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Theatre music

Theatre music refers to a wide range of music composed or adapted for performance in theatres. Genres of theatre music include opera, ballet and several forms of musical theatre, from pantomime to

History#

Since the earliest days of the theatre, music has played an important part in stage drama. In Greek drama in the fifth century BC, choric odes were written to be chanted and danced between the spoken sections of both tragedies and comedies. Only fragments of the music have survived. Folk theatre has always deployed dance music and song. In the 16th and 17th centuries, theatre music was performed during the action of plays and as afterpieces. Christopher Wilson, discussing Shakespeare’s use of music, lists “stage music” (fanfares to introduce important characters or accompany battle scenes), “magic music” (as in the lullaby in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), “character music” (as in Twelfth Night, illustrating the high, low, sad or merry natures of the characters) and “atmospheric music” (such as Ariel’s “Where the bee sucks”, in The Tempest). By the early 18th century, music was firmly established as part of practically all theatrical performances in Europe, whether of opera, dance, or spoken drama. Theatres were built with orchestra pits, and music was either specially composed for the production or appropriated and arranged from existing material.

See also#

  • Show tune
  • Aria
  • Sheet music
  • Film score

Bibliography#

*Green, Stanley. Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1976

  • International Music Score Library Project (Wikipedia article) — A public domain music library featuring original scores scanned to PDF.
  • The European Library — digital images of the most important pieces of music published in Europe, free access.
  • Project Gutenberg