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Prelude, _Hamlet_. The prelude for the first act is sombre, quiet, and brooding, with a very curious cuckoo effect at the end, which is repeated in the subsequent Ghost music. Of course, I do not know the habits of the Danish cuckoo, but obviously, according to Mr O'Neill, he is either a very late or a very early bird. Perhaps he is cracking an Elizabethan wheeze at the expense of the Ghost's widow's unholy marriage. The big processional march for the entrance of the King and Court is, curiously enough, not founded on the King's theme, but on Hamlet's theme from the overture now used as the prelude to the second act. The scene-change music before Ophelia's first scene is founded on
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How shall I my true love know? , with varied accompaniment, sometimes simple, sometimes complex, and once as clarinet solo with harp accompaniment. At the cue,
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Held his wont to walk, there is a fanfare for the clarinet, but, as in most incidental music, no kettledrums. The Ghost music in this act is all founded on the Hamlet theme. The prelude to Act ii. is, as I have said, the overture proper. It begins with the Hamlet theme, _allegro maestoso_, very bold and rhythmic, which suddenly breaks off with a _pianissimo_ suggestion of
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How shall I my true love know? , which is used as the second subject, and very much developed. These themes are worked out in a complex manner, and there is a curious fanfare effect before the coda, which is marked _grandioso_, in the major key, and is very triumphant. The players come on to perform their tragedy to a pretty little tune, {27} quite light and graceful, played on the oboe and clarinet, which has a quaint and interesting effect. Before Act iii. (the arrangement of the scenes is according to Mr Harvey's stage version) is an _entr'acte_ entitled
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Ophelia, founded on her traditional songs; but I wish Mr O'Neill would use more of his original melodies. An _entr'acte_ entitled
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Laertes is a fine, vigorous number. In the last number of all, on the cue
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The rest is silence,