The English semi-opera, Psyche (1675), written by
Thomas Shadwell, with music by Matthew Locke, was thought at
the time of its performance to be a mere copy of Psyche
(1671), a French tragedie-ballet by Moliere, Pierre
Corneille, and Philippe Quinault, with music by Jean-
Baptiste Lully. This view, accompanied by a certain
attitude that the French version was far superior to the
English, continued well into the twentieth century.
This view is misleading; although the English play was
adapted from the French, both were representative of two
well-developed native theatrical traditions. Therefore,
though there are certain parallels, both in plot and in the
subject matter of some musical numbers, the differences in
structure, both of the drama and of the music, are more
significant.
This thesis is a comparative study of the two plays,
analyzing both their dramatic and musical structures, and
examining them both from the context of the two theatrical
traditions. It is concluded that the literary approach to
tragedy of French theater resulted in the separation of
drama and music, the latter relegated to the prologue, or to
end-of-act diversions called intercedes. This allowed Lully
to have great control over his music, and in Psyche (1671),
he was concerned with the form of each intermede as a whole
instead of striving for a variety of forms and ensembles
within individual songs. Most of his songs and dances are
solo airs in binary form; he makes little use of chorus and
ensembles. On the contrary, the music in Psyche (1675) on
many occasions was integrated with the plot, and was
scattered randomly throughout the play. This prevented
Locke from having artistic control over his compositions;
Shadwell, the lyricist, determined where the music would
occur, the ensembles to be used, and the moods of songs.
Shadwell and Locke were concerned with the variety in each
individual piece, rather than with unifying the overall form
of musical scenes, and the overwhelming majority of songs
have a combination of solo voice, ensembles, and chorus.
Therefore, Psyche is not an unoriginal copy, but is a
reinterpretation of the myth using the aesthetic of the
Restoration tragic theater. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/42070 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Wiese, Helen Lloy |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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