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By using folk-music in the Shakespeare play we shall then be mating like with like, the drama which is for all time with the music which is for all time. Whether the result at the Savoy was successful or not I leave to the judgment of the many people who saw the production. Unfortunately, Mr Sharp does not indicate very clearly when he has arranged, composed, or adapted the tunes in the printed score. The first musical number occurs in Act ii., Scene 2, a dance, song, {96} and chorus; the dance is to the melody of that interesting old folk-tune
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Sellenger's Round, and the baritone solo is, I am sure, by Mr Sharp, as is the following chorus. The words, which fit in too neatly for it to be an adaptation, are the familiar
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You spotted snakes ; but, though he is bitter with Mendelssohn for repeating
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so often, he cheerfully cuts out one
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surely a grievous thing to do for one so correct! The next number is Bottom's song,
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The ousel cock so black of hue, and is, presumably, by Mr Sharp, as only the melody is printed, and I don't see how anyone can have a copyright (it is marked copyright) in a folk-song tune. I don't think it is an improvement on the so-called traditional tune to which I have always been accustomed. The next number is for orchestra alone, and occurs in Act iv., Scene 1; it is called
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Still Music, and the melody is the old folk-song,
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The sprig of thyme, collected and arranged by Mr Sharp. The Bergamask dance, Act v., Scene 1, is one of the numerous versions of
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Green Sleeves, collected and arranged by Mr Sharp. The wedding march is on the tune
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Lord Willoughby, arranged by Mr Sharp, and is certainly a great change from the one usually associated with this situation. The love charm seems to have gone all wrong again, and even Theseus and Hippolyta seem to have soured on one another. As for the other lovers----! Even the _tierce de Picardie_ fails to liven up the last bar. The song and dance in the same scene and act are composed by Mr Sharp, and, following the glorious tradition of Sir Henry Bishop in the pasticcio operas, the words
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Roses, their sharp spines being gone do not appear in the play. They are not by Shakespeare, but from Fletcher's _Two Noble Kinsmen_. The final number is a traditional dance arranged by Mr Sharp, but from what source he does not say; it is rather a sad little tune, followed by the more lively
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Nonsuch, and finishing off with
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Sellenger's Round,