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Show THE COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 231 CHAPTER XXII. T H E COMPOSER, OR BALLET-MASTER. " Rapproche les climats, les peuples et les lems, Realise la fable, et reproduitl'histoire ; Et des feux de son time embrase tous les cceurs.'' DELUXE. THE Ballet-master should unite to a perfect knowledge of of the arts of dancing and Pantomime an acquaintance with music and painting. The study of polite literature, and particularly of celebrated authors, will prove essentially serviceable to him. He should also have a just idea of the various mechanical arts, joined to some instruction in geometry ; which will enable him to execute the design and movements of his dances with truth and precision; besides, a certain degree of mathematical learning imparts clearness and exactness to all our conceptions. But the study most requisite to a theatrical artist, and which claims his deepest attention, and on which depends the entire effect of his compositions, is that of nature and the human heart;-without this no dramatic work should be attempted38. In short, a complete Ballet.-master is at once author and mechanist; in him should be joined an expe- 15* |