Shakespeare and Music

As I read A Midsummer Night's Dream, I can't help but be caught up by the characters.  Sexson claims Bottom is one of the best characters; however, I am personally a fan of Puck.  This impish, mischievous fairy is just too much fun.  He is sly, cunning, and all to eager to make things messy.  In fact, he sort of reminds me from Peeves from Harry Potter (another favorite minor character of mine).  While we have not reached the portion of the play where Puck appears, I cannot help but reminisce about my love for this character the last time I read this work.

And yet, the name "Puck" rings another bell for me.  You all know by now that I play flute (Euterpe, got it).  However, flute is not my only instrument.  I also play piano.  Once upon a time, several years ago, I played a piano piece entitled "Puck" written by Edvard Grieg.  The music captures this character perfectly.  I have included a clip of the piece below for those who would like to listen.  I do not know if Grieg originally wrote the piece with Shakespeare's character specifically in mind.  Nonetheless, the song paints the perfect picture of this character.  The tune alternates between a minor, lower register which captures Puck's darker, mischievous side, and a lighter, bouncy melody which reflects his cheerful, playful nature.  The whole piece requires a light, quick touch which imitates the flighty nature of fairies.  Also, the piece is devilishly tricky to learn to play!  I loved performing this piece.

This memory has also sparked an idea for a possible project.  As a musician, I strongly believe in the power of music to tell a good story, or depict a character.  I am toying with the idea of exploring Shakespeare through music.  Songs have been written about characters, his plays, and for music soundtracks to movie productions.  I am interested in examining this music to see how song captures the nature of Shakespeare's work.  Is the music as elegant and effective as his prose?  How does the music portray his stories differently?  Do I become more attached to a character through writing or music?  I know, personally, that music often moves me even more than writing or imagery.  A master of writing deserves a master depiction through music.  It is time to see if the musicians of the world have done Shakespeare justice.

The Wedding March

In class on Friday, we briefly discussed the fact that today's popular Wedding March actually comes from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Being a music nerd (Euterpe-flute), I decided to look a little deeper into this fact.

Felix Mendelssohn was born to a wealthy German family and thus grew up with a privileged, educated lifestyle.  He began composing symphonies at age 12 and his father would hire private orchestras so Mendelssohn could hear his own music performed.  He was an avid fan of Shakespeare. "'At the age of 17, he got it in his head to write an orchestral work that would illustrate the characters of his favorite play," Greenberg says. This is the piece that's called the "Overture" to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and it's one of the masterworks of 19th-century orchestral literature."  The famous March was written as a part of his music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and first performed in Potsdam in 1842.  However, the music was not used for a wedding until 1858 at the wedding of "Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise, the oldest child of Queen Victoria, when she married Frederick William IV of Prussia."  This royal event did wonders for the March's popularity.  The March has been a staple in weddings ever since.

source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18822541

My Passage

I know this is past the Friday deadline.  But if possible, I would like to memorize one of Iago's speeches from Othello for our assignment.  The passage is thus:

Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus, or thus.  Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners; so that if we will plant nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness or manurred with industry, why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.  If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions; but we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that you call love to be a sect or scion.

I have chosen this passage because it examines the nature of man to control and create oneself.  I have not teased out full meaning from this speech but would love the chance to do so.  College is a period in time during which students spur their own growth and development (to fit with the above garden theme).  As a result, I think this passage could be pertinent to my own formation.  In growing in myself, I should also grow in my ability to understand and appreciate the genius of Shakespeare.

The Essence of Nothing

As I read Turner's essay, I find myself more and more caught up in the concept of "nothing."  Nothing matters.  Or is it that Nothing Matters?  Humans are egotistical creatures.  We place great importance in our own lives and the significant events which happen within them.  In doing so, we often look over the little things in life which make up the essence of nothing.  And yet, in the bigger picture, we ourselves are nothing. The universe is infinite, and within we are inconsequential specks in an instance of time.  As Turner says, "What was this human world but a quintessence of dust?"  (50).  I find this controversy best described in the motto tanti which Turner defines as "so much and so little" (58).  In our own lives, we are so much.  We are EVERYTHING.  In the bigger picture, we are so little, we are nothing.  How can this be possible?  My only conclusion is that nothing, indeed, Matters.  The same nothing might not mean the same thing to every person.  For example, our own lives are everything to ourselves and nothing to most of the 7 billion humans on this planet (notice this does not even touch on our significance with the environment).  On a smaller scale, one may find the brilliance in a speck of dust floating in the sunlight which everyone else passes by.  Personally, I find great peace in nothingness.  I love to sit in silence with nothing but my thoughts and the infinite expanses of the world surrounding me.  Here I find perspective.  I am dwarfed by the concept of space.  It continues forever.  How crazy is that?  In this great expanse, I am nothing but what I make of myself.  We have a short time on this planet before we return to the great nothingness known as death.  What impact will you leave during your time?  We have but hours upon this stage and I intend to leave a memorable performance so that I may greet the nothingness of death with open arms and peace of mind.

Shakespearean Fairy Tale

In his introduction, Hughes reminds his readers that Shakespeare's plays were meant to be entertainment.  I think this quality is often lost among students forced to slog their way through a strange language and complex plots in an effort to earn an A.  As a future educator, I am painfully aware that most high school students do not appreciate the beauty and entertainment of Shakespeare's work.  I do not have a plan to combat such boredom as of yet.  However, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience the entertaining value of Shakespeare's words.  I have discovered a video that may make such an experience easily accessible to all.  Today I share with you comedian John Branyan's version of the classic fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs" told through Shakespearean language.  Personally, this video always makes me laugh.  I believe it also helps illustrate the way the English language has changed over the long years, and not necessarily for the better.

Here I present to you, for your entertainment, John Branyan's "The Three Little Pigs"

Redeeming Time through Connecting Classes

So our goal for this class is to attempt to redeem time from insignificance.  I'm not yet sure what all such a task may entail; however, I believe time to be fluid.  Somehow, all we learn and do is connected.  This has already proven true in this class.  I always love when classes manage to connect to one another, whether during the same semester or across the ravines of time.  Guess what?  Not even 20 pages into Ted Hughes' work...BINGO...class connection, time redeemed.  Hughes discusses the use and development of "memory theaters" during Shakespeare's time.  Well, for anyone who has taken Sexon's Oral Traditions course, this term should ring a whole cacophony of bells.

Hughes first mentions the memory theaters in relation to Bruno and the "mnemotechnics of medieval theologians" (8).  Hermetics used symbols arranged on mental maps to represent all knowledge and aid their memories.  In Oral Traditions, we examined the development and unique natures of memory theaters.  Of course, we were also required to develop and use our own maps to aid our memories.  Hughes discusses memory theaters mostly to outline some basic history of philosophy and learning during Shakespeare's time.  However, he also points out that Fludd modeled his own memory theater after Shakespeare's famous Globe Theater (10).



The image on the left depicts a larger image of Fludd's Globe memory theater.  The image on the right shows a clear image of the circle drawn on the ceiling of the first picture (a key part of the memory theater).

My own memory theaters are now dusty and out of use.  However, if I'm going to be memorizing Shakespeare, I'm sure I will revive a few theaters to help me memorize passages of this brilliant writer.  It is time to connect the classes and use one technique to aid another.  Thus redeeming some sort of lost time.