Be it [N]ever so Humble? The Narrating Voice in the Underscore to The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939)

In the eighteenth century the term ‘melodrama’ signified a specific musical technique whereby a section of monologue or dialogue within a play alternated with (or occasionally was accompanied by) dramatic music. During the nineteenth century the term broadened to refer to ‘a whole type of drama, whether musically accompanied or not’ with ‘certain dramatic features in common – stereotyped characters, sentimental and/or terrifying plots with ample opportunity for action scenes or emotionally charged mimed scenes’. ¹ There are relatively few remaining examples of melodramas with musical accompaniment, and it can only be conjectured whether their scores are truly representative of the large number that were performed. Our general impression from these extant scores is that such accompaniments were entirely apposite to the requirements of the plot, and by the end of the nineteenth century in England and America they typically consisted of a series of short, flexible musical passages or ‘cues’ (both original and preexisting), which could be tailored to the length of the stage action as required. ² It was common for musical directors to have their own collections of such cues, or melos, ³ categorized according to dramatic function: for example hurries, agitatos, misteriosos and music suitable for battles and storms. In a manner still recognizable in British pantomimes today, the entrances and exits of stock characters were accompanied by short character pieces, the villain, for instance, was typically announced by tremolo strings sustaining diminished triads.