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Show CONCLUSION. 525 let him not be always governed by the method in which it is made use of, for very frequently an air which is pla nly intended to express serious emotions has been joined to words of a comic character, and merry music attached to tragedy. I knew an artist who involuntarily produced a most biting satire on those confounders of style. He took some of the finest parts of a comic opera, and prefixed them to a serious Ballet; while to a comic Ballet, he attached an infinity of airs from a tragic opera, by the same author. The choreographer was deservedly applauded for this display of judgment in adaptation. The ancients were particularly careful in preserving the concord between music and dancing ; they required that the most perfect analogy should continually prevail between the two arts. Rythmical music ruled their attitudes while dancing; and hyper-criticisms directed every gesture of the pantomime. The style and expression of the music was exactly adapted to the character of the piece represented. Consequently their good taste was clearly displayed in the most perfect imitations of nature. The m u sic of dancing should always be spirited, full of cadence, and susceptible of inspiring motion; that of Pantomime, proceeding more directly from intense feeling, ought to possess an infinite variety of colouring; its changes of style and expression should answer exactly to the changes of internal feeling. Such was the nature of the musical system established amongst the ancient Greeks and R o mans. W h e n melody and harmony, preserving each its proper sphere, become true organs of the feelings of the heart, music must exercise a dominion over us, at once powerful and delightful. The object of the Ballet-master, like that of the painter, should be to give perfect represensations of nature; he should consider himself as her mirror, and thus reflect |
