| OCR Text |
Show 434 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. CYRUS. AN ENCYCLICAL OR HISTORICAL BALLET. REMARKS. AMONG the ancients those poems were called cyclical or encyclical which contained the general history of a man or a country. Wishing to make an attempt to preserve this species of composition in the Ballet, we have given the following argument. It will, accordingly, be seen, that we do not pretend to relate the entire history of the life of Cyrus in a single representation, but only the principal and most remarkable passages, and in such a manner as not to be subjected to observe strictly the laws of unity. In the mean time, such a natural succession may be preserved in describing the events of many years, that any appearance of interval will be imperceptible. Our Ballets of Aphrodita, Vivaldi, and Dudley may be regarded as compositions of this class. In the following specimen it has not been thought necessary to embody the idea any farther than the argument. |
