This article was downloaded by: [Queen Mary, University of London] On: 10 October 2014, At: 12:21 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Proceedings of the Musical Association Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ rrma18 Hamlet and the Recorder Christopher Welch M.A. OXON. Published online: 28 Jan 2009. To cite this article: Christopher Welch M.A. OXON. (1901) Hamlet and the Recorder, Proceedings of the Musical Association, 28:1, 105-137, DOI: 10.1093/jrma/28.1.105 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrma/28.1.105 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Downloaded by [Queen Mary, University of London] at 12:21 10 October 2014 APRIL 8, 1903. T. L. SOUTHGATE, ESQ., IN THE CHAIR. HAMLET AND THE RECORDER. BY CHRISTOPHER WELCH, M.A. OXON. THE Plays of Shakespeare have been handled by the naturalist, the botanist, the ornithologist, the entomologist, the psychologist, the typographist, the angler, the lawyer, the physician, and the divine, but never, as far as I can discover, by one who has brought to bear on them a study of the flute. Yet Shakespeare has honoured the flute as he has honoured no other instrument. In " Hamlet" he has brought it on the stage, displayed it to the audience, and discoursed on its music, its structure, and its manipulation. This afternoon I will break new ground : I will bring before you the views of a flute-player on the well-known Scene.1 I shall suggest a change in the way of mounting it, express an opinion on how it might be played, and comment on the technical phrases it contains. It is not necessary to dwell on the leading incidents of the Play. No one needs to be reminded that his father's spirit appeared to Hamlet, made known to him that he had been by a brother's hand, Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd, Downloaded by [Queen Mary, University of London] at 12:21 10 October 2014 and commanded him to Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. The charge thus brought against Hamlet's uncle rested solely on the spectre's word ; but the apparition, instead of being an " honest ghost," might, perchance, have been a " goblin damned," a fiend, who had assumed his father's shape to lure Hamlet on to crime. Hamlet, therefore, before imbruing his hands in his uncle's blood, requires confirmatory evidence. For a test of the ghost's truthfulness, Shakespeare has recourse to his own art: Hamlet will have the murder, as the ghost had described it, acted before his uncle by some strolling players who have just arrived, whilst he and his friend Horatio will watch if in his visage he should betray his guilt. Ham. I have heard, That guilty creatures, sitting at a play, Have by the very cunning of the scene Been struck so to the soul, that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions; > " Hamlet," Act III., Scene 2. io6 Hamlet and the Recorder. For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players Play something like the murder of my father, Before mine uncle : I'll observe his looks ; I'll tent him to the quick ; if he do blench, I know my course. The spirit I have seen, May be a devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and, perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, (As he is very potent with such spirits), Abuses me to damn me : I'll have grounds More relative than this: The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King. * The scene in which the histrionic touchstone is applied to the murderer is a dramatic conception of the highest order. The Player on the stage pouring poison into his sleeping victim's ear—Hamlet, mad with passion, but struggling to appear calm, his eyes riveted to his uncle's face as he lies at the feet of the gentle Ophelia—the guilty King, struck to the soul, calling for light and hurrying from the hall—form a spectacle never to be effaced from the beholder's memory. The King, the Queen, the Court, the Players—all are gone. Hamlet, his doubts dispelled, his suspicions confirmed, is left alone with Horatio in the silent hall. His tempest- tossed soul now longs for the solace of sweet sounds, Shakes- peare's balm for the wounded spirit;" " Come," he exclaims, 9 " Hamlet," Act II., Scene 2. 8 In " Henry VIII." (Act III., Scene 1), Queen Katharine calls for music to dispel sadness:— Downloaded by [Queen Mary, University of London] at 12:21 10 October 2014 Take thy lute, wench; my soul grows sad with troubles : Sing and disperse 'em The song sung in obedience to the Queen's command, tells us that— In sweet music is such art; Killing care, and grief of heart, Fall asleep, or, hearing, die. Henry IV. (the Second Part of " King Henry IV.," Act IV., Scene 4), on regaining consciousness from a swoon caused by joy, expresses a wish for music: — I pray you take me up and bear me hence Into some other chamber: softly, pray. [They convey the King into an inner part of the room, and place him on a bed. Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends; Unless some dull and favourable hand Will whisper music to my weary spirit. Warwick.—Call for the music in the other room. Compare "Julius Ca:sar," Act IV., Scene 3, where Brutus, after great mental agitation, tells his boy to touch his instrument a strain or two. Hamlet was subject to thoughts of suicide, the result of his infirmity to which he alludes in the speech just quoted above, melancholia; an affection for which, from the time of Saul, music has been looked upon as a remedy. In " Pericles " (Act V., Scene 1), the " sacred physick," singing, is resorted Hamlet and the Recorder. 107 "some music; come,the recorders.... Come, some music." Music is so inseparably associated in many minds with mirth, that this sudden and seemingly ill-judged call for it is often regarded as a mad freak. But, if it be madness, it is not without method. Be it observed that Hamlet does not call for the shawms, for the cornets, or for the hautboys, although any finger - holed instrument would serve the purpose to which the flute is ultimately put. Nor does he call for a recorder. He calls for the recorders; for a band, or concert of recorders; for that combination, which, as Milton tells us, was not . wanting power to mitigate and 'suage With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and pain From mortal or immortal minds ; for that form of instrumental harmony whose ravishing sweetness, suggestive of the passionless bliss of the blessed, could exalt the soul to ecstasy, and lay the spectres of murder and revenge still stalking in the hall. to in a case of dumbness, in " a kingly patient," brought on by melancholia. In "The Tempest" (Act V., Scene 1), "solemn," or "heavenly," music (solemnity, be it remembered, next to sweetness, was the distinctive attribute of the recorder) is used to restore reason :- [S<jUmn mjjJ., Prospero.—A solemn air and the best comforter To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains, Now useless, boil'd within thy skull! Such was the belief of the immortal bard in the power of our art, that he has recourse to it, not only to help " madmen to their wits," but even to bring the seeming dead to life. On tbe coffin, or chest, which contained the body of Thaisa, being opened (" Pericles," Act HI., Scene 2), Cerimon, who had previously made known that he had " studied physick," cries— The rough and woful music that we have, Downloaded by [Queen Mary, University of London] at 12:21 10 October 2014 Cause it to sound, 'beseech you. The viol once more;—How thou stirr'st, thou block I— The music there.—I pray you, give her air:— Gentlemen, This queen will live: nature awakes; a warmth Breathes out of her; she hath not been entranced Above five hours. See, how she 'gins to blow Into life's flower again 1 The success of the treatment, as might be expected, makes the reputation of Cerimon as a student of physick: First Gentleman.—The heavens, Sir, Through you, increase our wonder, and set up Your fame for ever.