Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) McHugh, Dominic (snow like ashes series txt) đ
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ELIZAâS DREAMS, ELIZAâS RAGE
Elizaâs five solo songs fall into two main groups: those that express her anger (âJust You Wait,â âShow Me,â and âWithout Youâ) and those that express her joy or aspirations (âWouldnât It Be Loverly?â and âI Could Have Danced All Nightâ). She is prone to extremes of emotion, be it elation or fury, rather than a âmiddle groundâ position. Nor do these songs particularly convey facts to the audience. That is not to say that they tell us nothing, but rather that they are more about expression and characterization than explanation. This is especially the case with âWouldnât it Be Lovely.â In addition to the published vocal scores, there are two slightly different lyric sheets for the song, Loeweâs autograph, a copyistâs piano-vocal score, and Bennettâs full score. Clearly, the song came easily to Lerner and Loeweâthe lyricist describes how a visit to Covent Garden market in the early morning provided the inspiration for the lyric, which Loewe set to music âin one afternoonâ4âand the sources all suggest that the song changed very little during the creative process.
Nevertheless, some ambiguities remain. The first lyric sheet (from Levinâs papers) consists of the refrain with just three deviations from the familiar version: âWith one gigantic [instead of âenormousâ] chair,â âLots of fire [instead of âcoalâ],â and âCrept over the winder sillâ instead of âCrept over me winder sill.â5 The second lyric sheet (from the Warner-Chappell Collection) includes the verse and changes the refrain into its final version, with the exception of âgigantic/enormous.â6 Evidently this version was used to prepare the copyistâs score in the Warner-Chappell Collection. A copy intended for Bennett is annotated throughout to show how the basic scoreâcontaining the verse and one refrain in F majorâwas to be developed into the whole number with dance music. Bennettâs orchestral chart is almost entirely free of blemishes or corrections: the only real modification to the orchestration involves the removal of the bassoon and clarinet parts in bars 66â69 (âLots of chocâlate for me to eatâŠ,â second refrain).
The copy of the song in the Loewe Collection, however, is confusing. It contains the verse and one refrain, with indications for two repeats of the refrain; there are also some crossed-out bars. This would seem to identify it as an early version of the song that was passed on to the copyist and orchestrator.7 However, it is difficult to account for the fact that this supposedly âoriginalâ composer score uses almost the final version of the lyric: of the three instances of the âpre-improvementâ lyric listed earlier, only âCrept over the winder sillâ (as opposed to âover meâ) is present here. None of this affects the authorship of the song, yet it suggests that this is not Loeweâs original manuscript but rather a fair copy for the use of others. This is the case with many of the piano-vocal scores in the composerâs handwriting held in the Loewe Collection that tend not to represent the actual pieces of paper on which the songs were first written. Like Richard Rodgers (more of whose sketches have survived), it seems that Loewe went about drafting his songs on a single stave before writing out a fuller piano-vocal score.8 This serves as a reminder that placing too much importance on one source, instead of taking a larger sample and putting them into a wider context, can lead to a misunderstanding of the compositional process.
Even though âWouldnât it be Loverly?â has a simplicity that is appropriate for its dramatic context, it is nevertheless full of interesting features. The verse begins with four arpeggiated chords to punctuate Elizaâs delighted cries of âAooow!â upon being given the money by Higgins: a seamless way for the music to segue out of the scene. This leads to the introduction, with its lazily descending melodic turns. But Loewe cuts it short with a perfect cadence as the men break into their âQuasi recitativoâ a cappella verse, in which they describe their dreams. The âfalseâ introduction then returns and drives into Elizaâs F-major refrain. The latterâs outward cockney charm belies its complex harmonization and chromaticism. For instance, bar 21 (âroom somewhereâ) moves into the subdominant area, establishing the songâs warmth, but although bar 23 (âcold night airâ) ends on the expected dominant-seventh chord, it does so via an abrupt G-major seventh at the start of the bar. Perhaps the most elegant feature is the use of contrary motion in bars 24â25 (âWith one enormous chairâ), whose appoggiaturas come into their own when the pattern recurs in 27â28 to accent the repetition in the phrase âWarm face, warm hands, warm feetâ (ex. 5.1). The bridge section (âOh, so loverly sittinâ absobloominâlutely stillâ) also has a fast harmonic rhythm, again featuring examples of chromatic voice-leading, while the final section is extended beyond its expected eight bars because of a prolongation of the title phrase. The second refrain features four-part choral writing alongside Elizaâs line, followed by a brief dance section in A-flat major in which the men whistle the melody. The number ends as Eliza sings a final âOh, wouldnât it be loverly?â to which the men respond by repeating the final word. What Loewe achieves in this song is an introduction to Elizaâs softer side and the camaraderie of
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