The Importance Of Music In Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night

Shakespeare wrote in The Twelfth night: “If music be the food of love, play on.” Music, at it’s core, was always about emotion- Joy, sorrow, Elation, Dispair- However, in the classical era of music, music was reliant on the voice; The Voice was considered the only instrument effective enough to convey emotion; One line, one staff in whatever shape it took- An individual voice, and an individual tone. Linear, in it’s shape- These were the forms the music crafted by Mozart and Haydn were born from- However, with Beethoven, he does not see a melody as a line, no, he saw music as a storm of emotion; Like a storm, it leaned into itself, folding and swirling. Beethoven is quoted as saying, “Musik höhere Offenbarung ist als alle Weisheit und Philosophie.”

He questioned it, but in three years time, he knew it for certain- From it, he felt great grief and sorrow, tempted to flee into oblivion- “But only Art held back; for, ah, it seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt was within me.” So he toiled. Through this suffering, he created, and shone like a glowing light for those who listened, even as he could no longer hear the music he himself wove; His music flowed into the hearts of many musicians that followed- Brahms, Chopin, Schubert, and Mendelssohn, among the

E.T.A Hoffman described Romanticism in his review of Beethoven’s fifth symphony, where he encouraged people to consider Music “the most Romantic of all the arts." Berlioz spoke, in his Memoirs, “In an artist 's life one thunderclap sometimes follows swiftly on another ... I had just had the successive revelations of Shakespeare and Weber. Now at another point on the horizon I saw the giant form of Beethoven rear up. The shock was almost as great as that of Shakespeare had been. Beethoven opened before me a new world of music, as Shakespeare had revealed a new universe of poetry.” In simplistic terms, a lot of people drew inspiration from him, either literally, or metaphorically. Gustav Mahler drew upon Pastoral to walk away from the traditional four movement symphony. These are the most direct references I can really think of to how Beethoven led others in function, even if not in form- and as through his actions, not via his hand, did he lead, so does his legacy permeate through their