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abstract: The role of the flute in Death of a Salesman has received much attention, and credible explanations of it have been proposed. But those explanations have not considered fully the musicological context of the flute and are therefore limited. It has not previously been recognized, for example, that Miller may have been aware that the flute seldom appears in art and literature connotation-free. This article considers the role of the flute afresh and casts new light on Miller's decision to insert it. This in turn provides a better understanding of Miller's knowledge and of the way in which he developed the play.

keywords: fate, flute, Miller, North, Salesman

While Death of a Salesman has been the subject of much critical analysis, a feature of the play demands further attention. The role of the flute has not been neglected: on the contrary, credible explanations of its significance have been offered. However, from a musicological perspective there is more to expose about Miller's choice and use of the flute and Alex Norths orchestration of it.

Background

As in most of Miller's plays, there is a variety of noise in Salesman (Dominik, "Music" 19-35). Instruments are played, characters shout, mumble, whistle, and sing, and there is restaurant noise, a car crash, and so on-all of which reflect Miller's long-standing interest in sound. Miller's involvement with radio when he worked as a singer with his own radio program (Bigsby, "Introduction" 1) is relevant here. And he had even dabbled in "the notion of studying music" (qtd. in Bigsby, Modern 83-84). Of Salesman he wrote: "Music begins Salesman, and not by accident" (letter to Marino, April 1999, qtd. in Bigsby, Critical Study 116) and "you can't separate the music from the play, or the play from the music" (qtd. in Henderson 40). These circumstances suggest that the sound/musical element of Salesman was carefully thought out. The flute stands out as the most melodic feature and, appearing at the beginning, intermittently throughout, and again at the end, is clearly the most important sound. The word "flute" is mentioned eleven times, seven of these in directions.

The appearance of a flute on a New York stage was novel but not exceptional. Oscar Hammerstein had produced Louis Ganne's comic opera Hans the...

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