OCR Text |
Show THE COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 205 the piece, at the same time that it becomes an ornament to it. Some Italian artists, either from an ignorance of the art, or from a determination to give up all to Pantomime, neglect dancing. French composers, on the other hand, pay not requisite attention to the art of gesture, treating as secondary the principal and most important part of a piece. But each department claims its due share of attention ; when one encroaches upon the rights of the other, the performance must become extravagant. T o the greater part of Italian composers, it might be suggested, that to enlarge the limits of their productions, and in order to become less tragic, and more varied, they should examine the best ancient and modern romances' the renowned deeds of chivalry as described in certain poems, eastern fictions, and fairy prodigies. These works present a treasury of excellent materials, capable of enriching the repertoire of Ballet-masters with every kind of novelty. There are certain composers, not content with the system of performing already established by taste and reason, who would introduce a new method, of which the following are the principal. They declare that Pantomime should be regulated, not only by the rythmus and cadence of the air, but that an actor should mark with his arms or his legs every bar, and even every turn in a phrase of music. They require also that a step should be executed, in certain passages, to every note. Thus steps and gestures would be multiplied to infinity, while the spectator, dazzled and confused by rapid motion, finds himself unable to attend to the plot of the piece. The performer, too, exhausted by incessant exertion, finishes the scene, but without producing the least effect. The consequence of this false system is, that the dancer, being obliged to take for each single gesture, two or three steps, to keep up |