Synopsis
The play takes place in what Katharine Worth describes as "an unidentified ‘listening’ space," another of Beckett’s "skullscapes." The only specific location mentioned is "the tower" – perhaps aPrelude
The going is not easy; from the very beginning it's obvious that Words and Music do not enjoy each other's company. The play opens with Music – a small orchestra – tuning up much to the irritation of Words who is trying to rehearse a soliloquy on the unlikely theme ofLove
Croak considers for a moment and then announces the primary theme for the night's entertainment: Love. He calls for his club and thumps it on the ground: "Love!" We now realise that Joe may have been mocking the old man in his earlieAge
Joe's words are nowhere near as eloquent here. He had prepared one speech and now has toThe Face
Bob starts off this time with a "warmly sentimental" melody lasting about a minute. Joe's response is poetic enough but his description of the face seen by starlight is presented in "a cold, rather precise and prosaic" manner; old habits die hard. Bob again recommends a softer tone but Joe immediately blurts out the description he believes his master is looking for, (a somewhat oblique one) that of a young man who, having just experienced anPostlude
"It seems oehas lost his power to express himself through words and, in contrast to his initial protestations during Music's tuning session, he now implores obto continue, as if admitting defeat. The play ends with what we might perceive to be our own natural non-rational and immediate expression of hopelessness; the word is reduced to a human sigh in the play's concluding sound."Interpretation
Various readings of what the situation in ''Words and Music'' might represent have emerged from critical studies of the work: *Vivian Mercier treats the three characters as separate beings, Croak being an "old man who shuffles in" asking Words and Music to be friends. * Eugene Webb suggests that "Croak is the name the dialogue directions give to the conscious self of the artist". * Charles Lyons says that " ''Words and Music'' Beckett provides three characters who seem to represent differentMusic
Considering the importance Beckett places on the role of music in this play, it is worthwhile looking at how three of his collaborations were handled. "The concerns of Words and Music are clearly related to Beckett’s general preoccupation with the limitations of the expressive powers of language. However, the fact that the music could not be composed by Beckett and therefore changes with the individual composer involved in each production has always rendered the word-music opposition, and hence the play as a whole, somewhat problematic. Beckett gives some instructions to the composer regarding the character of the music (asking for responses to specific concepts – ‘Love’, ‘Age’ and ‘Face’ – and demanding music of ‘great expression’, ‘Love and soul music’ and ‘spreading and subsiding music’), but this gives no indication of style or material content." What is perhaps most amazing is the lack of input Beckett chose to have. According to James Knowlson, "John Beckett … wrote his music forReferences
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