Britten and Shakespeare: Dramatic and Musical Cohesion in 'A Midsummer Night's

Dream'
Author(s): Mervyn Cooke
Source: Music & Letters , May, 1993, Vol. 74, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 246-268
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/735426

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 BRITTEN AND SHAKESPEARE: DRAMATIC AND
MUSICAL COHESION IN 'A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S
DREAM'

BY MERVYN COOKE

IT IS perhaps surprising that Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, undoubtedly

the most successful Shakespearian opera to employ Shakespeare's original text as
the sole basis for its libretto, has not been studied in greater depth to reveal the
precise manner in which the librettists' reorganization of the play was dictated by
the interests of operatic cogency. Although widely praised, the libretto compiled by
the composer and Peter Pears has mostly been accorded a summary treatment of
which Michael Kennedy's comments are a good example: 'In their masterly adapta-
tion of Shakespeare's play as an opera libretto, Britten and Pears needed only to in-
vent one line and to omit about half the textl As Boito did with Othello, they have
concentrated the essentials of the action into a superb framework for music." It is
remarkable that an opera employing no more than half the text of a Shakespeare
play as its libretto should produce a coherent and powerful dramatic effect, and the
purpose of the present essay is to examine both the textual and musical means by
which that cohesion is achieved.
In his personal introduction to the opera's first performance, Britten comments
on the many difficulties involved in the operatic presentation of Shakespeare and
stresses the importance of faithfulness to the original play.2 One of the most in-
teresting features of Shakespeare's play is its continuous action, reflected in the First
Quarto edition (1600) by the complete absence of act and scene divisions. The un-
conventional plot develops by juxtaposing several self-contained groups of
characters; and because both lovers and rustics are ignorant not only of each others'
existence but also of the fairies' presence, certain aspects of dramatic sequence are
rendered relatively unimportant. For this reason, A Midsummer Night's Dream
lends itself particularly well to flexible treatment, and Britten's decision to exploit
Shakespeare's carefully controlled dramatic contrasts as the foundation for his own
musical structure results in a close relationship between unifying elements in both
libretto and music.
Apart from the framing of its central woodland setting by static scenes at
Theseus's Athenian court, Shakespeare's play contains no clear symmetrical struc-
ture (see Table I). Theseus and Hippolyta are removed from the bulk of the action
and unaffected by the magic of Oberon (although it is implied that their marriage
cannot take place until the dispute between Oberon and Tytania is resolved): they

All quotations from Britten's correspondence and extracts from his unpublished sketches and libretto drafts are
reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the Britten-Pears Foundation and are not to be further reproduced
without written permission. I am grateful to Mrs Myfanwy Piper for her permission to quote the text of her un-
published Prologue. All music examples from the printed full score of A Midsummer Night's Dream are repro-
duced by permission of Boosey and Hawkes (London) Ltd.
' Michael Kennedy, Britten, London, 1981, p. 220.
2 Benjamin Britten, 'A New Britten Opera', Observer Weekend Review (5 June 1960), 9.

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 TABLE I

Summary of Shakespeare's Action

Plot Analysis

1.1 Theseus and lovers

Lysander and Hermia I*
2 Rustics I
Protasis
11.1 Fairies (exposition)
Oberon and Tytania (discord)
Demetrius and Helena I

Oberon and Puck Epitasis

2 Tytania and fairies (threshold of
Lysander and Hermia II complications)
0

r.
CZ~~ .o _4
CZ r Puck
IZ t Demetrius and Helena II
CZ ?(development)
111. 1 '-' '5 Rustics
0
II (rehearsal)
o S Tytania and Bottom I
2 S - Oberon and Puck

Demetrius and Hermia

Lysander and Helena Summa epitasis
0 (climax)
IV. 1 .- Tytania and Bottom II

Oberon and Tytania (concord)

Theseus and lovers
2 Rustics III (Bottom) Denouement
(completion of
V. 1 Theseus's court plot)

Presentation of 'Pyramus and Thisbe'

Fairies (conjunction of
Epilogue (Puck) thematic elements)

* Roman numerals indicate components of larger scenes interru

present stability and thus provide an appropriate framework for the turmoil of the
play's central sections. Theseus's judicial pronouncement on Hermia initiates many
of the complications exacerbated by the supernatural powers at work in the wood,
and his nuptials provide the ceremonial conclusion to which the activities of the
lovers, rustics and fairies all progress. It may therefore be seen that, in deciding to
cut most of the play's exposition (Act I scene 1, lines 1-127),3 Britten sacrificed one

3 Line references correspond to the Arden text of Shakespeare's play, ed. Harold Brooks, London, 1979.

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of Shakespeare's fundamental cohesive devices and thus inevitably lessened the
dramatic justification for the closing scene at Theseus's court. In its stead, the prin-
cipal unifying element in Britten's opera becomes the magic wielded by Oberon,
and this is strongly reflected in the music of Acts I and II, which both employ struc-
tural symmetry laying emphasis on the activities of the supernatural characters.
Although the fairy world is, of course, also a significant cohesive element in the
play, Britten's consciously symmetrical construction reflects a notable shift in
dramatic emphasis.
The loss of Shakespeare's expository scene allowed Britten to clarify the drama's
time-scale by concentrating the action into one night (Acts I and II) and the following
day (Act III). In some ways, it may be admitted, this alteration could be considered
something of an improvement on Shakespeare's ambiguous double time-scheme,'
which is sufficiently complex to have been in danger of impeding the effectiveness of
a concise operatic setting. The simple process of concentration involved merely the
transposition of Lysander and Hermia's first dialogue and the rustics' first rehearsal
of 'Pyramus and Thisbe' to the woodland setting, the latter involving several minor
textual alterations ('tomorrow night' becoming 'tonight', and 'here' replacing
'there').
In accordance with Britten's usual practice,5 work on the libretto was completed
before a note of the music was composed. The preparation of a workable text must
have been undertaken at considerable speed since the composition sketch is dated
'Good Friday, 1960', a mere nine months after the decision was taken to write a full-
length opera to reopen the Jubilee Hall during the thirteenth Aldeburgh Festival. In
July 1959 Britten discussed the project with John and Myfanwy Piper, and men-
tioned in a letter written on 24 August to George Malcolm (who was to be assistant
conductor for the first production) that work on the libretto was under way. Two
weeks later, Britten outlined in a letter to the Earl of Harewood the precise nature of
the alterations envisaged for the Jubilee Hall. (These involved the purchase of the
adjacent house to create more exits, entrances, seats and dressing-rooms, as well as
provision for an extension to the stage area and the construction of a new orchestral
pit.) Britten's work on the opera was delayed in November by an attack of tendinitis
of the elbow, but on 14 December he revealed in a letter to Pears that he was 'well
into the 2nd Act'. On 29 December he wrote to Myfanwy Piper to thank her for
sending a draft Prologue to the opera ('I am considering it'--see pages 255-6,
below), and on 9 January 1960 he declared to Pears: 'I struggle on with Act 2,
sometimes good, sometimes not so'. Vocal scores for Acts I and II were being
prepared by Boosey & Hawkes in February while Britten finished the full score of
Act I and simultaneously embarked on the composition of Act III. The opera went
into rehearsal in May, and the first performance was given by the English Opera
Group in the newly refurbished Jubilee Hall on 11 June.
The source materials employed in the compilation of the libretto, now housed in
the Britten-Pears Library at Aldeburgh, provide a fascinating testimony to the

4 A device common in Shakespeare and fully developed in Othello, where inconsistencies allow for two inter
pretations, one of which sees the plot taking several months to develop and the other only a few days, thus captu
ing both the protracted nature of inexorable fate and the bewildering speed of the eventual denouement. In A
Midsummer Night's Dream the nuptials follow a single night of woodland scenes in spite of Theseus's opening
(quoted on page 254, below). The larger time-interval is necessary in order to justify the duke's impatience, and
effect is nullified by Britten's drastic relocation of the speech to Act III of the opera.
5 'In writing opera I have always found it very dangerous to start writing the music until the words are more or
less fixed': 'A New Britten Opera', loc. cit.

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rapidity with which the opera's highly disciplined structure took shape. Britten
remarked that 'we worked with many texts, but principally from facsimiles of the
First Folio and the First Quarto';6 but although copies of both these early editions
are preserved in the archive, they are unmarked and appear to have been little
used.7 Of far greater interest are Britten's and Pears's annotated copies of the old
Penguin edition (ed. G. B. Harrison, Harmondsworth, 1953), on which the
preliminary libretto drafts were clearly based. Both copies are heavily marked in
their owners' hands, and the annotations are sufficiently divergent to indicate that
the collaborators took an independent approach in the initial stages of preparation.
In Britten's copy, a note on the flyleaf lists the dates of the earliest sources for the
play, and against the printed list of dramatis personae he jotted down preliminary
ideas for casting-including Hugues Cuenod and not Pears in the role of Flute (see
Plate I).8 By each rustic's name, Britten noted his overriding characteristic: 'slow'
(Snug), 'high' (Flute), 'old man' (Snout) and 'thin' (Starveling), in addition to draw-
ing attention to the contrasting statures of Hermia and Helena. The annotations in
Pears's copy are less extensive than those in Britten's, but sometimes notably dif-
ferent: a good example occurs in Act I scene 2, where Pears planned to telescope the
rustics' preliminary meeting with their subsequent rehearsal in Act III scene 1 to
create a composite scene. Pears's copy also contains the first attempt at a scenario
for the opera in the form of a rough outline sketched on a blank page at the back
which corresponds closely to the final version apart from the order of events at the
end of Act I and the start of Act III (see Plate II). A separate synopsis and list of
characters exists in Pears's handwriting, and is probably the earliest extant docu-
ment relating to the Dream libretto. In spite of the smaller number of annotations
in Pears's Penguin copy, his influence on the shaping of the work was clearly con-
siderable. Britten wrote to Ernst Roth at Boosey & Hawkes on 16 February 1960:
'Since Peter really did the bulk of the work of adaptation, I think it is only right that
he should have the usual librettists [sic] percentage of the royalties'.
A typescript copy of Act I was prepared from the Penguin edition on the basis of
Pears's scenario, and the annotations Britten subsequently added to this script first
reveal his concern for structural cohesion. It is on this document, for instance, that
the single fabricated line 'Compelling thee to marry with Demetrius' is inserted, an
addition illustrating their awareness of the dangers inherent in cutting Shakespeare's
informative opening scene. In addition, it is only at this stage that the symmetrical
structure of Act I is established. Plate II reveals that Pears's scenario had placed the
rustics between the first appearances of Lysander and Hermia and of Demetrius and
Helena, retaining the play's sequence of events. Britten now chose to delay the
rustics' entry and continued directly with the entrance of Demetrius and Helena,
thus creating the strict symmetry illustrated in Table II. On the same page of the
typescript he inserted Oberon's lines 'Be it on Lion, Bear, or Wolf, or Bull, / On
meddling monkey or busy Ape' (11.1.180 -8 1) for a second time before Demetrius's
entrance, an addition which not only frames the Lysander/Hermia scene but also
illustrates Oberon's total preoccupation with his spell and suggests that both lovers'

6 Ibid.
7 Britten's facsimile of the First Quarto is inscribed 'For Ben with love from Imo. March 1960'. This date is
shortly before the completion of the full score, but the edition may conceivably have been consulted by Imoge
Holst if it was in her possession during the preparation of the libretto typescripts.
8 According to Humphrey Carpenter (Benjamin Britten: a Biography, London, 1992, p. 395), Cuenod wa
offered the part but turned it down because of prior commitments.

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 PLATE I

tH ACTORS NAMES

Torn sk,,Vs, Duke ofAt ns

: TNfSSEAtt4S4*:mI.U X
LYSANDX.
DJ 0 00M0; T RXUS in loe wih Hema

PuLs0u Master of the Rev

SNIU4G JQ*er
OQTTOM,w' e P~-

STAXVRAVUatior d wh t
Theseus-
ITiEITMA, NdAgher to e i

MUaL14, inlvewt )meru

I- A A 03 O $:0000f

O ::e i oui of the0ies BitnPa Foundation

Tx TrN,usteesof th~eaBittnParondto

scenes~~~~~ in fac occur simultaneously.t Thi ecnmia bu 0; 0t hihl e ffec 0000 Dtive al 000 0St
is~~~~~~:0 typca ofXf0T Brte' inat drmai instinc00ts,; and the000 symetr thu f

of~~ S th pefrac maeias Thi is no asrvaig as the drf fAt noae

ityiaofBritten's annottonaothelito dramatis perincsona indhscoyo the Pengtrtuin torextwa

byBritten's parntlytionaset the lseond damatis pesnein anicsea simplfter Penguinstructio

to provide the foundation for a musical structure of equal cogency.
Act II i.s also represented by a typescript used by Imogen Holst in the preparation
of the performance materials. This is not as revealing as the draft of Act I annotated
by Britten, partly because the second act is in any case far simpler in construction
(see Table III) and unified by a purely musical framework in contrast to the rela-

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 PLATE II

`7: /

__
V~~~~~~~~~~~~
X
k~~~~~~~~~

ivX~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pears's early scenario sketched at the back of his copy of the Penguin text
> Trustees of the Britten-Pears Foundation

tively complex musico-dramatic scheme of Act I. Act II consists of two large-s

set pieces which together form the summa epitasis of Shakespeare's plot: the f
portrays Tytania's doting on the transfigured Bottom, while the second develo
lovers' confusion and recriminations to such intensity that Puck is forced to in-
tervene to avert disaster. These two quite diverse but equally important centre-
pieces are united by the use of recurrent 'sleep' music which is examined below. Act
II therefore preserves the formal considerations of Act I without emulating its

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 TABLE II

Structure of Britten's Act I

Musical symmetry Action Dramatic symmetry

Ritornello I
Aria Fairies (II.1.1-59)
Duet Oberon and Tytania (II.1.60-144) Fairies
Arioso Oberon and Puck (II.1.146-85) Oberon
Ritornello II
Accomp. recit. Lysander and Hermia I (I.1.128-76) Lovers A
Ritornello III
Arioso Oberon (II.1.180-87) Oberon
Accomp. recit. Demetrius and Helena I (II.1.188-244) Lovers B
Arioso Oberon and Puck (II.1.247-64) Oberon
Ritornello IV

(Mirror) Recit. Rustics I (I.2.1-103) Rustics (Mirror)

Ritornello V
Accomp. recit. Lysander and Hermia II (II.2.34-62) Lovers A
(Spoken) Puck (II.2.65-82) Puck
Accomp. recit. Demetrius and Helena II (II.2.83-153) Lovers B
Ritornello VI Tytania (II.2.1-8)
Aria Fairies (II.2.9-25) Fairies
Arioso Oberon (II.2.26-33) Oberon
Ritornello VII

TABLE III

Structure of Britten's Act II

Musical framework Action

Passacaglia: Theme
Vars. 1-4
Rustics II (III.1.1-119)
Tytania and Bottom I and II
Passacaglia: Var. 5 (III.1. 120-89/IV. 1.1-44)
Vars. 6-8
Oberon and Puck (III.2.4-42)
Demetrius and Hermia (I..342
Lysander and Helena (III.2.43-412)
Passacaglia: Var. 9 (They sleep-III .2.413-47)
Var. 10 (retrograde)
Vars. 11-18 Fairies (III.2.448-63)
Coda

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dramatic symmetry; its more extended episodes constitute focal points appropriately
situated at the opera's centre, and the musical framework superimposed on them
prevents their essential dissimilarity from weakening the strong feeling of dramatic
cohesion already established by the first act.
No libretto draft survives for Act III. The final typescript libretto comprises cor-
rected versions of Acts I and II together with a text for Act III which contains a much
greater number of handwritten alterations, suggesting that pressure of time did not
permit a preliminary draft for Act III to be prepared. The hypothesis that work on
the text of the final act was comparatively rushed is corroborated by a number of in-
consistencies in the published libretto of Act III not in keeping with the generally
impressive dramatic qualities of Acts I and II.
In its construction from two large-scale composite scenes separated by an ex-
tended interlude, Act III appears to follow the overall shape of Act II (see Table IV),
but the absence of a unifying musical scheme allows the disparity between them to
become acutely apparent. This incompatibility is operatically effective in one im-
portant respect, for it highlights the stark contrast between the enchantment of Acts
I and II and the normality of life at Theseus's court. Critical opinion has, however,
been divided concerning the overall effectiveness of Britten's sudden departure from
the cogently organized structures of the preceding acts. Eric Walter White was
evidently in no doubt about the success of the composer's radical change of
approach, claiming that 'throughout the score Britten shows an unerring sense of
proportion, and nowhere is this more evident than in the last act where the trans-
formation to the Court of Theseus lifts the opera on to a different level'.9 Peter

TABLE IV

Structure of Britten's Act III

Musical framework Action

Ritornello I
Oberon (IV. 1.45-74)
Ritornello II
Oberon and Tytania (IV.1.75-93)
Ritornello III (horns) Lovers (IV.1.186-9)
'And I have found. . . like a jewel'(IV.1.190-91)
Ritornello IV (horns) (IV.1.197-8)
Bottom (IV.1.199-217)
Rustics III (IV.2.1-43)

Interlude (Scene change)

Theseus and Hippolyta (I.1.1-19)

Theseus and lovers (IV.1.140-80/V.1.29-30)
'Pyramus and Thisby' (V.1.32-354)
Fairies (V.1.357-408)
Epilogue (V.1.409-22)

9 Eric Walter White, Benjamin Britten: hzs Life and Operas, 2nd edn., London, 1983, p. 232.

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Evans was the first commentator to investigate the structural implications of this
scene change in any detail; while demonstrating the subtlety of Britten's transition
from the first scene to the second with reference to the increasing proximity of
Theseus's hunting-horns, he points out that 'the listener-spectator is bound to feel a
sense of disenchantment at this point . . . In terms of the operatic experience he has
to discover a place for two entirely unknown and inevitably stiff characters, Theseus
and Hippolyta'.1' (It should be noted that an optional cut Britten sanctioned be-
tween figs. 17 and 19a in Act III, which is observed in his own recording of the opera,
unfortunately weakens the effect of the gradual approach of Theseus's horn calls.)
Evans's observation emphasizes the difficulties created by Britten's deliberate omis-
sion of Shakespeare's opening scene, and it is important to note that Shakespeare's
transition to the final court scene is markedly less abrupt. Shakespeare's plot sets out
from normality, is developed in an enchanted wood symbolic of 'withdrawal from
and return to the autonomous self l and is concluded in the normality with which
it began. Britten's opera establishes the woodland setting as its norm, and the
sudden intrusion of Athenian court life in the closing pages may seem an arbitrary
conclusion.
The plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream is, of course, so well known that any
minor inconsistencies in Britten's opera are frequently overlooked from a natural
and fully understandable tendency for an audience to assume that events which
have not in fact taken place on (or off) the stage have actually done so. A close com-
parison of the libretto of Act III with the parallel passages in Shakespeare's play
reveals that the structural problems in this act lie deeper than Evans suggests, and
concern the manner in which elements of three Shakespearian scenes have been
combined to form one composite operatic set piece. The opening lines of the--play
are relocated by Britten to the beginning of the opera's palace scene. In
Shakespeare's version, Theseus's statement reflects his extreme impatience when
confronted with a wait of four days before his marriage, and Britten needed to
change the following details in his new sequence of events:

Shakespeare (I. 1. 1-8) Britten (Act III, figs. 49-51)

THESEUS. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour

Draws on apace; [four happy days bring in] [this day brings in]
Another moon: but o, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanesl She lingers my desires
Like to a step-dame or a dowager
Long withering out a young man's revenue.
HIPPOLYTA. [Four days] will quickly steep [themselves] in night; [This day] ... [itself]
[Four nights] will quickly dream away the time ... [This night ... ]

Britten's simple conversion of the time-scale weakens Shakespeare's effect: in the

opera, Theseus has only twenty minutes of stage time to endure before his attain-
ment of conjugal bliss, and his impatience (designed by Shakespeare to reflect the
agony of four days' waiting) may appear hyperbolic in its new context.
After the lovers have related their experiences, Britten alters Shakespeare's line
'Egeus, I will overbear your will' (IV.1.178) to 'Hermia, I will o'erbear your father's

10 Peter Evans, The Music of Benjamin Britten, 2nd edn., London, 1990, p. 238.
'' A Midsummer Night's Dream, ed. Brooks, p. xcv. Cf. Shakespeare's treatment of the forests in The Two
Gentlemen of Verona and As You Like It, the tomb in Much Ado about Nothing, the cave in Cymbelzne and the
island in The Tempest.

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will', thereby providing a somewhat tardy explanation for 'the sharp Athenian
law / (Compelling thee to marry with Demetrius)'. Theseus's remark to Hermia is
the first - indeed the only - reference in the opera to the character of Egeus (present
in the play but excised by Britten in the interests of economy). If the librettists'
solitary invented line had contained an explicit reference to Hermia's father instead
of merely referring to 'the sharp Athenian law', his mention at this very late stage
might have been made more convincing. As it is, we may note once again that the
problem derives entirely from Britten's omission of the play's opening scene.
A further dramatic loophole in Act III is created by Britten's alteration of the
play's sequence of events-the very procedure which had made Acts I and II such
powerfully cogent units. The episode in which Theseus resolves the lovers' predica-
ment is transferred from its original location in the wood (IV. 1) to form part of
Britten's composite palace scene. This transposition appears reasonable enough at
first sight, but a number of significant dramatic details are overlooked as a result. In
Shakespeare's sequence of events, Theseus discovers the lovers asleep in the wood,
acts as an arbitrator in Egeus's dispute, and finally declares: 'in the temple, by and
by, with us, / These couples shall eternally be knit' (IV. 1.179 -80). It is evident from
Snug's comment in Shakespeare's subsequent scene that the weddings take place on
the way to the palace: 'Masters, the Duke is coming from the temple, and there is
two or three lords and ladies more married' (IV.2.15-16). The company then pro-
ceeds to the post-nuptial celebrations at Theseus's court. Britten retains
only the lovers' awe-inspired comments from the first scene (IV. 1.186-93, 197 -8),
and, since the issue has yet to be discussed with Theseus, Snug's observation is
modified by omitting its reference to marriage. The opera's palace scene opens with
the lines adapted from Act I scene 1 and then continues with the entrance of the
lovers and Theseus's arbitration. It may therefore be seen that the retention of lines
IV. 1.179 -80 at this point undermines the plot: Snug has informed us that the duke
has already been to the temple (for no apparent reason), and, since there is no con-
ceivable moment between Theseus's declaration and the end of the opera in which
the lovers may legally be united, it can only be assumed that they go to bed un-
married and the fairies conclude the work by blessing pleasures which are, in fact,
illicit. Genuine oversights are extremely rare in Britten's opera, and it is odd that
such a fundamental one has not been noted before."2
Striking evidence that Britten and Pears were very much aware of these problems
and took steps to rectify them survives in a draft for a Prologue to the opera written
at Britten's request by Myfanwy Piper in December 1959. This was essentially to
have been a summary of Theseus's proclamation, derived from the opening scene of
the play and announced by two heralds before the opera's action began. The com-
plete text is as follows:

1st Herald Knowl That the nuptial hour between Lord Theseus and the fair Hyppolita
[sic] draws on apace: to-morrow shall the moon, bent in the heavens like a silver bow
behold the night of their solemnities. .
1st and 2nd Herald Therefore ye youth of Athens, with pomp and triumph and with
revelling and mirth, stir up and celebrate.
2nd Herald Knowl This is Lord Theseus [szc] will concerning Hermia, Egeus daughter,
who, in defiance of her father, will not wed Demetrius, khihoice but only Lysander who

12 In his copy of the Penguin text, Britten marked the interlude following Act IV scene 2 as 'Transformation
scene to Temple' (my italics) rather than to the palace. This description is also to be found in the typescript and
may indicate some confusion on his part at this point.

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 loves her well. The Athenian law bids her obey, or leave this world a nun or die; [which
last Egeus claims privilege to enforce] Lord Theseus gives her till his Nuptial day to make
her choice: death, or the cloister, or Demetrius,
1st & 2nd Herald Repeat part of firet speeches
1st 2 lines to 'apace'

The possibility of such a Prologue seems to have been given serious consideration,
since the following draft outlining its content survives in Britten's handwriting and
was also typed at the head of the final libretto typescript:

Act One

Prologue, by a Herald (possibly two Heralds) announcing:

(a) Theseus' wedding with Hippolyta
(b) Hermia compelled by her father's ruling to marry Demetrius or otherwise to enter
Nunnery

(not yet written)

Four bars of music labelled 'Prologue' are to be found on a discarded page of the
opera's composition sketch (Ex. 1), and it is highly unlikely that these would have
been written before work on the libretto had reached its final stages.

Ex. 1

Trpt.
A HFis. j hJ

Trb.F p

Few audiences a
to notice the un
serious to detrac
interaction between the opera's textual and musical structures which forms the prin-
cipal means of cohesion in the work may best be examined by analysis not only of
the larger formal components in Britten's scheme but also of the contribution to the
opera's unity made by more subtle devices such as key symbolism and the carefully
controlled contrast between chromatic and diatonic idioms.
The constituent groups of Shakespeare's uniquely kaleidoscopic drama are princi-
pally characterized by familiar contrasts in orchestration which need not concern
the present discussion. '3 Of more importance to the structure of Act I is the manner
in which the musical forms employed by each group of characters contribute to the
overall symmetrical effect (see Table II), and the success with which the ritornello
sections linking each episode not only bind together the disparate events but also in-
troduce musical techniques later to be of importance in Acts II and III. With the
notable exception of the rustics' 'Pyramus and Thisby', the only characters given
music approximating to the closed forms of pre-Wagnerian opera are supernatural.
Although this scheme was no doubt partly suggested by the frequency with which

31 For a concise summary, see White, op. cit., p. 224.

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Shakespeare's fairies speak in strophic verse, it fulfils an additional function as a
purely musical illustration of their superior operatic status. Thus the freely develop-
ing accompanied recitative of the lovers and rustics is interspersed with more con-
cise arioso passages for Oberon and Puck, the chief agents of the drama. In addition
to this obvious contrast, the recitative styles of the lovers and rustics are subtly dif-
ferentiated: the music associated with the former has a complex internal organiza-
tion based on motivic elaboration, 4 while that of the latter is essentially free. The
presentation of 'Pyramus and Thisby' is therefore highly ironic because the rustics'
comically inept adoption of closed vocal forms is complemented by the aristocrats'
lapse into free recitative for their witty interjections, an irony already present in
Shakespeare's play where the rustics adopt verse and the lovers revert to prose.
The symmetry of Act I is emphasized by the appearance of Lysander and Hermia's
distinctive rhythmic pattern in retrograde after the central point of the arch form
(Ex. 2), and the entire act is enclosed by symmetrically corresponding arias sung by
the fairies associated with Tytania. The first of these ('Over hill, over dale') contains
a scalic pattern (Ex. 3a) which appropriately returns in inversion as the 'lullaby'
refrain of the second ('You spotted snakes', Ex. 3b). Both arias are partly ac-
companied by material from the instrumental ritornello employed throughout the
act, and their function as a static outer framework is disturbed only by the final
reappearance of Oberon, an intrusion calculated to arouse expectancy in the
audience since it prophesies the disorder of Act II and serves as the epitasis of
Britten's opera just as it does in Shakespeare's original scheme (cf. Table I).
The predominance of the fairy world is reflected by the instrumental ritornello
which provides not only the principal binding element in Act I but also, by its
association with the enchanted wood from the very outset, a symbolic unification for
the act. Such ritornello structures are common in Britten's music during this period
and seem to derive from the strong desire for formal clarity which underlies all his
mature work. Well-known examples are the recurrent string music representing
troubled sleep which links the eight poems of the Nocturne (1958), a work notably
close to the Dream in its subject matter and musical techniques, and the depiction
of the passage of time in the Cantata misericordium (1963).'5
The ritornellos in Act I, while associated in general with the supernatural forces
at work in the wood, are more specifically linked with Tytania and her fairy attend-
ants. The song 'Over hill, over dale' emerges from Ritornello I, and Tytania's 'Come
now a roundel' is sung simultaneously with Ritornello IV (see Table II).

" It is intriguing to note the similar intervallic constructions of the lovers' distinctive motif and Mrs Grose's
equally pregnant theme in The Turn of the Screw (1954):

Act!1 379 1 C d
MRS GROSEAi '1: '', =

Dear God, is there no end to his dread - ful ways?

a~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Act! 27 - X I)

LYSANDER 2 ,
(and Wiw.) e
The course of true love ne-ver did run smooth.

'5 The late Patrick Wilkinson, librettist of the cantata, revealed that Britten imposed this stru
before the text was written (private communication).

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Ex. 2
(a) 25

LYSANDER

How now my love?

Fl., ob.

(b) 3 7

LYSANDER 2

f Fair love,_

06 i 10 i -

A I~
NY c ~~~~~ t~S
f =

Ex. 3
(a) W21 - 6

0-ver hill, o-ver dale, thor-ough bush, thor-ou

(b) 100

f n I o IT I
VIV~~~~~~

lul- la- by, lul- la- by, lul- la- by, lul- la- by,

Throughout the act Oberon is given sharply contrasting material to mark his tem-
porary breach with Tytania and her fairy clique, and it is only in the final ritornello
that his spell motif in both original and diminished forms symbolically mingles with
the wood music. This striking effect appears in Britten's composition sketch as an
afterthought: he had copied out several bars of the ritornello in its original guise
before deleting them and reworking the ending by continuing the spell motif so that
both elements fade away together.

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 The ritornello itself consists of a sequence of the twelve major triads linked by
atmospheric string glissandos.'6 The roots of this sequence are in no way treated
serially, but an interest in the tonal possibilities of dodecaphony is evident in much
of Britten's work from this period. Although in this instance the overall sequence re-
mains largely unaltered, each ritornello is slightly modified to establish the tonal
area of the scene which follows it. These modifications, illustrated in Table V, are

TABLE V

Tonal Patterns in Act I Ritornellos

Rit. I Rit. II Rit. III Rit. IV Rit. V Rit. VI Rit. VII

(up to (figs. (figs. (figs. (figs. (figs. (fig.
fig. 1) 23-24) 34-35) 52-53) 72-73) 94-97) 103)

Gh Gh 6 Dh Gh

FOl FO x Gx FO FO x
FO FO FB F/ FB
Dh Dh Dh Dh Dh
Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh
Aa At y Aat y Ah Ah Ah
Co y coJ co Dh Co y Co y
Ah Ah Ah

GO Ab Ab A Gb G (Oberon)
Eb Eb Eb E V- EbAh Eb Ea
Ci Ch Ch C hDq C hDF Ch Ch
Bb Bb Bb F /BPb B bD W BbB
Fh F1 Fh F Fi FJ
Bh Bh Bh |B /G4 Bh Bh

Gh Gh F (Lovers) Gh G8)
FO x FO x Eb (Rustics) FO x FO x
Ga Ga (Oberon) Ga Gf
FO FO FO F
Dh @ Dh Gh
Eh (Lovers) Eh (Wood)
Ah Ai

GO GO
Eb Eb
Ch Ch
Bb Bb
Fh Fh
BL BL

(Fairies) (Tytania)

*Boxes indicate the principal tonal areas established by each ritornello

16 The decision to include exclusively major triads was reached only after a preliminary sketch which inv
both major and minor triads.

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important as an example of a simple musical technique which at once creates a feel-
ing of unity and a sense of dramatic progression. Of particular significance are the
juxtaposition of roots a semitone or major third apart (marked 'x' and 'y' respec-
tively), both patterns emphasized by repetition and later to become important
elements in the opera's scheme of tonal symbolism (see pp. 265 -6, below).
The four chords comprising the passacaglia sequence by which the musical struc-
ture of Act II is unified are also consciously constructed from all twelve degrees of
the chromatic scale and once again represent the enchanted wood (Ex. 4). They are
more specifically associated with the spellbound sleep through which Oberon's
magic takes effect, and they thus make a significant reappearance at the mid point
of the act when Tytania and Bottom fall asleep in each other's arms (seven bars
before fig. 57) and at the end of the act where each lover lies down in turn to one of
the four chords (figs. 94-101). The act concludes with a fairy song constructed over
eight statements of the passacaglia chords, and the fairies' lines 'On the
ground, / Sleep sound' (111.2.448-9) ironically point not only to the symbolic func-
tion of the passacaglia but also to the musical technique itself. Although the struc-
ture of Act II is neither as complex nor as closely integrated as that of Act I, it may
nevertheless be seen that it again fulfils the dual function of providing both musical
and (by way of its symbolic connotations) dramatic cohesion. The passacaglia's use
of all twelve notes clearly corresponds to technical procedures in Act I, while the
chords themselves are directly recapitulated in Act III as the accompaniment to
Bottom's reminiscences (five bars before fig. 33). It is interesting to note that
Britten's preliminary sketches for this chord sequence first arranged the twelve notes
as a pattern of four triads in which the gentle parody of Mendelssohn is much more
explicit (Ex. 5).
The most important vocal ensembles are also organized by a systematic exhaus-
tion of all twelve triads. The first occurs in Act I when Oberon and Tytania argue

Ex. 4
The Wood. (Tytainia Iyinig asleep.)
Harps, Perc., etc.
iCURTAIN }\Ns,
Brass (muted) 7II8I

A I~~~~~~~~~T K

I01 I>
Strs. (muted)

Ex. 5

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above an ostinato figure for timpani and double bass, the rapidly shifting harmonies
in the harps encompassing twelve major and minor triads with different roots in the
order indicated in Ex. 6a. The roots are arranged in a chain of thirds (a Britten
hallmark) so that the final two isolated chords ('x') are B b minor and A major; the
semitonal tension between these chords immediately becomes illustrative of the
disagreement between the supernaturals and provides an ostinato for their sub-
sequent discourse. This material is recapitulated at the symmetrically corresponding
moment in Act III but with the order of the triads significantly altered to serve a
new dramatic purpose (Ex. 6b). The fifth triad (CO) is omitted to permit an ex-
tension of the chain of thirds and becomes the penultimate chord, thus serving as
a dominant preparation for the diatonic F sharp major in which the final fairy
song is set.

Ex. 6
(a) A .o,I

(b)

A T[~

ei (V-I)

In Act I, Lysander and Hermia vow 'I swear to thee' to each major triad in turn in
a simple but strongly affirmative duet. Britten departs from Shakespeare by dividing
Hermia's speech (I.1.169-76) into stichomythia, each line accompanied by its own
different triad. An examination of Britten's annotations to his proof dyeline full
score reveals that the full sequence of twelve triads was only established immediately
before publication: the composition sketch, manuscript full score and proof vocal
and full scores all give a first-inversion C major triad as the accompaniment to
Hermia's opening phrase (Ex. 7), but Britten heavily corrected his proof copies to

Ex. 7

f With spirit

I swear to thee By Cu-pid's strong- est_ bow

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instate the missing triad (A1) at this point, both eliminating any pre-emption of the
C major in which the section concludes and neatly completing the chromatic
scheme. The vocal line was adapted simply by inserting the necessary accidentals,
not by transposition into the new key (see Plate III).

PLATE III

4-

.lw, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With. s iit

O b. ff _ _

10 t00::;0':00Wd = C, I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i:7

Yt~~~~~~~~~~~~~~t

- - 0 4 ? r

Br
?Tr

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 When Lysander awakes non compos mentis, he proclaims his love for Helena
in a wildly hyperbolic vocal style to the accompaniment of a series of dominant
thirteenths strongly reminiscent of the earlier duet but now illustrating his unstable
state. The sequence comprises only eleven different roots (Ex. 8a), the central chord
of G6 (enharmonic Fd) symbolizing his submission to supernatural influence. When
this scene is resumed in Act II, the sequence is curtailed after only two chords by the
insertion of the missing root DM (Ex. 8b). The dominant thirteenth on DM is treated
as a major/minor dominant discord over a G root and thus leads directly to C minor
for Demetrius's ensuing solo.

Ex. 8
(a)

t!9 L , hX
w-~~~~~~~~~-
central
point

(b)

(V - I)

Two important sections of Act III constructed along similar lines are both
organized to strengthen the role of F major as a unifying tonic throughout the first
half of the final act. The quartet 'And I have found Demetrius like a jewel' (fig. 20)
exhausts all twelve triads in a fashion exactly analogous to the procedure in 'I swear
to thee' (providing a clear symmetrical correspondence with Act I), with the triad on
F delayed until the end of the sequence. The march interlude which covers the scene
change to Theseus's palace takes the form of an extended development of the duke's
hunting calls above a quasi-ostinato bass in which F is retained as an implied pedal
note while all the other eleven degrees of the chromatic scale are once more system-
atically introduced (Ex. 9). At certain other dramatically significant points, the
music freely encompasses all twelve pitch classes without presenting them
systematically according to schemes such as those outlined above. Oberon's first in-
structions to Puck in Act I are accompanied by a celesta figure including eight dif-
ferent pitch classes grouped in a pattern of alternating major sounds, the four
remaining pitch classes being added by the glockenspiel and vocal line (fig. 19).
Similarly, Tytania's invitation to Bottom to lie down on the bank in Act II is formed
from a juxtaposition of the two whole-tone scales which together include all twelve
pitch classes (fig. 45).
There can be little doubt that fully chromatic melody and harmony constitute
one of the most important compositional devices in A Midsummer Night's Dream,
and Britten's preoccupation with the use of all twelve pitch classes is strikingly
illustrated by the appearance in his composition sketch of twelve-note check-lists, the
letter names deleted as each note was employed. Although the absence of serial
ordering precludes the method from achieving per se a significant structural

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Ex. 9

[Quick March]

F4 5 ( 1) (2 (3) (4

-7A 4 J I $ C - I J * h I j--;jFhec.
A' k ? ~ ~IP I .I 11 4

jypp (Timp., Hp., Db. pzz A PP

(5) (6)

J~ I I 1X J I r 5 J I IJ J C J $ J J I I

(7) (8) (9) I I?)

cresc. f dim.

(12)

r S ~ I I I ) I'a m J I I

cresc. - mf c f heavy

unification, the reservation of this technique for the most important dramatic in-
cidents dealing with the central theme of love ensures its effectiveness as a long-term
referential symbol. Furthermore, the clear distinction between those twelve-note
schemes used primarily to deploy roots of major or minor triads and those involving
a more melodic conception often highlights the essential difference between the
dramatic themes of genuine love and the doting induced by Oberon's magic herb.
The opera's formal clarity is strengthened by the subdivision of much of the music
into smaller self-contained units. Most of these structures constitute simple ternary
forms illustrating in microcosm the arch-like conception of the opera's overall
framework-an aspect particularly emphasized when the recapitulation of the 'A'
section is a free retrograde of its first appearance. A good illustration of this pro-
cedure occurs as the central point of Act II which has the following dramatic sym-
metry: Puck's entrance (fig. 60)-Oberon-Demetrius and Hermia-Oberon-
Puck's exit (fig. 68). Puck's exit music is a free retrograde of his entrance, strongly
recalling Britten's earlier treatment of the outward and return flights of the dove in
Noye's Fludde (1957). A similar procedure is used for Puck's entrance and exit when
he squeezes the magic juice on Lysander's eyes in Act I. The three successive sections
of Tytania's liaison with Bottom (Act II, figs. 37-57) are each presented as simple
ternary forms, and similar structures are ubiquitous elsewhere in the work. An
amusingly satirical touch occurs in 'Pyramus and Thisby' where Bottom's aria 'Sweet
moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams' includes an incongruous da capo to the
words 'Now am I dead'. 'Pyramus and Thisby' is itself distinguished by the same
structural clarity we have discerned elsewhere in the opera: recurrent passages for
Wall and Flute serve as primitive ritornellos in the manner of Britten's designs for
Act I and II, and the entire performance is framed by two statements of a trumpet
and timpani fanfare. Thus Britten's famous opera-within-an-opera constitutes a
parody not only of the Italianate conventions it so elegantly ridicules but also of the
techniques Britten himself employs in the structuring of the work as a whole.

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 In addition to the extensive use of leitmotivs, the musical fabric of the opera is
unified by a highly developed technique of key symbolism. 7 The four keys which are
most important in this respect are stressed in the opening ritornello of Act I as the
constituent triads of the 'x' and 'y' groups (see Table V). G becomes associated with
the mortal lovers, particularly as the dominant of C, a key representing love in its
major form and resentment in its minor. In the first Lysander/Hermia scene,
C major is established at the line 'It stands as an edict in destiny' (seven bars after
fig. 28) and again at the conclusion of the duet 'I swear to thee' (fig. 33). During
their second scene, the disagreement over their resting place introduces the opera's
first C minor triad (fig. 75). The climactic points of Act II occur at Demetrius's
abrupt and unwelcome avowal of love for Helena (fig. 71) and the moment of the
rupture between Demetrius and Lysander (fig. 86); both take the form of tutti C
minor chords, the former reached by way of Lysander's protestations (examined on
page 263, above) and the latter marking the culmination of a lengthy quarrel scene
of which the final section had also been cast in C minor.
F sharp, the other tonal centre established by the 'x' group, is always associated
with the fairies and Tytania. It provides the tonic for the two fairy arias framing Act
I and becomes the predominant key towards the end of Act III for the fairies' closing
benediction. We noted above that Oberon inhabits tonal areas quite distinct from
those of Tytania before their detente in Act III, and he only adopts F sharp when
communicating directly with his queen (Ex. 10a). When the fairies are absent from
the action, their key is used for dramatic irony: Ex. 10b, c and d illustrate a variety
of instances where direct or oblique references to the supernatural powers are set to
music involving F sharp either as a tonal centre or in isolation.

Ex. 10
(a)

Act I #1-5] f with force

OBERON t $ J I I

Do you a- mend it then, it lies in you;

(b)

Act I -76- 8
dim.

HERMIA MFII

So far be dis-tant, and good night sweet friend; Thy love ne'er

A> J J i I - I tJ I I 1 T .
al tr l t

al- ter, till___ thy sweet life end.___

'7 For a detailed analysis of the comparable scheme of key symbolism in an earlier
Cooke, 'Britten's Prophetic Song: Tonal Symbolism in Billy Budd', Benjamzn Britt
Cooke & Philip Reed ('Cambridge Opera Handbooks'), Cambridge, 1993, pp. 85-110.

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(c)

Act I 92 + 4

HERMIA
| V r iXLr i
r A
I' 1 5 1 i
Lord, What, out of hear-ing, gone?

(d)

Act I 73 + 8
AtI/I k L- ->
LYSANDER V 4w o a7 i [I rri
De-me-tri- us, be not so, not so, For you love Her- mi- a;

Timp. |

Of the two keys in the 'y' group, C sharp is the principal tonality in Act II in its
enharmonic equivalent of D flat and is, as remarked earlier, symbolic of the deep
sleep which affects all within that act. It returns conspicuously during Act III in
Lysander's observations upon waking (two bars before fig. 18), and throughout
'Pyramus and Thisby' as a symbol of moonlight. A major, the other key in the 'y'
group, plays a far more subtle role in the opera's tonal scheme. As in many other
works by Britten, it is invested with a personal significance as a symbol for innocence
and love: Helena's pathetic little aria 'I am your spaniel' is mostly set in a diatonic A
major, and this follows a passage in which Demetrius's attempts to evade her affec-
tions are graphically portrayed by the manner in which his tortuous chromatic lines
attempt to escape from the pedal A which underlies the construction of the entire
scene (Ex. 11). The bracketed passage in the example illustrates his adoption of the
key only when he openly rejects Helena, a musical device identical to Oberon's use
of F sharp noted above. When Lysander pursues her, Helena ironically assumes
exactly the same musical stance as Demetrius, attempting to escape from the G flat
(= F sharp) pedal which represents Lysander's bewitched state (five bars before
fig. 90). Throughout the opera, the predicaments of Tytania and Helena are
associated by their common use of A major and the close tonal relationship between
A major and F sharp minor. There is also a strong similarity between the vocal style
and diatonicism of their arias 'Be kind and courteous' (see below) and 'I am your
spaniel', since both are representative of doting, the contrast between this and
genuine love forming an important theme in both play and opera.
In addition to these four tonalities, two tonal centres not included in the 'x' and 'y'
groups are equally worthy of note. Oberon's spell is, like Quint's in The Turn of the
Screw, built around E flat and accompanied by the distinctive timbre of the celesta:
his commands to Puck are frequently issued on an Eb monotone. When Tytania
awakes under Oberon's spell, she does so to music reminiscent of her fairy hench-
men but now firmly in E flat major (fig. 31). The 'disenchanted' music at the begin-
ning of Act III is entirely diatonic for 69 bars until Oberon recalls his spell with an
isolated Eb ('I will undo / This hateful imperfection of her eyes'), and once his
magic is undone he never returns to that key. Act III is dominated by F major,

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Ex. 11

Act 1 + 5

DEMETRIUS{b I I

Or ra - ther do I not in plain - est truth,

Vn., via.

t. '= K I _ _ m- K . I - - ?1I I

Timp. _

I: Trn.~l T

Fl., F.oh>Tell
ob.| you I do not, nor I cannot love you?

8 1)> ' ~~~>

1? It t I
complex aplicationlo th

hitherto sparing
key both of the
the transformation interlude to Theseus's court.
It is clearly impossible in a discussion of this modest size to examine in detail e
complex application of these referential elements, but they may best be summar
by citing a representative example from Act II. The principal section of Tytania's
aria 'Be kind and courteous to this gentleman' is in a purely diatonic C major, indi-
cating her abandonment of the fairy key (F sharp) as she falls in love with a mortal.
The only notes which disturb this diatonicism are the accented Bc, E6 and A6 on
solo cello and double bass, the three accidentals which belong to the key of Oberon's
spell music. At the climax of the central section of the ternary form the reiterated
FO's and florid vocal line give a brief glimpse of her true character, but the spell
returns with the da capo. Britten thus represents both the cause and the effect of
Tytania's position by the most economical of musical means.
It will be evident from the foregoing discussion that the textual and musical inte-
grative techniques in A Midsummer Night's Dream are at once more complex and
more closely related than superficial analysis would suggest. The creation of a
powerful and coherent operatic structure from no more than half the text of a
Shakespeare play is indeed remarkable, but perhaps less surprising in view of the
systematic and skilful planning that so clearly characterized the work's formulation

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from its very inception. The most effective cohesive technique is that of symmetrical
design, encompassing both musical and dramatic events in Act I and pervading the
passacaglia framework of Act II while the drama unfolds in two central set pieces.
These structures are further strengthened by the use of ritornellos which have bee
shown to fulfil an integrative function both musically and (by way of their symbolic
connotations) dramatically. The association of these passages with the supernatural
forces at large in the wood is an appropriate representation of the fairies' impor-
tance as the only group of characters to be actively involved in every aspect of the
dramatic development.
A Midsummer Night's Dream has established itself as the most accomplished
Shakespearian opera in the original language, and its success must principally
derive from the overall sureness and cogency of its musical and dramatic struc-
ture -a structure which exhibits all the formal clarity of Britten's works in the later
1960s but which incorporates much of the musical richness characteristic of his
earlier style. Fully chromatic and purely diatonic idioms are juxtaposed as effective-
ly as the dramatic and musical structures are interrelated. It is above all the equal
status of musical and dramatic considerations that makes the opera so impressive an
achievement; as Noel Goodwin observed in response to the first production, 'it is a
work that aroused instant admiration for the unity of ideas in the development of
the music as an organic part of the comedy'. 18 A Midsummer Night's Dream is a fine
illustration of Hans Keller's remark that Britten 'never transcended the stage's re-
quirements to the extent of developing [his] thoughts purely musically where, from
an operatic point of view, such development did not make immediate and instinc-
tive sense'."9 It is, however, misleading to view Britten's success as entirely the pro-
duct of instinct, since there is so much evidence to suggest that the Dream was as
much the result of extensive and undeniably skilful musical calculation. As we have
seen, Britten's detached and clinical reworking of the 'I swear to thee' duet strikingly
illustrates the practicality of his approach to tonal structures; the evidence from his
proof scores in no way detracts from the quality of his achievements but provides a
fascinating glimpse of his characteristic working habits.
Britten succeeds in setting one of Shakespeare's best-loved plays to a musical
framework which not only imparts unity to the whole but also serves as a consistently
appropriate and atmospheric representation of the plot's development. It was left to
the Shakespeare scholar W. Moelwyn Merchant to isolate the work's most significant
achievement, perhaps only to be appreciated by a drama specialist: 'it is one of the
ironies of theatre history that this opera version is the richest and most faithful inter-
pretation of Shakespeare's intentions that the stage has seen in our generation'. "

8 Noel Goodwin, 'The Aldeburgh Festival', The Musical Times, ci (1960), 503.
i9 Hans Keller, 'Operatic Music and Britten', The Operas of Benjamin Britten, ed. David Herbert, London,
1979, p. xvi.
20 Early Shakespeare, ed. John Russell Brown & Bernard Harris ('Stratford-upon-Avon Studies', iii), London
1961, p. 183.

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