"
Shakespeare praises music so frequently and so enthusiastically that we
must regard the trait as characteristic of his deepest nature. Take this
play which we are handling now. Not only the Duke, but both the
heroines, Viola and Olivia, love music. Viola can sing "in many sorts of
music," and Olivia admits that she would rather hear Viola solicit love
than "music from the spheres." Romeo almost confounds music with love,
as does Duke Orsino:
"How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!"
And again:
"And let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter."
It is a curious and characteristic fact that Shakespeare gives almost
the same words to Ferdinand in the "Tempest" that he gave ten years
earlier to the Duke in "Twelfth Night." In both passages music goes with
passion to allay its madness:
"This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air"
and Duke Orsino says:
"That old and antique song we heard last night,
Methought it did relieve my passion much.
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