ABSTRACT
In Much Ado (1598-99), Benedick, the witty counterpart to Beatrice, sings a four-line fragment of 'The God of Love' (5.2), termed the play's 'one relatively 'sincere' attempt at a romantic song'. Although Armin is rarely recognized as an actor in Much Ado, evidence suggests that he may have been Balthasar. One of Balthasar's songs, 'Sigh No More, Ladies', is the play's most famous. It is sung at the beginning of a trap set for Benedick to overhear Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio discussing how Beatrice is dying for love of Benedick. As You Like It, with six songs and 88 lines of singing, contains substantively more vocal music than the pre-Armin average for comedies of 1.75 songs and 18.75 lines of singing. 'What Shall He Have' is a bawdy catch sung by lords, one of whom was no doubt Amiens/Armin, who probably initiated the song.
