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Show T H E COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 151 either lengthened or abridged. This is a most reasonable exception, of which also I would make a free use, were I endued with talent which requires its assistance. It seems to me, that the great effeets to be produced during an action that lasts two days instead of one, may well inspire us with a contempt for such ridiculous regulations ; when it is remarked also, that there is nothing in such a license either contrary to nature or probability. W e have excellent pieces constructed on this plan. In Ballets we may proceed still farther ; we may allow ourselves still greater licenses, without, however, abusing them. The plot of a long historical piece may be contracted, and an abridged representation of it may be produced, but it must appear so probable that the audience may believe in what they behold. " qae), ch'6d'incredibile, jo lontano E dentro a breve spazio non si chiude, Nol cercherai, perche '1 cercalo fe insano." MENZINI. The action must never appear to stand still; each part of il must succeed the other without interruption. For if, at the end of the first or second act, circumstances required a delay of some days, a week, a month, & c , before the thread of the story could be continued, good taste would never allow it, and the whole would be rejected. Almost every liberty is admissible in fabulous, mythologic, and fairy classes of pieces; the mind of the composer appears to be then in a certain dythyrambic state, if we may be allowed such an epithet, and he may be permitted every irregularity. However, the man of talent may be perceived in such productions, from the method in which he makes use of his freedom. Care must be taken, therefore, not to compose after the Greek model, with respect to the dramatic unities of which 10* |
