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O Mistress Mine
''O Mistress Mine'' is an Elizabethan song which appears in Shakespeare's play ''Twelfth Night''. It is sung by the character Feste, who is asked to sing a love song by Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch. The words of the song are addressed to the singer/poet's lover. The lyric is often assumed to be by Shakespeare, although he could have been referencing an existing song. The play's first documented performance was in 1602. There is an instrumental piece entitled ''O Mistress Mine'' by Shakespeare's contemporary Thomas Morley which appeared in 1599. There has been speculation that Morley was commissioned to provide music for the play. Whether or not this was the case, Shakespearean scholars think that Morley's publication predates the first performance of the play. There is also a set of variations on the tune by William Byrd, another contemporary of Shakespeare. This version is included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, a manuscript which it is not possible to date exactly. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (disguised as a page named 'Cesario') falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her, thinking she is a man. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion, with plot elements drawn from Barnabe Rich's short story "Of Apollonius and Silla", based on a story by Matteo Bandello. The first documented public performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the year's calendar. The play was not published until its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio. Characters * Viola – a shipwrecked young woman who disguises hersel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feste
Feste is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's comedy ''Twelfth Night''. He is a fool (royal jester) attached to the household of the Countess Olivia. He has apparently been there for some time, as he was a "fool that the Lady Olivia's father took much delight in" (2.4). Although Olivia's father has died within the last year, it is possible that Feste approaches or has reached middle age, though he still has the wit to carry off good 'fooling' when he needs to, and the voice to sing lustily or mournfully as the occasion demands. He is referred to by name only once during the play, in answer to an inquiry by Orsino of who sang a song that he heard the previous evening. Curio responds "Feste, the jester, my lord; a fool that the lady Olivia's father took much delight in. He is about the house" (2.4). Throughout the rest of the play, he is addressed only as "Fool," while in the stage directions he is mentioned as "Clown." Feste seems to leave Olivia's house and return at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, music theory, theorist, singer and organist of late Renaissance music. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the English madrigal, ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' states that Morley was "chiefly responsible for grafting the Italian shoot on to the native stock and initiating the curiously brief but brilliant flowering of the madrigal that constitutes one of the most colourful episodes in the history of English music." Living in London at the same time as Shakespeare, Morley was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan era, Elizabethan England. He and Robert Johnson (English composer), Robert Johnson are the composers of the only surviving contemporary settings of verse by Shakespeare. Morley was active in church music as a singer, composer and organist at St Paul's Cathedral#Organists and directors o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variation (music)
In music, variation is a musical form, formal technique where material is musical repetition, repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these. Variation is often contrasted with musical Development (music), development, which is a slightly different means to the same end. Variation depends upon ''one'' type of presentation at a time, while development is carried out upon portions of material treated in ''many'' different presentations and combinations at a time. Variation techniques Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart's Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" (1785), a French folk song known in the English-speaking world as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", exemplifies a number of common variation techniques. Here are the first eight bars of the theme: Melodic variation Mozart's first variation decorates and elaborates the plain melodic line: Rhythmic variation The fifth variat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English Renaissance composer. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native country and on the Continental Europe, Continent. He is often considered along with John Dunstaple and Henry Purcell as one of England's most important composers of early music. Byrd wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and Consort of instruments, consort music. He produced sacred music for Church of England, Anglican services, but during the 1570s became a Roman Catholic, and wrote Catholic sacred music later in his life. Life Birth and background Richard Byrd of Ingatestone, Essex, the paternal grandfather of Thomas Byrd, probably moved to City of London, London in the 15th century. Thereafter succeeding generations of the Byrd family are described as gentlemen. Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
The ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' is a primary source of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England, i.e., the late Renaissance and very early Baroque. It takes its name from Viscount Fitzwilliam who bequeathed this manuscript collection to Cambridge University in 1816. It is now housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. The word virginals does not necessarily denote any specific instrument and might refer to any instrument with a keyboard. History It was given no title by its copyist and the ownership of the manuscript before the eighteenth century is unclear. At the time ''The'' ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' was put together most collections of keyboard music were compiled by performers and teachers: other examples include ''Will Forster's Virginal Book'', '' Clement Matchett's Virginal Book'', and ''Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book''. It is possible that the complexities of typesetting music precluded the printing of much keyboard mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Printing Patent
The printing patent or printing privilege was a precursor of modern copyright. It was an exclusive right to print a work or a class of works. History Origins The earliest recorded printing privilege dates from 1469, giving John of Speyer a five-year monopoly on all printing in Venice. In 1495, the Republic granted another monopoly on all Greek works to Aldus Manutius as a reward for his investments in a Greek font for Aldine Press. Printing privileges in France In France, the royal ''Code de la librairie'' of 1723 codified existing practice. It stated that there was no property in ideas or texts. Ideas, it was argued, were a gift from God, revealed through the writer. God's first representative, the French king had the exclusive right to determine what could be printed by whom. Only members of the royal guild of publishers could apply for a "printing privilege", a permission and an exclusive right to print a work. Authors wishing to see their manuscript printed had no choic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 (the house having been a focus for literary activity under Mary Sidney for much of the later 16th century) has been suggested as a possibility. ''As You Like It'' follows its heroine Rosalind (As You Like It), Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia (As You Like It), Celia to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, notably the melancholy traveller Jaques (As You Like It), Jaques, who speaks one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches ("All the world's a stage") and provides a sharp contrast to the other characters in the play, always observing and disputing the hardships of life in the country. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is considered one of the most influential books ever published. Printed in Folio (printing), folio format and containing 36 of Shakespeare's plays#Canonical plays, Shakespeare's plays, it was prepared by Shakespeare's colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell. It was dedication (publishing), dedicated to the "incomparable pair of brethren" William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, and his brother Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery (later 4th Earl of Pembroke). Although 19 of Shakespeare's plays had been published in quarto before 1623, the First Folio is arguably the only reliable text for about 20 of the plays, and a valuable source text for many of those previously published. Eighteen of the plays in the Fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methuen Publishing
Methuen Publishing Ltd (; also known as Methuen Books) is an English publishing house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir Algernon Methuen (1856–1924) and began publishing in London in 1892. Initially, Methuen mainly published non-fiction academic works, eventually diversifying to encourage female authors and later translated works. E. V. Lucas headed the firm from 1924 to 1938. Establishment In June 1889, as a sideline to teaching, Algernon Methuen began to publish and market his own textbooks under the label Methuen & Co. The company's first success came in 1892 with the publication of Rudyard Kipling's '' Barrack-Room Ballads''. Rapid growth came with works by Marie Corelli, Hilaire Belloc, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde ('' De Profundis'', 1905) as well as Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Tarzan of the Apes''.Stevenson, page 59. In 1910, the business was converted into a limited liability company with E. V. Lucas and G.E. Webster joining the founder on the board of dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Deller
Alfred George Deller, CBE (31 May 1912 – 16 July 1979), was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularising the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th century. He is sometimes referred to as the "godfather of the countertenor". His style in singing lute song, with extensive use of rubato and extemporised ornamentation, was seen as radical and controversial in his day but is now considered the norm. Deller was an influential figure in the renaissance of early music: an early proponent of "original instrument performance" and one of the first to bring this form to the popular consciousness through his broadcasts on the BBC. He also founded the Stour Music Festival in 1962, one of the first and most important early music festivals in the world. Life and career Church music Deller was born in Margate, a seaside resort in Kent. As a boy, he sang in his local church choir. When his voice broke, he continued singing in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare Songs (Alfred Deller Album)
''Shakespeare Songs'' is a 1967 LP album of Elizabethan songs which is one of the most celebrated recordings of the countertenor Alfred Deller. Deller is accompanied by lutenist Desmond Dupré and the Deller Consort, Philip Todd and Max Worthley tenors, Maurice Bevan baritone.Naomi Miller '' Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults'' -1135363358 2013 Page 73 Note For those who are interested: Shakespeare Songs, performed by Alfred Deller and Desmond Dupre on lute, is released by Harmonia Mundi. France, HMA 190202. The album includes both anonymous songs adapted by Shakespeare, such as the Willow song, and also songs by Shakespeare's contemporaries which may have been written for his plays. Robert Johnson (English composer), Robert Johnson, a composer and lutenist who set two songs from ''The Tempest'', is known to have worked for Shakespeare's company the King's Men (playing company), King's Men, whereas Thomas Morley's setting of "It Was A Lover And His Lass" from ''As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
