unfortunately, the composer's
name is still unknown. "It is a broad, declamatory {39} setting" (says
_The Times_), "something in the manner adopted by Pelham Humphrey and
Blow in their sacred recitatives; and though it does not differ from a
great deal of contemporary music, it is as much more effective as it is
less pretentious than the strange setting of the same words in Thomas's
version. There is a vague reference to this in the _Diary_: 'Dined at
home very well, and spent all the afternoon with my wife within doors,
and getting a speech out of Hamlet, "To be, or not to be," without
book.'"
[1] As will be gathered from a similar passage on page 2 and from
others that need not be specified, it is clear that Christopher Wilson,
had he been spared, would have filled in various gaps before the
publication of his papers in permanent book-form.
{40}