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Show 532 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. At the first glance the man of taste turns from such productions with contempt. The musician will meet with the same reception, if he attempt to compensate for the energetic expression of nature by a superfluity of modulations, a m o b of far-fetched prettinesses, and by that musical trifling (papillotage) which disgusts and fatigues. " Di tanti palpiti" is worth the whole labyrinth of harmonic combinations of Beethoven; a single air of Paesiello is preferable to all the insignificant rhapsodies of Morlacchi; and the musical accent with which M a d a m e Pasta sings " A h ! quante lagrime" is of more value than all the false brilliancy of Pisaroni ; one of her eloquent and heart-touching gestures in Desdemona, when she is about to fall a victim to the Moor's blind jealousy, or in Medea, when going to bathe herself in the blood of her children, is worth all the multiplied action of Bassi and Belloc in the same characters. A singer for the stage should be an actor, and not a mere automaton ; he should play his part, and not simply come forward and prove that he is able to execute a difficult air. Without picturesque expression, the stage loses half of its interest and its charms. The mime who wishes to represent the character he undertakes, with credit to himself, ought to imitate the c'omposer of music, who, previous to sitting down to his piano to produce his airs, attentively reads the poem which he has to embellish, penetrates into the ideas of its author, reflects upon the sense of the words, studies the character and situation of the persons represented, and particularly remarks the class to which the work belongs, whether serious or comic, pastoral, heroic or otherwise. The mime should do all this before he plays his part ; he should make himself well acquainted with the subject of the Ballet, the action and the characters, and impress Upon his mind all that the author is desirous of represent- |
