It is unnecessary, for the purpose of tracing the pursuits of the English actors and instrumentalists, to follow them in their visits to all the German towns which preserve records of them. Suffice it to notice their stay in Cassel, where they arrived in the year 1600. The Landgrave Moritz of Hesse Cassel took them into his service, and, in 1605, built for them a theatre in the form of a circus, to which he gave the name Ottoneum, in honour of his eldest son, Otto. The walls of this edifice were beautifully ornamented with frescoes.
However, in 1607, the Landgrave Moritz declared that he was tired of "the confounded dancers and jumpers," as he called them; and he dismissed the company from his service, with the exception of a few clever members, whom he retained until the year 1613. The Landgrave Moritz was a learned man, and likewise a poet and a musical composer. His opinion is therefore not without some weight. The company, after its departure from Cassel, perambulated for several years through Germany, and appears to have found everywhere a good reception,—especially at Nürnberg, where, in 1612, their "new beautiful comedies" were much admired.
Four names may here be given of English actors, who, in the year 1591, set out to go to Germany with the avowed intention of improving their impoverished circumstances. They are: Robert Brown, John Broadstreet (or Breadstreet), Thomas Sackville and Richard Jones. As in the letter of recommendation of these men, which has been discovered in the archives of the Hague, their musical accomplishments are mentioned before their other accomplishments,—it being stated that they intended to travel for the purpose "of practising their profession by performing of music, feats of agility, and games of comedies, tragedies and histories,"[56]—it is evident that music must have been one of their most practised arts, if not actually their original profession.
In the year 1603, Lord Spencer was sent by James I. on a special embassy to Prince Frederick, Duke of Würtemberg, to invest him with the Order of the Garter. Among Lord Spencer's retinue were four skilful musicians, who appear to have been picked English instrumentalists, to judge from the praise bestowed on them by Erhardus Cellius in his account of the visit, which was published at Tübingen in the year 1605. The following quotation is a translation, the narrative of Erhardus Cellius being originally written in Latin:—"The royal English musicians whom the illustrious royal ambassador had brought with him to enhance the magnificence of the embassy and the present ceremony [the Duke's investiture of the Order of the Garter], though few in number, were eminently well skilled in the art. For England produces many excellent musicians, comedians and tragedians most skilful in the histrionic art; certain companies of whom, quitting their own abodes for a time, are in the habit of visiting foreign countries at particular seasons, exhibiting and representing their art principally at the courts of princes. A few years ago, some English musicians coming over to our Germany with this view, remained for some time at the courts of great princes; and their skill, both in music and in the histrionic art, procured them such favour that they returned home liberally rewarded, and loaded with gold and silver."[57] Erhardus Cellius was Professor of Poetry and History at Tübingen.
There remain to be noticed a few English musicians who came to Germany about the time of the visits of the English comedians, but who appear not to have been connected with any of the companies.
John Dowland, a virtuoso on the lute, and also a composer, visited about the year 1585 the Courts of Hesse-Cassel and of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Afterwards, he was for some time lutenist in the service of the King of Denmark, where perhaps he may have associated with the English comedians. John Dowland was evidently a personal acquaintance of Shakespeare, who has immortalized him in his 'Passionate Pilgrim':—
"If music and sweet poetry agree,
As they must needs, the sister and the brother,
Then must the love be great 'twixt thee and me,
Because thou lov'st the one, and I the other.
Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch
Upon the lute doth ravish human sense;
Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such
As passing all conceit, needs no defence.
Thou lov'st to hear the sweet melodious sound
That Phœbus' lute, the queen of music, makes;
And I in deep delight am chiefly drown'd
Whenas himself to singing he betakes.
One god is god of both, as poets feign;
One knight loves both, and both in thee remain."
To conclude that Shakespeare must have been a practical musician, because he wrote beautiful poetry on the charms and power of music, would be as bold as to assume from certain passages in his dramas that he was originally a lawyer, a soldier, a tinker or a horse-dealer. Indeed, regarded as a critical opinion, his beautiful sonnet on Dowland is less valuable than the judgment of Dr. Burney, who remarks: "After being at pains of scoring several of Dowland's compositions, I have been equally disappointed and astonished at his scanty abilities in counterpoint, and the great reputation he acquired with his contemporaries, which has been courteously continued to him either by indolence or ignorance of those who have had occasion to speak of him, and who took it for granted that his title to fame, as a profound musician, was well founded."[58]
John Bull, another English musician of some reputation, was a virtuoso on the harpsichord and organ. Perhaps the circumstance of his playing these instruments kept him aloof from the English Comedians on the continent; otherwise his restless and unsettled life would have fitted him well for their companionship. Born in Somersetshire, about the middle of the sixteenth century, John Bull, in the year 1601, made his first journey to Holland, France and Germany, where his organ performances, and even his compositions, found admirers. Having returned to England, he went, in 1607, a second time to the continent with the object, it is recorded, of restoring his shattered health,—or perhaps, as Dr. Burney surmises, to improve his shattered financial condition. He died in Germany. Sir John Hawkins, in his 'History of Music,' gives two Riddle Canons by John Bull, written in the shape of a triangle. The anecdote about the marvellous skill of this musician, exhibited by his adding forty more parts to a song composed in forty parts,[59] is so absurd as hardly to provoke a smile from anyone acquainted with the theory of music. John Bull has also been praised for having composed some pieces for the Virginal so difficult that even pianists of the present day are startled by his rapid passages in thirds and sixths. But, considering how rude and unmelodious these contrivances are, he would deserve greater praise if his music were easily executable, impressive, and better suited for the instrument for which it was composed, than is the case. If R. Clark's statement, according to which John Bull was the composer of the English National Anthem, were correct, he would have a greater claim to consideration than he deserves at present. The composers of old popular tunes are seldom known; it is therefore only proper to regard the whole nation as the composer of its principal national tune, if its origin has not been definitively ascertained; and in this sense it is perhaps right to assign the composition of the English National Anthem to John Bull.
Another English musician, Thomas Cutting, went to Denmark in 1607. He was a lutenist. There is no record of his having been in Germany. John Abell, an English singer and lutenist, gave concerts in Holland, Germany, and Poland, at the time of Charles II., consequently, after the period of the English Comedians' visit to the Continent.