| Contents |
v. 1. The heaven singing -- v. 2. Minstrels playing. |
| Contents |
v. 1. Introduction. Music in Middle English drama ; The repertory: historical and fictional drama ; The repertory: civic, community and institutional plays -- The internal literary evidence. Introduction ; The manuscripts ; Dramatic directions ; Text references ; The proclamations and banns ; Lyrics and song-texts ; The use of Latin -- The surviving music. Introduction ; The Shrewsbury and Pepys fragments ; York ; Coventry ; Chester -- The documentary evidence. Introduction, and a note on money ; Guild accounts and related records ; Chelmsford: the summer of 1562 -- Music as representation. Introduction ; The music of heaven ; The music of mortals ; The sounds of hell ; Realism and representation ; Conclusion -- Music and dramatic structure. Introduction ; The dynamic functions of music ; The music of numbers: structure and proportion -- Music and liturgy. The liturgical background ; The presentation in the temple ; The angelic announcement to the shepherds ; The purification ; The entry into Jerusalem ; The last supper: Maundy and mass (The mandatum ; The eucharist) ; The harrowing of hell ; Miscellaneous sacraments and offices (Baptism ; Marriage ; Burial ; Sacrifice and blessing) ; Questions of provenance -- The performers. Professional and amateur ; The problem of female roles ; The angels ; The shepherds ; Instrumentalists ; The audience -- Appendices: Editions and reconstructions. A. The Washington Ave regina celorum ... Mater ; B. The Chester Gloria in excelsis ; C. Wee happy heardsmen here. |
| Contents |
v. 2. Part 1. Historical drama 1: Biblical plays. The York cycle -- The N-town cycle -- The Towneley cycle -- The Coventry plays -- The Norwich Grocers' play -- The Chester cycle -- The Cornish cycle -- The Creacion of the World -- Miscellaneous Biblical plays. Introduction ; The Beverley cycle ; The Hull Noah ; The Newcastle cycle ; The Northampton and Brome Abraham plays ; The Killing of the Children ; The Burial and Resurrection ; The Rickinghall and Ashmole fragments ; The Destruction of Jerusalem -- Part 2. Historical drama 2: Saint plays and miracle plays. The Conversion of Saint Paul -- Mary Magdalen -- The Life of Saint Meriasek -- The Play of the Sacrament -- Two prologues. Cambridge prologue ; The Durham prologue -- Part 3. Fictional drama: moralities. The Castle of Perseverance -- Wisdom -- Mankind -- Incomplete and fragmentary plays. Introduction ; The Pride of Life ; Dux Moraud ; The Reynes extracts ; The Winchester dialogues -- Part 4. Aspects of modern performance. Principal conditions. Authentic and free production ; Producer-director relations ; Staging ; The weather ; The performers -- The music. Repertory ; Modes of performance ; Performance styles ; Rehearsals -- Some possible extensions. Introduction ; Beginnings and endings ; Conclusion. |
| Abstract |
Richard Rastall's two books on music in early English religious drama complement each other. Volume 1 provides an overview of the evidence for music in the plays, and defines the place, nature and cultural contexts of music in the drama; Volume 2 is a discussion of the evidence for every play in that repertory, and is therefore concerned with the place and nature of musical performance in each play individually. Following his general discussion of music in the anonymous religious plays of 15th- and 16th-century England in The Heaven Singing (1996), this companion volume turns to the individual biblical, saint and moral plays. The author places each in its intellectual and cultural context, and notes the surviving evidence for music and other aural effects in the dramatic directions, text references, use of Latin and the liturgy, and the existing documentary records. At the end of each chapter a cue-list shows where the music should appear and presents the arguments for specific repertory and performance modes, providing an invaluable aid for directors. This leads on to a section on modern performance, in which the author discusses a wide range of issues that impinge on the practicalities of providing music in early English drama and raise problems and queries for producers and musical directors: the type of staging and the nature of the set, the choice of cast, the choice of musical items, the training and rehearsing of singers, and much else. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. |
| LCCN | 95020687 |
| ISBN | 0859914283 (hardback : v. 1 : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 0859915506 (paperback : v. 1) |
| ISBN | 0859915859 (v. 2 : acid-free paper) |
