The film The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lathimos, is a story that revolves around the competition between two cousins, Abigail and Sarah, who were both vying to be the court favourite of Queen Anne. I felt that the film was a rather different kind of period piece that was definitely in the realm of the absurd and constantly featured strange and manic comedic elements throughout the movie. To elicit the turbulent relationships and feelings of the characters, the film employed the use of a collection of a wide range of musical pieces. Perhaps, poking fun at the ideal vision of what a period piece should be, the soundtrack included a mix of music from Handel, to Bach, Vivaldi, and even Elton John. However, every piece seem to used for a particular purpose whether it was to underline certain emotions of the characters or capture a certain mood of a scene.
I found the use of Henry Purcell’s piece “Musick for a While” very interesting. The music is quite serene, calm and peaceful. Here it seems to mimic the feelings that Abigail must be feeling. In the previous scene, Abigail had drugged Sarah’s tea, causing Sarah to fall from her horse and be dragged into the forest, disappearing for days. Due to Sarah’s disappearance, Abigail falls into favour with Queen Anne, who then permits Abigail to be married to a baron in her court, thereby allowing Abigail to once again acquire her noble standing as a baroness. The resulting scene after all of these events features Abigail enjoying the music of Henry Purcell among other ladies of the court.
In this scene, we hear the lyrics
Music for a while
Shall all your cares beguile
Wond’ring how your pains were eas’d
These lyrics and the music perfectly describe the mood that Abigail must be feeling in that scene as the music is quite serene and calm. At first there seem to be arpeggiated chords and then a voice starts to come in. The voice rises slowly but powerfully. This is almost a depiction of the rise of Abigail. Now a baroness, her troubles seem to have disappeared, she has won over Queen Anne, and Sarah has vanished. She is victorious and at ease, however, this was not meant to last as we soon see Sarah enter at the back of the room and we know that the complex rivalry will pick up right where it had left off. This is perhaps signified in the music when there seems to be modulation in the middle of the piece and the repetitive pattern that we had in the beginning of the piece changes. This is maybe an allusion to how Abigail’s plans are going astray with Sarah’s return. Furthermore, after we hear the word “drop” repeated in a descending pattern with a small pause between each one. I believe it descends until the music returns to its original tonic position perhaps indicating the situation in the movie – that with Sarah’s return, they have returned to the original situation at the beginning where Abigail will once again have to compete with Sarah to completely win over Queen Anne. The lyric and title of the piece is after all, “Musick for a While” – Abigail’s victory was only to last for a while or a short time, and not forever.