The Annual

 Glebe Music Festival

In conjunction with The Glebe Society Inc

Concert 7:
Sunday 24 November at 2pm
Glebe Town Hall, 160 St John’s Road, Glebe 2037
Josie and the Emeralds directed by Brooke Green.
Programme: Mary Sidney: Secret Shakespeare?

Program

Scenario
Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke is hosting a St Cecilia’s Day concert at Wilton, her grand country estate on the river Avon. As Patroness she is obliged to host but she’s feeling a little
distracted - she really she wants to return to her writers’ circle where they are working on their next “Shakespeare” play.

Mary Sidney (27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621)
Mary Sidney was probably the most educated woman in England, comparable only to Queen Elizabeth. She was fluent in Italian, French, and Latin, and probably Greek, she sang, played the lute and virginals. Her mother, Mary Dudley, sister of Elizabeth I’s favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was the Queen’s closest female confident. From the age of 14, Mary Sidney joined her mother at court as a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. Soon after, she was married to one of the richest men in England, Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, who was in his early 40s. This marriage was arranged by her parents, along with her uncle Robert Dudley. As Countess of Pembroke, she was jointly responsible for a number of Pembroke estates, including Wilton and Baynard’s Castle, London, on the Thames, in view of the original Globe Theatre.

After she gave birth to four children including two sons: William and Philip, (dedicatees of Shakespeare’s First Folio,) Henry was content to support her literary and theatrical pursuits. The Pembrokes sponsored The Earl of Pembroke’s Men who performed early works of Shakespeare. Some think William Shakespeare was an actor with this company although no records survive.

For two decades Mary Sidney led what was known as ‘a paradise for poets’: an influential writers’ group now called the Wilton Circle. There are accounts of the Pembrokes entertaining Elizabeth I and James I at Wilton and Baynard’s Castle where Mary’s plays and poems were performed. In 1603 when the plague was raging in London and James I became infatuated with her son William, he moved his whole court to Wilton House where they enjoyed performances of Shakespeare: most probably As you like it.

By the age of 39, Mary Sidney was listed with her brother Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare as among the notable authors of the day in John Bodenham's verse miscellany Belvidere. She is admired for her remarkable technical facility in being able to write in a range of verse forms. For instance, with her translation of Petrarch’s Triumph of Death, she was the only writer for about 200 years who used his terza rima form.

Mary Sidney was very close to her brother, Philip Sidney. They collaborated on literary works, notably an ambitious project to paraphrase the psalms in English verse, titled Songs of David. After his premature death, Mary translated Psalms 44-150 using 128 different verse forms. In 1586, Philip died at the Battle of Zutphen. He was 31 and Mary was about to turn 25.

Many of the original sources for Shakespeare’s plays were written by Mary Sidney, her brother Philip, writers in her circle, or were dedicated to her. She is the first woman to publish a play in English: her Antonius (a translation of Robert Garnier's Marc Antoine) is widely seen as a direct source of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Coming from a family of aristocratic writers, Mary Sidney had access to hundreds of books which have been identified as sources for Shakespeare’s plays. An example is Midsummer Night’s Dream where the only copy of one of its direct sources: Thomas Moffet’s On Silkworms and their Flies is a manuscript dedicated to Mary Sidney in her Wilton library.

Mary Sidney’s later life parallels the love story in Shakespeare’s sonnets in that after her husband died, she had a long-term affair with a younger man, Dr Matthew Lister. For a while, she thought he was having an affair with a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman: her niece, the writer Mary Wroth. In fact, Mary Wroth was having an affair with Mary Sidney’s son William Herbert and had two illegitimate children with him. The Sonnets’ dedication reads: “To the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets Mr W.H.” Could “Mr W.H.” be William Herbert? If Mary wrote this dedication, could she have been trying to reconcile their difficult relationship? There must have been some tension since unlike Mary, William wouldn’t go along with his parents’ ideas of whom he should marry and nor did he behave honourably in regards to his love life. At the age of 20, and before his affair with Mary Wroth, William had a secret relationship with Mary Fitton, who has also been seen as the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. When she became pregnant he admitted paternity but refused to marry her. He was sent to prison for a short time, where he wrote verse.

Celebrated as a patron of the arts, Mary Sidney had a wide range of academic interests and corresponded with other Renaissance polymaths such as John Dee and Giordano Bruno. She had an alchemy/chemistry laboratory at Wilton House, where she developed medicines and invisible ink. She enjoyed tobacco, playing cards, traveling, falconry, hunting and pistol shooting.

In 1621, Mary Sidney died in her London home of smallpox, two months after the First Folio went to press. In his eulogy, Ben Jonson refers to her as ‘the sweet swan of Avon’, perhaps dropping another clue as to her Shakespearean connection.

Familial relationships
I was delighted to discover that Mary is my first cousin 17 times removed: her paternal grandfather William Sidney is my 15th great grandfather. In 2022, Josie and the Emeralds and Nadia Piave presented Lucy, Countess of Bedford, Her Revels a concert based around the life of Lucy (Harrington) Russell, my first cousin 14 times removed. William Sidney is Lucy’s great grandfather and she is the daughter of Mary Sidney’s cousin.

However, my close forebears are from the other side of the tracks! On 18 October 2024, my baroque trio for harpsichord, violin and bass viol: Fuming: Johanna Fitzgibbon of Limerick was premiered in Cork, Ireland, honouring the life of my convict third great grandmother.

Portrait of Mary Sidney
Mary Sidney with lace collar and wrist ruffs bordered by swans. Swan wings hold up the frame. The swan has long been associated with grace, beauty, love and fidelity. Mary’s brother Philip was known as The Swan in the literary world - the French cigne, (swan) sounds like Sidney - and at his request she adopted this symbol. At the top of the frame there is the poet’s laurel wreath, bordered by quill pens in ink wells, and she holds the book Psalms of David.

The Shakespeare Authorship Question
Since there is no evidence that William Shakespeare from Stratford wrote the plays and sonnets that bear his name, doubt about his authorship and suggestions of other authors continues to this day. Even during Shakespeare’s lifetime there were hints left by other writers that we should doubt Shakespeare as author. We know nothing about Shakespeare’s education - he may have attended his local grammar school but how he supposedly acquired the all the sophisticated writing skills and knowledge underlying the brilliance of the plays and sonnets remains a mystery. As far as we know he never travelled to Italy or read books about it; indeed there is no evidence of him even having had access to a library. His will contains detailed instructions for the distribution of his assets but no mention of books, poems, manuscripts or writing of any kind. When he died in 1616, the literary world was silent. Unlike comparatively minor writers such as Francis Beaumont who had died a few weeks before, there were no eulogies or tributes. Mary Sidney is among several candidates who have been put forward as possibly writing under the name of William Shakespeare, either individually or as part of a group.

For more information see:
Elizabeth Winkler, Shakespeare was a Woman and Other Heresies, Simon and Schuster, 2023
Shakespeare Authorship Coalition https://doubtaboutwill.org
Shakespearean Authorship Trust https://shakespeareanauthorshiptrust.org

The Fishy First Folio
In November 1623, a magnificent book funded by the Pembrokes and now known as The First Folio containing 36 plays, was published in London, titled Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies. Close examination of the frontispiece portrait reveals several oddities. The forehead is unusually bulbous, there appears to be no neck, the hairstyle is asymmetrical, the jacket comprises two left shoulders and the line underneath the left ear could indicate the face is a mask. Perhaps this portrait is “a very skilfully executed absurdity”. On the facing page, there is a poem by Ben Jonson that appears to undermine the engraving’s veracity, alluding to this being a ‘figure’ i.e. an imaginary form or a phantasm, with the engraver having deliberately ‘hit’ (hid) the author’s face:

This Figure, that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut…
…O, could he have but drawn his wit
As well in brasse, as he hath hit
His face.

Abridged from: Shakespeare Authorship Coalition: A 400th Anniversary Essay on the Fishiness of the First Folio of William Shakespeare’s Collected Plays

Notes on the music
Hume: The Pashion of Musicke and The Earl of Pembrooke, his galliard
Tobias Hume was “a soldier of fortune” (a mercenary), and spent much of his life in the service of Sweden and Russia. As a viol player, he performed at James’ court and advocated for the viol to be regarded as equal or even superior to the lute. In 1605 he published a book of music for viols: The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish, and others, with a dedication to Mary Sidney’s eldest son, William Herbert, 3rd Earle of Pembroke. With this dedication, Hume was hoping for some financial support but it never came. The Pashion of Musicke and The Earl of Pembrooke, his galliard are from Hume’s second book, published in 1607, dedicated to Anne of Denmark, Christopher Hatton, and to the Earl of Arundel. No financial patronage resulted from this dedication either. Hume spent the last 15 years of his life destitute, as a poor brother in London’s Charterhouse. Perhaps the naming of this galliard was another appeal to William Herbert. The final few bars are marked ‘a point of warre’, presumably implying that The Earl of Pembroke would later distinguish himself in the military.

Woodycock
This is an old hunting tune that appears as a piece for solo viol in the Manchester Gamba book, published in the 17th century. Unfortunately the woodcock is still seen as a prize catch by hunters, due to the difficulty of finding it. I’ve made an arrangement for three viols, adding a fair amount of extra material that wasn’t in the original solo. I like to think this is in a similar spirit to the way Mary Sidney would create her translations.

Byrd: La Virginella, Lulla, Lullaby and O that most rare breast were published in Byrd’s: Psalmes, Sonets and Songs of Sadness and Pietie, 1588. This collection was a commercial success and went through several editions in the following years. The pieces became popular as unaccompanied polyphonic songs, having all originated as consort songs for a single voice and four viols. This collection is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton who had become Lord Chancellor in the previous year. Presumably he favoured Byrd more than Hume. O that most rare breast was one of three songs commissioned by Mary Sidney to be sung at the lavish funeral of her brother Philip.

Martin Peerson: Locke up faire lids the treasure of my heart
From Private Music, 1620. Or The First Booke of Ayres and Dialogues, No.13
Text: Philip Sidney: The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (1590)
The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia is a long pastoral romance by Philip Sidney. Each day he would bring the latest page to read out loud to his sister, ostensibly to entertain her when she was confined at Wilton, due to pregnancy. One can imagine the possibilities here for collaboration. After his death, the Arcadia was revised and published by Mary. While the Arcadia’s language may seem opaque, some have interpreted it as a pastoral satire of Elizabeth I. One of Elizabeth’s favourites was Sir Christopher Hatton, (who Tobias Hume hoped would become his patron.) Sir Christopher Hatton was known as “The Dancing
Chancellor” because Elizabeth appointed him Lord Chancellor after being impressed with his accomplished dancing of the galliard. They were rumoured to be lovers and in their letters to each other, Elizabeth calls him her “Lyddes” and he refers to himself as her “sheep”. The plot of the Arcadia has many digressions and deferrals and this has been interpreted as alluding to Elizabeth’s apparent procrastination in matters military and marital. The Arcadia is also regarded as tragicomic for contrasting the world of the aristocracy with the servant classes, and its influence can be seen in Shakespeare’s King Lear, Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale.

Lawes: Fantasy & Aire from Suites in Four Parts (VdGS 108, 113)
William Lawes probably entered the Private Music of Prince Charles as early as 1625, continuing in his service after he became king. Throughout his life he enjoyed great favour and friendship with Charles, who was also a viol player and must have appreciated playing his music. Lawes’ viol consorts are among the most complex of his day and seem to continue the Renaissance tradition of writing in code. Many of his works seem to include the rhythm of his name: “William Lawes” as a coded signature. A Fantasy such as the one here is a serious, contrapuntal work with a free-flowing form. An Aire is generally lighter and more melodic however Lawes can’t help adding layers of imitation to make it more intricate.

Salacia
Salacia, goddess of the sea was known as “The Salty One” and is the Roman equivalent of Amphitrite in Ancient Greek mythology. We begin with a triple canon based on Dowland’s Flow My Tears, imagining Salacia’s tears when she discovers her husband Neptune/Poseidon is having an affair with Scylla. With each entry of the solo bass viol, there is a rising up from the deep as Salacia emerges from hiding, eventually transforming her rival into a six-headed, twelve-footed monster. The second half is more serene, perhaps after a reconciliation and this could be Salacia and Poseidon riding the waves in a chariot drawn by hippokampoi: fish-tailed horses of the sea, as depicted in 4th century B.C. mosaics.

Fair, Kind and True: Shakespeare Sonnet 105
I think this sonnet could be seen to express Mary’s pure love for her brother Philip Sidney. Since childhood, Mary idolised Philip and perhaps he was her greatest love. After his early death, her poems elevate him to the highest realms. In courtly love, the knight excessively praises The Lady as a goddess-like figure, and so the opening music here is in a medieval troubadour style. The speaker in the sonnet begins by declaring their love should not be called ‘idolatry’ and with the mention of this word, we play sul ponticello: making raspy sounds by bowing very close to the bridge. The beloved is praised to the point of deification and “Fair, kind and true” is like a secularisation of Christian notions of the trinity or three-in-one. At the end the sul ponticello returns. Don’t all relationships have a little bit of grit?

My Shaking Spear
According to Ancient Greek legend, the warrior goddess Pallas-Athena, (Minerva), sprung out of Zeus’s head at her birth, armed and ready to fight. As patron of the dramatic arts in ancient Greece and Rome, Pallas-Athena has long been invoked as a valiant Spear-Shaker, where the pen and sword are equally mighty. At least three writers of Mary Sidney’s time: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe and Gabriel Harvey refer to her as directly or implicitly connected to Pallas-Athena, addressing her with terms such as “spear-shaker” or “the bravest Minerva”. When The Sonnets were first published, they were attributed to Shake-Spear. It has been great fun imagining Pallas-Athena taking credit for helping Mary Sidney conceal her identity. I thank Josie Ryan, Glen Mowday and Helen Giles for helping me clarify this word-setting.

Brooke Green

The Instruments
Jane Julier:
Treble viol, 2002, after Henry Jaye (owner, Brooke Green)
Treble viol, 2007, after John Hoskins (owner, Brooke Green)
Tenor viol, 2013, after Henry Jaye (owner, Brooke Green)
Bass viol (6 string), 2022, after Henry Smith (owner, Fiona Ziegler)
Francis Beaulieu:
bass viol (6 string), 2015, after Hendrik Jacobs (owner, Ruby Brallier)
John (Ben) Hall:
6 string bass viol (owner, Brooke Green)
7 string bass viol (owner, Catherine Upex)

Josie and The Emeralds
Josie Ryan, soprano, Pallas Athena
Laura Vaughan, viols (guest artist)
Brooke Green, artistic director, script, viol
Ruby Brallier, Catherine Upex, viols
Nadia Piave, Mary Sidney Countess of Pembroke

Avian Alchemy
Group of vessels, mummified birds and curios by Janny Grant who has been inspired by Mary Sidney the alchemist as well as drawing on her own alchemy. She writes:“The mysterious patterns in each leaf represent a link between reality and alchemy. Cut by hand, cauterised and wire stitched.”

Texts

La Virginella
La verginella è simile alla rosa,
ch’in bel giardin su la nativa spina
mentre sola e sicura si riposa,
né gregge né pastor se le avicina;
l’aura soave e l’alba rugiadosa,
l’acqua, la terra al suo favor s’inchina:
gioveni vaghi e donne inamorate
amano averne e seni e tempie ornate.
Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1535): Orlando Furioso, Canto I, stanza 42

The fayre yong Virgin is lyke the rose untaynted,
in garden fayre while tender stalke doth beare it,
sole and untoucht, with no resort acquainted,
No shepherd nor his flock doth once come neare it,
th’ayre full of sweetnesse, the morning fresh depainted,
the earth, the water, with all theyr favours cheare it,
daintie yong gallants, and ladyes most desired,
delight to have therewith their heads and breasts attyred.
translation set by Byrd in Musica Transalpina (1588)

Locke up faire lids the treasure of my heart
Lock up, fair lids, the treasure of my heart
Preserve those beams, this age's only light.
To her sweet sense, sweet sleep, some ease impart
Her sense too weak to bear her spirit's might.

And while, O sleep, thou closest up her sight
Her light where love did forge his fairest dart:
O harbour all her parts in easeful plight,
Let no strange dream make her fair body start.

But yet, O dream, if thou wilt not depart
In this rare subject, from thy common right:
But wilt thy self in such a feat delight;
Then take my shape, and play a lover's part.

Kiss her from me, and say unto her sprite,
Till her eyes shine, I live in darkness night.
Philip Sidney: The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (1590)

Lulla, Lullaby
Lulla, la-lulla, lulla, lullaby.
My sweet little Baby, what meanest Thou to cry?
Bee still my blessed babe, though cause thou has to mourne:
whose bloud most innocent to shed, the cruell king hath sworne.
And lo, alas, behold, what slaughter hee doth make:
shedding the blod of infunts all, sweet saviour for thy sake.
A king is borne, they say, which king this king would kill:
oh woe, & woefull heavy day, when wretched have their will.
Lulla, la lulla, lulla lullaby, my sweet, &c

O that most rare breast (in memoriam Philip Sidney)
O that most rare brest, christaline sincere,
through which like gold thy princely heart did shine,
O sprite heroic, O valiant worthie knight,
O Sidney, prince of fame & mens good will.
The dolefull debt due to thy hearse I pay,
tears from the soule, that aye thy want shall moane,
and by my will my life it selfe would yeeld,
if heathen blame ne might, my faith disdaine:
O heavie time, that my daies draw behind thee,
thou dead dost live, thy friend here living dieth.I
Thomas Watson or Sir Edward Dyer
Manuscript 1580 in Dow Partbooks, no. 60

Fair, Kind and True
Let not my love be called idolatry,
Nor my beloved as an idol show,
Since all alike my songs and praises be
To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
Kind is my love to-day, to-morrow kind,
Still constant in a wondrous excellence;
Therefore my verse to constancy confined,
One thing expressing, leaves out difference.
Fair, kind, and true, is all my argument,
Fair, kind, and true, varying to other words;
And in this change is my invention spent,
Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords.
Fair, kind, and true, have often lived alone,
Which three till now, never kept seat in one.
Shake-spear Sonnet 105

My Shaking Spear
At my birth, I sprang right out of Zeus' head,
Helmet on and spear in hand,
Fully clad in armour, primed to fight.

When I fought the Titans and the fearsome Giants,
I flayed the skin of poor Pallas, to wear as a cloak,
Poor Pallas!
For my prize, I stole his name,
Poor Pallas!
Changed my name to Pallas Athena,
Poor Pallas!

I did prove my wisdom with the finest gift,
Vying to be patron, vying for my Athens,
I gave to thee: the olive tree:
Prosperity, wealth and strength.

I defend the noblest causes:
Peace and justice, classical learning, arts and crafts.

Mary Sidney has to write with secrecy,
Writing as a Countess is really hard,
She needs my shaking spear.
I bestow, upon the Countess Pembroke,
A name that alludes to me, my glorious deeds:
Shake hyphen spear, a clever code.

William Shakespeare: William is his 'real' first name,
Now he has a jest of a “natural” portrait,
Poor Shakespeare!

The shaking spear, all thanks to me, a job well done.
Mary Sidney and her friends will celebrate.
Countess Pembroke leads a life of mystery,
Secretly a playwright, author, poet,
My shaking spear!
Brooke Green