(CM55-6: 62 cues) [See esp. S53-66 and OS (1987): pp. 379-381 App. D. The Music of the Songs, ed. from contemporary material by F.W. Sternfeld (as in St); FV8 has some traditional stage versions. MM8: no strings used; LH128: several trumpets, kettledrum, military drums, hautboy consort. AS (1982) 529-36, 542-3, 548-50 and ME156-170 comment on song contexts. See also David Lindley in CDw 86-88
| act | scene | line | Click here to find out more about suggested song | |
| I | iii | 1 | `[I pray you…sing, or express yourself in a more comfortable sort] | |
| I | i | 149-160 | [I have heard The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day…/ It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say…The bird of dawning singeth all night long]. | |
| ii | 0, {128} | Flourish […Come, away] {Flourish} B254 florid trumpets or cornets accompanied by rapid rolling on side drums | ||
| I | iv | 3 | [What hour now?] [Sound trumpets] | |
| 7 | A flourish of trumpets, and two pieces of ordnance goes off [within]. B254 thumps on kettledrums | |||
| 9-13 | [The King doth wake to-night and takes his rouse, Keeps *wassail, and the swagg’ring upspring reels, And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his pledge]. | |||
| II | i | 73 | [And let him ply his music] that is, metaphorically | |
| ii | {0} | {Flourish} | ||
| 369 | A flourish [of trumpets within] for the Players | |||
| 404 | O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou! Song fragment. Tune unknown | 36 | ||
| a) uLH121: 1569 ‘Well-a-day.’ (Essex’s last Good-night’) tune SB496/ CW130-1/ C174-6; rST/AB SR16; kMP f25; PE90 has tune and words ‘Sweet England’s rize is gone.’ ۞CamQ1 (Note: another sertting of ‘Essex’s last Good-night’ SB132 is another later tune) | (899) | |||
| b) DO226-9 set to a version of ‘Greensleeves’; as lute song ۞DO i 38 | (178) | |||
| 449-450 | […’twas Aeneas’ tale to Dido…where he speaks of Priam’s slaughter.] | 37 | ||
| DO321-5 ‘Queen Dido’ | ||||
| i) ‘Aeneas, wandering Prince of Troy’ kMP40; ۞DO ii 54 i | ||||
| ii) DO325 ‘The Wretched wandering Prince of Troy’ Mulliner Book (f87v) kMB i 89; ۞DO ii 54 ii | ||||
| 503 | [He’s for a *jig] Kemp’s jig | 37A (70a) | ||
| III | i | 158-161 | [And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That sucked the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh] | |
| ii | 66-9 | [and blest are those Whose blood and judgement are so well commingled That they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger To sound what *stop she please.] cf later, lines 356-77 and MND V i 122 on fingering the recorder | ||
| 87 | {Sound a flourish} | |||
| 89 | *{Danish march} MM30 drums {Enter trumpets an kettledrums} | 38 | ||
| a) LH 118-9, 276-80: 1599 ALISON De la tromba pauin à 5 (Lady Frances Sydney’s goodmorrowe) as a sennet (for 3 trumpets, bassoon and timpani); (ending in the march-like section); bcM3; 2 lutes (BR 26-27/ PI 6v-8v ) LR26/ t LSoc C36: 1; ۞BaW16/ ۞BreF9/ ۞DoH17 | ||||
| b) N30-32, 41 The Hamburgh March, lute; arr 2 tp + k for ‘Danish march’ N30-31 lute; 2 trumpets and piano | ||||
| c)(DLC) King of Polabnd, country dance RE 12 iii | ||||
| 119 | [O God, your only jig-maker!] | |||
| 128-9 | […the *hobby-horse, whose epitaph is, ‘For, O’ for O’ the hobby-horse is forgot.’] | 39 | ||
| allusion to ‘Kempe’s long distance *morris dance’ from London to Norwich, cf AS 500-1. PS 115: in morris dancing a man with the figure of a horse strapped round his waist. | ||||
| a) LH121, 286 (facsimile) cf allusion in WEELKES 1608 Ayres or phantasticke sprites ‘Since Robin Hood, Maid Marion, And Little John are gone-a, The hobby-horse was quite forgot when *Kempe did dance alona’ melody & text DO197-8; ۞DO ii 26; (ATB voices: S&B EMS13: 20/ OBEM 38/ S&B separately W36, in LPM EML214); ۞Ge37 | ||||
| b) (DLC) a short harmonized statement by FARNABY Kempe’s morris kF293/ MB xxiv 38; anon. setting as ‘Muscadin’ in kF19/ Fa 13; ۞Du6; gFd5; rSAT Fm8, and tune as ‘Chirping of the lark’ E26/ Eb 15/ CW277; longways for eight RE39 vi; #rS/TS/T Eh18; ۞Cw27 i; ۞CwL25 i; SWEELINCK Variations on a theme of Farnaby, keyboard SW l / SWm | ||||
| 129 | Hautboys play. The dumb-show enters. B254 no tune, just shrill screams; cfAS501-5 | 40 | ||
| a) LH118-120: 1599 HOLBORNE two consorts à 5 (cantus and bass provided): [J102 & 59] | ||||
| i). Ecce quam bonum: galliard à 5 H28/ H1034/ MBix xvi 2; ۞Hs13/ ۞RoM3; rSSATB Hm10 | ||||
| ii). The Funerals pavan à 5 H31/ H1036/ MB ix 66; ۞DoH13/ ۞RoM10; rS/AATTB Hf5; ۞Sf5; bqHAi 31/ HN6; lute (PI) PIv 9 ‘Countess of Pembroke’s funerals’ | ||||
| b) N33 LE JEUNE Pavane à 6 pf / harmonium 2ob 2cl/cà 2bn | (21a) | |||
| Exeunt the Players | ||||
| 134 | Enter Prologue MM: flourish of trumpets; B254 light blasts – not florid | |||
| 147 | Enter the Player King and his Queen. MM: trumpets/cornetts extemporised 2 note call. | |||
| 259-262 | Why let the stricken deer go weep,… LH113 usually chanted. Cf AS508 | |||
| a) Set to melody (GB-Lbl Stowe ms.389); lute WM i 121-3; text and tune uDO463-4; as lute song ۞DO i 77 | 41 | |||
| b) Set to melody for ‘If care do cause men cry’ (shorter version of tune) DO 464-6; ۞DO ii 74 | (658) | |||
| 269-72 | Song snatches: For thou dost know, O Damon dear,… LH122 usually chanted, | 42 | ||
| a) LH122: set to lute piece in (BA 85 f3) | ||||
| b) DO116-8 EDWARDS ‘Awake, ye woeful wights…Damon my friend must die’ melody and text of lute song; facsimile (BL i f3 2); score in ML 1967, 247-50; DO ii 11 | ||||
| 279 | [Ah, ha! Come, some music come, the recorders…] | 43 | ||
| N34: LE JEUNE Gavotte à 4 | ||||
| 282 | [Come, some music!] apparently not followed up until | |||
| 331-5 | Enter one with a *recorder. [the recorder. Let me see. To withdraw with you, why do you go about to recover the wind of me…] SM38 Stevens questions whether they were actually played during the scene. cf Christopher Welch ‘Hamlet and the recorders’ PRMA 28 (1901-2) 105-137 and Stephen Berkoff ‘I am Hamlet’ Faber 1989, pp.127-9 | |||
| 337-360 | [Will you play upon this pipe?/ My lord, I cannot./ I pray you./ Believe me, I cannot/ I do beseech you./ I know no touch of it, my lord./ ’Tis as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your finger and thumb, give it breath with your mouth,and it will discourse most excellent music. Look you, these are the stops./ But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill./ …You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ’Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played upon than a pipe? Call me what you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me]. | |||
| iv | 130-1 | [My pulse as yours, doth temperately keep time, And makes as healthful music.] | ||
| IV | v | 20 | Enter Ophelia mad {…with a lute} Q1 ‘playing on a lute’ | |
| Song snatches: S69 melodic variants of the same tune; S53-78 discusses in full; see also David Lindley CDw 86-7, G7 xx 193 and AS529-534 | ||||
| 23-6, 29-32, 35, 37-9 | [35]. Sings HOW SHOULD I YOUR TRUE LOVE KNOW | 44 | ||
| a) theatrical tradition adapting ballad tune 1538 ‘Walsingham’ with altered rhythm; cf Poulton ‘Ophelia’s version of the Walsingham song’ ML xlvii (Apr. 1964) 108-196, N35-36/ DO422-4 ‘As you came from Walsingham’ tune and text; ۞DO i 64; H + acct. uS60-4/ C236-7/ G47/ CM57-60/ N189-90/ N36-7/ LH124/ FV8: 1/ K 44/ HH 17a/ Mo-S 175/ CW69-71/ WY21; ۞Am5/ ۞BroS10/ ۞CamS17/ ۞DeC7/ ۞DeS5/ ۞Lg 17/ ۞MgE8/ ۞MgM12/ ۞Mh24/ ۞Ph 11; à 4 rSATB CM 324-5; setting by CORKINE ۞Eh4; 1596 CUTTING uSt4b/OS379; (harmonisation from lute version) apt for singing; lute/k BB20 (CHf96) CF18/ LU25; ۞BreG3/ ۞DeC8/ ۞DeS6/ ۞N2/ ۞Q10; 1591 BYRD kRV6/ uSt4a; ۞Am6/ ۞BroS23 (with harmonisation from Variation 3) could act as entr’acte music; ۞ChF1; kBY31/ F68/ MB xxvii 76/ RE8 i; gNR45/ BGi; rST SR10 i; rSAT SR10 ii; rSS/AA HR3; John JOHNSON Walsingham variations, lute ۞N6/ ۞OL24/ ۞Sa 1; anon: lyra viol MB ix 109. BULL Variations kF1/ MB ixx 46; 1597 HOLBORNE [J89] lute HC16; ۞MgM 13; cittern HCm 15; HCk2; DOWLAND Galliard (on the Walsingham tune) lute/tk D31; lute/k N59; ۞CmD ix 4/ ۞d iii 14/ ۞OD iii 14/ ۞RoC16; gDd14/Dt4. [also his lute setting of ‘Walsingham’ D67; ۞BreW5/ ۞CamS19/ ۞CmD x 17/ ۞Ld ii 2/ ۞N7/ ۞OD iii 13, ۞Sgl 19 | ||||
| b) (DLC) DOWLAND Come ye heavy shades of night | (115g) | |||
| 27 | [Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?] | |||
| 41-2 | [They say the owl was a baker’s daughter] cf AS532-3 | 45 | ||
| DO278-80 ‘The merry miller’s wooing of the baker’s daughter’ melody and text | ||||
| 47-54, 58-65 | [36]. Sings To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day… By Gis, and by Saint Charity | 46 | ||
| theatrical tradition adapting ballad tune related to 1591 ‘Who list to lead a Soldier’s Life’ cf AS533-4 uS62-3/ St5/ OS380/ CM61-65/ FV8:2/ LH125/ N38/ N190/ C259/ CW 303-4/ K33/ HH17c/ G106-7/ RE 43 ix; tune and text DO407-8; H + acct. ; voice & chord symbols K33; ۞BroS11/ ۞CamS18/۞DO i 60/۞Lg 18/ ۞Ph 13; rSS/AA HR4; tune E65/ Eb 94/ SB516/ SC iii 35/ SCt vi 2/ C144/ RE 43 viii; ۞Ge36.l/t (BO f12r 4); rSS/AA Ec12. BYRD [attrib.] Souldier’s dance trumpets and drum (MP f99/ Dr Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor’ tune C145/ CS73D); kRV6 | (49b) | |||
| 165-7; 171-2 | [37]. Sings They bore him barefaced on the bier [refrain] [You must sing, *’Down a-down’ and you, ‘Call him a-down-a’], cf. S68-9 H + acct. | 47 | ||
| a) i) uN169, 191/ St6 i/ OS380/ CM66/ FV8: 3/ HH 17b: ‘Walsingham’ adapted | (44) | |||
| ii) uSt6 ii/ OS380: for the refrain: 1576 Bandalashot: WH29 (p.173-4): galliard lute lute une (DL14/ CHf94)/ CHr41 ‘A Downe’; set to the Elizabethan ballad ‘The Song of King Edgar’ with its refrain ‘Call him *down-a’; tune SB267 | ||||
| b) uN191/ (B255) lute piece ‘Milkmaid’s dump,’ cf AS532-3; as ‘A dance:’ MP(f36r); as country dance tune ‘The merry merry milkmaids’ (E23/ Eb60/ Ez47b/ C295-9/ CW 290-1/ RE26 v; 40 ii/ SC iii 23/ SCt vi 5/ SCg18/ SA405/ K36; rSS/AT/A Em 12; rSSA Ez 14; rS Er5; rS/TS/T Eh 16; ۞BroP7/ ۞Cw 10/ ۞CwL10; tune SB309 | ||||
| 185 | [38]. Sings FOR BONNY SWEET ROBIN IS ALL MY JOY cf. S57-8; 68-75; AS542-3 | 48 | ||
| allusion to popular ballad tune; lists 30 tune and title variants (sources include lute solos in (BA19, p. 27) as ‘Bonny Sweet Robin,’ and (DY63, p.113) as ‘Robin Hood is to the greenwood gone’; in GB-Lbl Add MS 31392 as ‘Jolly Robin’, in Add MS 17786-91 à 5 as ‘My Robbin’ and two in CH f53 & f66 as ‘Robin’; other variants are Robin is to the greenwood gone’ (FO f 16v/ BA f113) N39; ۞BaB8; and for lute, ‘My Robin is to the greenwood gone’ (C233-4) N39/gHZ4; ۞Ph 12, 17; cf Seng 149-156 | ||||
| a) uS70/ St7/ SB40/ OS381(5 bars)/ N191/ LH126/ CM67; ۞L12/ ۞BaS2,3/ ۞BroS 25/ ۞DeS 11 /۞Eh5/ ۞Ge33/ ۞Gt18/ ۞PaM24/ ۞Wt4, 5; H unacc; (DY63, p113) l/t (BO 37) lute/tk PI 22v) Piv 22/ PO2; l/t (lute CH f53) lute/t CHr42 ‘Robin’/ JE13; ۞ChQ3/ ۞DeC 14/ ۞DoH3/ ۞KnK 17/ MsE i 11/ ۞MfM21/ ۞N2/ ۞Wt4, 5; lyra viol, anon ‘Bonny sweet Robin’ ۞Du 11/ ۞Hf23/ ۞MsE i 16; (GB-Cu Dd 9 33) gCR 10; DOWLAND ‘Robin’ variations: ‘Sweet Robyne’ lute/kt (P35) ۞HeP30; JE14/ CW153; ۞BreW14/ ۞CamS16; k۞CmD x 24/ ۞HeP30/ ۞Lg 16 / ۞OD ii 5/ ۞Th7/ ۞W14; cittern 1597 HOLBORNE HC22/ C233-4; lute/tk, rSSS/AT RC i 36; 1603 ROBINSON Bonny sweet boy CHr7/ RS21, 31; pandora: Bonny sweet boy ۞MsE i 16; CUTTING gHZ4; 2 lutes NT i 3; k(once attrib.) BYRD MB xxviii 106 (also attrib. BULL MB ixx 65 or FARNABY ‘Bonny sweet Robin’ kF128/ MB xxiv 35; ۞MgM8; rS+k MG2; Fc8/ C234; rAA/TT Fs1; rS/T + g DZ6; anon. lyra viol’ ۞MsE i16; kF15; à 5 SATB viols and harpsichord. SIMPSON 1621 Ricercar à 4 [on Bonny Sweet Robin] SZ29/MB9: 106; ۞Du4/ ۞EsU25/ ۞Hp18/ ۞KnK 18; à 5 anon (GB-Lbl Add ms 17786) TB4; ۞Du 11/ ۞Ec 11 iii/ ۞MgM3; ASKUE Robin Hoode, lute ۞OH 4; HOLMES Robin is to the greenwood gone, consort ۞BaS 10; lute attrib. WILSON ۞YM18 | ||||
| b) uS74-5/ St7:employs the text from 1609 JONES ayre ‘Hey Jolly Robin’ opening ‘In Sherwood forest lived Stout Robin Hood’ which has ‘Hey Jolly Robin’ as refrain: EL ii 14: 19/ GR190-4/ FL i 7; fEF29: 19; WA iv 1; ۞Ec 11 ii/ ۞Ph 17 | ||||
| c) uFV8:4 ‘Soldier’s life’ tune | (46) | |||
| 188-197 | [39]. Sings And will ‘a not come again cf AS543-4 | 49 | ||
| a) uC237/ S67-9/ St8/ OS381/ 75, 191/ N34/ FV8: 5; ۞BroS12 possible tracing to ‘The merry, merry milk maids’ variant in minor mode; see SB p.490-3 for concordance; C295-6/ G107/ CM67-70/ HH 17d/ K34. H unacc; as country dance E (1652)/ Eb 60/ RE40 ii/ SC iii / SCt vi 5/ SCg iii 6; ۞BroP7/ ۞Ph14; rS/TS/T Eh16 | (47b) | |||
| b) uLH127 adapted to ballad tune ‘Lord Thomas and fair Elinor’ CS73/ C145 | (46) | |||
| c) uK36 Traditional tune as in Caulfield | ||||
| d) uDO52-3 set to ‘Go from my window’, tune & text; as lute song HH17d; ۞DO i 3 | (354f) | |||
| e) K34/ N40, set to ‘The Milkmaid’s dump’ | (47b) | |||
| vii | 149 | [Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes] | ||
| V | i | 1-64, 71-74 | [40]. Sings In youth, when I did love… But age with his stealing steps… | 50 |
| 91-94, 117-8 | A pickaxe, and a spade, …O, a pit of clay… cfAS549-551 | |||
| a) ‘first tune’ GB-Lbl Add 4900 c1605 uN&75-6/ G36/ S151-2/ FV8: 6/ LH127-9/ St9a/ OS381; ۞BroS 13; in traditional transcription by William Crotch M unacc.; tune C216-7 tune C216-7/ CW52; tune and text DO211-4 ‘I loathe that I did love’ | ||||
| b) ‘second tune’ for voice and lute, c.1605 uC216-7/ S127-31 (GB-Lbl Add MS 4900: 14 f58v-59) WM ii 42; ۞Ph15; ‘I loathe that I did love’ St9b: M unacc. WA iv 6; voice and chord symbols K35; ۞BroS24; rSAT SR17; tune SB215; CW52 mentions this setting in a note; see PA 167 for discussion | ||||
| c) S152-5/ St9b M + acct. (lute), using original text: in LSocP 7; unaccompanie uCM 71 | ||||
| d) u(C217) CW52 stage tradition uses the tune ‘Children in the wood’ tune SB66 | ||||
| e) uC216; HH 17d / tune SB216 | ||||
| ii | 222-4 | [let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without Trumpets the while he drinks] cf N41 for performance suggestions including the music for either | ||
| a) an ancient English drum march ‘The Voluntary’ 1610 | 50A | |||
| or b) ‘And will he not come again’ N40 | (49) | |||
| or c) Hambourg march N31 | (38b) | |||
| 235 | {Drum and} trumpets sound, and [cannon] shot goes off | |||
| 301 | March afar off, and shout within. [What warlike noise is this?] | |||
| 313-5 | [flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.] N41 drums make sudden cescendo [Why does the drum come hither?] | |||
| March within. Enter Fortinbras with… a drummer, colours… [Where is thisa sight?] | ||||
| 352 | [for his passage, The soldier’s music and the rites of war speak loudly for him]. | |||
| 357 | Exeunt, marching, with the bodies; MM31 muffled drum. (B256) N&201 after the which, a peal of ordnance are shot off. B256 kettledrum |