SOURCE: “The Musical Art of Richard Brome's Comedies,” in Renaissance Drama, Vol. 7, 1976, pp. 219-52.

In the following essay, Ingram analyzes Brome's use of music in his plays, asserting that Brome had the ability to write musical scenes rather than just scenes with music added to them.

Caroline audiences expected musical entertainment during their plays, but few of their playwrights were as adept as Brome at making the music serve any effective dramatic purpose. Playwrights too often relied upon a drably unimaginative use of convention: love scenes, whether romantic, gay, or melancholy, permitted, almost asked for, music to match their mood; pathetic singing of snatches of old songs was the regular embellishment of scenes of distress or madness; a tavern setting called for a lusty song, a brothel setting for a bawdy one; feasts and celebrations allowed for every kind of music. Brome subscribes to the same conventions, but...