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21M.013J The Supernatural in Music, Literature and Culture Spring 2009
For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms. Supernatural in 17th- and 18th-century music for London Ellen T. Harris Purcell, Dido and Aeneas Handel, Alcina
1. In Shakespeare, the witches are distinguished from the other characters by their manner of speech (short lines, metrically organized by foot (specific unit size), and rhymed in couplets), which includes the use of music. Therefore, the music itself need not be distinguished as “witch-like,” since its very use points to the witches’ supernatural status. In operas from this period, where music is used continually throughout the drama, the texts tend to be standard (non-distinguishing), so the “witchiness” must be situated in the kind of music the witches use. a. Purcell’s text, by Nahum Tate, uses rhymed couplets throughout, usually in four metric stresses. b. Handel’s text is adapted by an unknown author from an earlier libretto (by A. Fanzaglia) that is based on Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso (1509, with revisions following); it follows the standard format for opera seria: recitatives in 7 and 11 syllable lines of blank verse, and arias in two stanzas of rhymed text (often of 8 syllables) where the stanzas are set in the pattern ABA.
2. Many operas, like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, are closely tied to current political/religious issues. Macbeth in some way relates to James I, the first Stuart king. Dido and Aeneas can be tied to a break in the Stuart dynasty related to religion. Handel’s operas relate to the end of the Stuart dynasty and the arrival of the Hanoverian kings. TUDORS HENRY VII (r. 1485-1509) sister: Mary-- (1) Louis XII; (2) Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk Lady Frances--Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset
HENRY VIII (1509-1547)— (1) Catherine of Aragon, (2) Anne Boleyn, (3) Jane Seymour, (4) Anne of Cleves, (5) Catherine Howard, (6) Katharine Parr EDWARD VI (1547-1553)P JANE I (1553, 9 or 13 days)P MARY I (1553-1558)C = “Bloody Mary” ELIZABETH I (1558-1603)P STUARTS JAMES I (1603-1625)P CHARLES I (1625-1649)P sister: Elizabeth-Frederick V Commonwealth period, or Interregnum (1649-1660) CHARLES II (1660-1685)P / JAMES II (1685-1689)C (1) Anne Hyde, (2) Mary of Modena Mary-William II
MARY II and WILLIAM III (1689-1702)P ANNE (1702-1714)P James III C Sophia-Ernst Augustus Charles Edward Stuart C HANOVERIANS GEORGE I (1714-1727)P 3. witches in 17th-century drama 1606?: Shakespeare for Globe Theatre 1610/11?: revision for Blackfriars Theatre 1615/16?: Middleton’s The Witch 1663: William Davenant revision, with additional songs and dances from The Witch (music by Matthew Locke) 1678: Nahum Tate, Brutus of Alba, based on Dido and Aeneas story with witches replacing the mythological gods and goddesses 1681?: Thomas Shadwell play, The Lancashire Witches (acknowledges debt to Shakespeare/Davenant, but says his witches based on real people; each act contains extensive documentation about incantations and writings on witchcraft: “Wayward sisters”; witches represent an attack/satire on Catholicism; one character says of the Catholic inquisitor in the play: “I do not know what to think of his Popish way, his Words, his Charms, and Holy water, and Relicks, methinks he is guilty of Witchcraft too, and you should send him to Gaol for it.”) 1687/9?: Henry Purcell/Nahum Tate, Dido and Aeneas: “Wayward Sisters” 1694?: Davenant, new musical setting by John Eccles 1702: Davenant, new musical setting by Richard Leveridge 4. political allegory in Dido and Aeneas a. 1689: Aeneas and Dido = William and Mary: a cautionary tale should William fail in his responsibilities to his English Queen b. 1689: witches = new popish plot; what could happen to William and Mary c. 1697: Aeneas = James II; Dido = England; witches = bad popish counsel 5. “witch” music a. echo choruses (going back to “cat” echoes in Macbeth; “In our deep-vaulted cell” in Dido) b. halting rhythms or disjunctions (“Echo dance of the Furies” in Dido) c. lilting rhythms and major keys to depict malevolent texts (“Harm’s our delight”) d. minor key accompanied recitative as incantation (“Wayward Sisters”) 5. Handel’s sorceresses a. NOT village hags, but enchantresses, seductresses, in consort with the devil; “even in the reign of Queen Anne, female power (other than the respect that was due to mothers) was generally represented as illegitimate, based on deception and without divine blessing” (Paul Monod) b. Among Handel’s first operas in London are Rinaldo (1711): Armida, Teseo (1713): Medea, Amadigi (1715): Melissa with sorceresses who “perform black magic and consort with devils”(Monod) c. compare to Biblical oratorio Samson (1742) Dalila (not literally a sorceress): “To man, God’s universal law / Gave power to keep the wife in awe. / Thus shall his life be ne’er dismayed / By female usurpation swayed.” d. Alcina (1735) attracts heroes to her magic island, transforms them to rocks, trees, or wild beasts; Ruggiero, her current lover, not yet transformed, is saved by the constant love of Bradamante; Alcina and her island are destroyed by love; she and her sister vanish when the urn holding their magic power is shattered. e. In England, last witch trial in 1712; law ending witch trials enacted 1736.