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On Tragedy

Shakespeare and Verdi

Date : 03/10/2011

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Imogen Cambridge

Uploaded by : Imogen Cambridge
Uploaded on : 03/10/2011
Subject : English

'A subject which is comprehended merely by the intelligence can also be expressed merely through the language of words; but the more it expands into an emotional concept, the more does it call for an expression which...can alone be obtained through the language of sounds' (WAGNER) Paying particular attention to the relationship between concepts and emotions, evaluate the role of music in tragic drama. Act IV, scene III of Shakespeare's Othello sees the melancholic and vulnerable Desdemona prepare for bed. It is a beautifully moving scene that greatly contrasts with the hectic actions and loud clashes of masculine bravado and anger, which set in motion the play's unfortunate and tragic ending. In this quiet bedroom setting, Desdemona muses to herself and to her maid, but more vitally, in the private conversations that occur, the audience are given a personal insight into her character. Of course, we are privy to the traps that Iago sets in order to ensnare the unwitting Desdemona, but, that all niggling doubts as to her faith towards Othello are utterly quenched, rests significantly on her unveiling characterisation. And in this pivotal bedroom scene, it is perhaps surprising that Shakespeare interrupts the flow of dialogue to present his audience with a song. Desdemona explains the full origins of this song, according to her own memory of it: "My mother had a maid called Barbarie/ She was in love: and the love proved mad,/ And did forsake her. She had a song of willow/ An old thing twas: but it expres'd her Fortune,/ And she died singing it." Surely a soliloquy might have been better adapted to expose the honest colours of Desdemona's character, rather than the words of a 'hand-me-down song', barely tailored to her personal situation? Yet, this song is performed to extraordinary effect, and it is because of its subtle placing and performance that the full tragic effects of the murder of the innocent Desdemona are felt among the audience. Perhaps what is so harrowing about Desdemona's song is the way in which t is recollected. In the flow of conversation between Desdemona and Emile, the memory of the lines and the tune quietly interjects Desdemona's thoughts: "I'm so unhappy./ My mother once had a poor little maiden..." The rapid shift from a declaration of emotional state to the song evokes intense pathos, and immediately we are encouraged to see the latter as a representation of the former. "That song to night,/ Will not go from my mind: I have much to do,/ But to go hang my head all at one side/ And sing it like poor Barbarie..." , it haunts her and as the lines are recalled and sung to the audience, it too enchants and unsettles us with its emotional allure. Desdemona sings, "The poor soul sat singing, by a sycamore tree... [Sings Willow, willow, willow]..." But as Sternfeld reminds us , these lyrics would have been enough to remind the audience of a song that would have been well-known to many. In a sense, then, the emotions which are sung about, and the emotions which are evoked, are collectively recalled by the audience, and the associations transferred onto Desdemona's character. Sternfeld's own analysis offers useful clarification on this point: "The singing of the Willow Song in Act IV is one of the means by which Shakespeare creates the pathos of the strangled heroine...for the notion of a tree had great popular appeal and could be relied upon to arouse a sympathetic response." Music, then, in its plaintive evocation, here evokes a cultural patchwork of responses which work to enhance the dimensions of Desdemona's characters. This thereby informs our response to a much deeper level, such that upon her murder our engagement is pushed into deeply tragic dimensions. Had Desdemona continued, however, with several consecutive stanzas to a suitable conclusion of the lyric, the audience would have received the welcome relief of a vocal divertissement. But Shakespeare deliberately avoids any semblance of a concert interlude. Following the line 52 his heroine first scrambles, then distorts her lines, and with the piece in shambles, the singing stops abruptly: "(Lay by these)...(Prythee hide thee: he'll come anon)...Lay that's not next. Harke, who is't that knocks?/ Emile- It's the wind. Des- [continues to sing]". The audience receives, therefore a series of both lyrical and melodic interjections which tease the emotional responses accordingly. The independent lines spoken by Desdemona come directly from the character, and reveal her nature, but the received cultural emotional responses, as relayed by the song, add a back narrative to Desdemona's immediate thoughts. Through this interweaving, the overall scene works to create a complex characterisation that both teases us with the eminent tragedy of Desdemona's fate, and the petty concerns of her night routine. Music, here, is used by Shakespeare to add complexity to the presentation of his characters- it at once provokes fresh response, whilst evoking communal recognition of a response, as told in lyrics passed down over several generations. That we are teased with just a few melodic interjections, adds to the potency of the use of music in this particular scene. But what of a Desdemona who does not merely drop into song lyrics between lines, but a Desdemona whose entire character is carried by the lyrical impressions of the operatic music which phrases her words? Such was Verdi's challenge in the late 1800s when he transformed Shakespeare's Othello, and produced his own Othello. Before the curtain rises to reveal Desdemona's bedchamber- claustrophobic and tomblike after the open-air first act and relatively spacious middle acts- a mournful English horn initiates a prelude that anticipates the motives of the ensuing scene. Its minor-mode principle idea sweeps upward only to fall back at once in a resigned sigh. Like what follows it gives the impression of a sadness beyond tears, of a resignation incapable of unbroken lyricism: it proceeds in isolated, disconnected phrases and varied phrase repetitions. Seated at a dressing table and attended by Emilia, Desdemona is preparing for bed. Full of foreboding, she asks Emelia to lay the white wedding dress on the bed. She adds that if she were to die she would want to be buried with one of its veils. While Emelia unpins her hair, she begins to recall a sad song, the 'Willow Song', that she had heard long ago from her mother's maid, Barbara - who had been abandoned by the man she loved. All of these simple evening preparations have a numbed quality to them, one of deeply repressed, injured emotion producing now only mechanical or ritualistic gestures: one recognizes the unmistakeable ceremony of the self-preparation of the sacrificial victim. The Willow Song itself, 'Piangea cantando', participates significantly in this. The song, continually interrupted by distractions and interpolations, is that of a weeping, abandoned lover. It is punctuated by the haunting "O willow! Willow! Willow!"- and expression of "ineffable sadness", says the production book of 1887- and the meltingly beautiful refrain "Let's sing! The funeral willow shall be my garland". Towards its end, evermore in disintegration, we hear its fateful, deathly-still summary lines, which apply equally well to Otello and Desdemona: "He was born for his glory, I to love him and to die". The repressed feeling heightened by the faceting of the interruptions, is scarcely endurable: as Emelia turns to leave, Desdemona finally releases the flood of emotion within her in a single, electrifying phrase: "Ah! Emelia, Emelia..." The tremolo, descending bass-line lament that immediately follows has the effect of sealing her doom, rendering her terribly alone- the sacrificial victim. Music, in Verdi's opera carries with it the untold emotions of his characters. Where Shakespeare uses the simple divide between lyric and line, between speech and song, to signify different means of representing his characters, Verdi's complex compositions introduce a further divide between what is being sung, and the melody that attends. Punctuations and interruptions in the music, echoes of former melodies, such as the lover's duet heard between Otello and Desdemona at the beginning of the play, now heard tentatively in the bedroom scene, interrupt the operatic lyrics to reference a subverted emotional disposition. In other words, the audience are deeply convinced of Desdemona's woe, not necessarily because of her immediate response to the situation inher sung lines, but rather in the unsung lyrics of the instruments behind her. This two-fold layer of character realisation introduces a much more variable dynamic to the tragedy, especially since upon each performance, the tenor of each note will vary. Music is provocative and evocative in Shakespeare, but in Verdi's opera , it envelops the audience and carries in its structure and placement in relation to what is actually being sung, many of the tensions wherein the tragedy is couched.

Bibliography: Primary Sources: Othello, Complete Works, William Shakespeare, The RCS Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen eds., Macmillan press, London 2007. Otello, Rossini, English National Opera Guide, John Calder publishes ltd., London, 1981. Otello, Verdi, English National Opera Guide, John Calder publishes ltd., London, 1981. Secondary Sources: Albright, Daniel, Musicking Shakespeare, A Conflict of Theatres, University of Rochester Press, Rochester, 2007. DeVan, Gilles, Verdi's Theatre, Creating Drama through music, The University of Chicago Press, Chocago, 1998. Hepokoski, James, S.S., Guiseppe Verdi's Otello, Cambridge Opera Handbook, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987. Sternfeld, F.W., Egon Wellesz ed., Music in Shakespearean Tragedy, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1963.

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