George Washington University

Music for Shakespeare's "Samingo": Lasso Versus AnonAuthor(s): David GreerSource: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Winter, 1972), pp. 113-116Published by: Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2868664 .

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MUSIC FOR SHAKESPEARE'S "SAMINGO": LASSO VERSUS ANON.

DAVID GREER

Do me right, And dub me knight, Samingo....

In Shakespeare Quarterly, IX (i958), io5-ii6, F. W. Sternfeld gives a fascinating account of the bibliographical history of a chanson by Orlando di Lasso and its connection with this snatch of song sung by Silence in 2 Henry IV, V. iii. 77. To the sources there listed can now be added an arrange- ment of Lasso's music for solo lute, subscribed "on nef peulto / Orlande / a 4", in Trinity College, Dublin, MS. D.3.30., pp. 78-79 (the "Dallis" lute book). The title "on nef peulto" derives from the substitute text quoted under source V: "On ne peut le fol amour souler". This concordance is noted by John Ward and his graduate pupils in a recent study of the "Dallis" lute book in The Lute Society Journal, IX (i967), I7-40. The manuscript was compiled in the late i6th century and contains numerous Continental works. The presence of Lasso's chanson among them is further testimony to its great popularity.

But the discovery of another, quite different song related to Shakespeare's "Samingo", which I shall discuss shortly, leads us to consider again the pre- cise connection between Silence's ditty and the Lasso. As Dr. Sternfeld is careful to point out (p. II4), the words that Silence sings are not a translation from any of the French texts associated with Lasso's chanson. This reminder is not altogether gratuitous since the New Arden edition (London, i966) is misleading on this matter (p. I72). The connection between the two may be briefly summarized as follows: Silence's words embody catch-phrases or com- monplaces associated with drinking which are also found in an English text substituted for the original French in three manuscript copies of Lasso's music' as well as in Nashe, Marston, Chapman and Jonson.2 Thus the Lasso is in the nature of an analogue to Silence's song, not the source of it, and hence its music has no special claim to be that actually sung by Silence. Here again a recent commentator has thrown caution to the winds, asserting that the "original music for [Silence's song] was composed by Orlando de Las-

S "3 sus...

1 Sternfeld, sources VIII-IX, and a manuscript now lost, formerly in the possession of James Walter Brown. See Cornhill Magazine, LI (I92I), 285-296.

2 For comment on these catch-phrases and the various sources containing them, see Sternfeld, p. III; F. P. Wilson, supplementary notes to R. B. McKerrow's Works of Thomas Nashe (Oxford, 1958), V, 64-66; New Variorum edition, ed. M. A. Shaaber (Philadelphia, 1940), 423-424; New Cambridge edition, ed. J. D. Wilson (2946), p. 206; C. J. Sisson, New Readings in Shakespeare (Cambridge, I956), II, 54; Peter J. Seng, The Vocal Songs in the Plays of Shakespeare (Cam- bridge, Mass., i967), p. 52.

3 Seng, p. 5I.

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I14 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

One's doubts as to whether Silence's song and the English substitute text of Lasso's chanson have any other connection than that they both independently draw on a reveller's jingle of "popular" origin are reinforced by the other song that I propose to examine. This is the anonymous "Hold, lingel, hold", found in three manuscripts of the early I7th century:

A. London, British Museum, MS. Add. 24665, f.34v: voice with bass ac- companiment. The texts of the songs in this manuscript are printed in P. Warlock, Giles Earle His Booke (London, I932).

B. London, Royal College of Music, MS. 2049: for voice and viols, in four part-books-Treble (f.7), Medius (f.7v), Tenor (f.7v), Bassus (f.6v). The Altus is missing. This version has been transcribed by Philip Brett in Musica Britannica, XXII (London, i967), no. 6o.

C. Oxford, Christ Church, MS. 439, p. 74: voice with bass accompaniment.

In the following transcription of the text, from source A, word-repetitions required by the musical setting have been ignored. Sources B and C contain only minor variants.4

Hold lingell hold, the Coblers silken twine, o it is good although it be not fine Thrust in thine aule & drinke good beere, & wine, vntill thy nose wth ruby coulour shine Aduance the can, [1] thou tall yeoman, Domingo, Hey troly lo [troly lo etc.], domingo.

Like Silence's song, this is a drinking song; but when we compare lines 5-7 with Silence's jingle a much closer connection is revealed in the similarities of metre, rhyme scheme, and of course the names "Domingo" and "Samingo":

Advance the can, Do me right, Thou tall yeoman, And dub me knight Domingo.... Samingo....

One might describe these lines from our new song as a "parody" of the standard version of the jingle as represented by Silence's song, using the term "parody" in the sense employed by writers like Rosemond Tuve and Dr. Sternfeld himself. Now parody often involved the setting of new words to the music of a pre-existent song, a fact which leads us to consider the pos- sibility that the tune to which this particular parody is set may be the one for Silence's song. Examination of the music suggests that this is very likely. Line 5 marks the beginning of a new self-contained section of music, set off from that of lines I-4 by a change to triple time and by its distinctly more tune- ful style. It looks, in fact, as if it could be a popular tune incorporated into a larger composition. The melody of this section, transcribed from source A, is given as Example I: to it are set (i) the parody text, and (2) Silence's ditty, amplified by "hey trolilos" in the same way as the parody. In this con-

4 In the following collation differences of spelling and punctuation are ignored, as are the inconsistencies in the many repetitions of "hey troly lo". 2 good] strong B, strong C. 6 yeoman] yung man B. 9 domingo] cobler a Coblere B. B contains a second stanza, printed in Brett, p. i84.

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QUERIES AND NOTES 115

nection it is as well to remember that in many instances the incomplete snatches of song in the texts of the plays of Shakespeare and others are not to be regarded as necessarily representing all that was actually sung: they may be more in the nature of stage directions or brief aides de memoire. Burdens and nonsense syllables were especially subject to omission or abbreviation. In this case the parody text enables us to see how Silence's song probably continued. Modern editors might do well to imply the continuation of the given text by means of dots, as shown at the head of this note.

We now have two possible settings for the "Samingo" song, by Lasso and Anon. If it is borne in mind that Silence is giving an impromptu performance, not taking his part in a madrigal group, the anonymous piece has much to commend it. The merits of Lasso's chanson lie in its lightness of texture and patter-song celerity rather than in its melody, qualities only to be appreciated in a complete performance by the full complement of voices. The brief cadential phrase against which Silence's words appear, consisting of the succes- sion of E flats and D's shown in Example 2, is ineffective when taken out of its larger musical context, and would hardly recommend itself to the memory of Shakespeare or Silence, drunk or sober. The anonymous piece on the other hand is a tankard-swinging tune of exactly the kind one would suppose Silence to have sung, and for which stylistic parallels can be found in other convivial music of Shakespeare's time. The prominence of 3rds and 6ths calls to mind many rounds in the publications of Thomas Ravenscroft (Pammelia and Deuteromelia, i609; Melismata, i6ii), and other musical and verbal echoes are found in the triple time section of no. 68 in Pammelia: "Tap the canakin, toss the canakin", etc. Nor is it so different from some convivial songs of our own time, for only in the Church do musical traditions die harder than in the tap- room.

The Barber Institute of Arts University of Birmingham

EXAMPLE i (from source A):

* _ 1- If, _ . 11IlA -i , v 1 IL I I _ I I I I i -

IJ Parody: Ad - Vance the can, Thou tall yeo-man, Do - min - go, Do - Shakespeare: Do me right, And dub me knight, Sa-min - go, Sa -

fjXfi i i? 2 IL

} tI: t Ir 5 ey

min -go Heyo tro- ii- 10, tro- 1o- ii- lo, hey troli- 1o 1o- ii- lo , heir

tro-li- 10, tro- 1o- li- lo, hey tro-li-lo l -li- 0- lo o, hey troli-lo trolilo- 15 n EJ-Jgo,

i) J 0~~ J. j r J. I I

|1 I I F IA I

- -

lo_. loDo- il- go, Do- hey tro-go li- lo,- lo. Do -

20 D -

min- go, Do - min - - go. min- go, Sa - min - - go.

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ii6 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

Notes. For stage use the song could be terminated at bars 5, I5, or I9. The underlay of the "trolilo" sections is haphazard in the original. Dotted ties are editorial. Bar 6: F Miscopied G in source. Bar I4: 2nd F = E in source (corrected from sources B and C).

EXAMPLE 2 (from Sternfeld, p. ii6):

God. Bac - chus do me right, And dub me knight, Do - min - go.

Postscript: the text of version C. of "Hold, lingel, hold" is printed in J. P. Cutts, Seventeenth Century Songs and Lyrics (Columbia, Missouri, i959), p. i56. The editor draws attention to the Samingo/Domingo connection in a note.

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