Circus Music

A lot of people have heard of Cirque Du Soleil or has seen a movie or a play. These forms of entertainment are heavily influenced by the circus. Circuses have been around since the Roman times. Circuses were originally accompanied by a fiddler or a flautist. A Roman circus was often put on by the Roman government. Back in the day, “People anxiously desired bread and circuses.” so the government would put on these huge spectacles with free bread to keep their people happy

Later, the first circus showed up in Paris in 1782.  It was directed by Philip Astley and composing and financing was done by Charles Dibdin.  The written pieces were either intermezzos or comedies and were performed by singing and dancing children.  These pieces were officially called “marches” and sometimes called “screamers”.  I think the reason for this was because a march was used for grand entrances and usually people cheer and clap when a performer enters the stage.  The other style of music was a “Galop”.  This style was for accompanying dangerous acts and was sometimes performed on xylophone (Wikipedia).  I found this really interesting because in a lot of cartoons, a xylophone is used in suspenseful and exciting scenes.

Here is an example of a “tip toe” xylophone effect:

 

 

One composer, Karl King, lived in a time when circus music needed to be it’s own style since other music of his age didn’t quite fit the acts.  So, he composed the ever so famous “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite”.  (wikipedia) I was hoping the name of the irish cream, “Bailey’s Favorite”  would have sprung out of a disagreement with Barnum about what good liquor is, but unfortunately these two things are unrelated

In the early 1900’s, brass bands started to gain popularity in circus music.  The idea was that, people would be more likely to come to the circus if they could hear the music from miles away.  In fact, many circuses had a steam powered piano that could be heard from far away called a “calliope”!  (Wikipedia)

 

 

Often times, circus music involved a wide range of styles.   “Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus was performed alongside “Life’s a Bumper” in the Bostock and Wombwell’s travelling Circus”.  This combined classical music alongside popular music.  This isn’t so uncommon today as it was back then.  Movies often use pop songs alongside classical music to create different effects and experience throughout a movie.   (Baston)

One example of Circus Music is in “The Little Rascals” at 2:17

 

Many modern concerts contain a large array of music.  It’s not uncommon to see Maurice Ravel, John Williams, and Robert Russell Bennett scheduled in the same concert.  In fact, the ever so popular Cirque Du Soleil uses a wide variety of music.  Mixing Rock, Jazz, French influences, and Opera into one show isn’t anything special for them.  Not only that, but according to Kim Baston of La Trobe University, Australia who wrote an extensive paper on Circus music and performance, “Circus is a global entertainment form, as it is not reliant on the spoken word, and has easily incorporated performers of different nationalities”.  Watching Cirque Du Soleil shows online demonstrates just that.  The performers represent a wide range of ethnicities and the language they sing in the show is one that is made up.  When the clowns get up on stage, a lot of their vocalization is gibberish with a few spoken words of an actual language here and there as shown in the video below:

The use of popular music in circus bands also helped popularize brass bands in America.  Although music attracted larger audiences, the music was inferior to the physical performances.  Even in contemporary circuses, music is always seen as the accompaniment unless it is performed in a purely auditory setting like a concert.  Overall the combination of circus acts and music can be seen as similar to opera or musicals.  It sprouts from the same concept, but grew into something uniquely it’s own.