The Music of Malfi: Dance of the Madmen
The Music of Malfi: Dance of the Madmen
A performance of music to accompany the Dance of the Madmen in The Duchess of Malfi
A dance performed by eight madmen opens Act IV, Scene II of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, following their speeches and a rendition of O Let Us Howl by one of their number.
Here the dance, consisting of Eight Madmen, with music answerable thereuntoJohn Webster's direction, The Duchess of Malfi text
The Duchess of Malfi was originally performed by Shakespeare's King's Men company in 1613. The music was by Robert Johnson.
It is likely that, in the original King's Men performance, the Dance of the Madmen was a reworked version of a short Dance of the Furies from Thomas Campion's Lord's Masque entertainment from the same year.
In Campion's entertainment it accompanied the entry of Mania, the goddess of madness, after which followed a dance of madmen:
At the sound of a strange musicke 12 Franticks enter, 6 men and 6 women ... an absolute medley of madness.
Johnson's adaptation of the dance followed the fashion of giving a taste of current court entertainment during indoor theatre productions.
In this flavour of the piece, the instruments used are the viol or viola da gamba, violin and theorbo.
Music of Malfi
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