Poetics. Aristotle. Thomas Twining (Translator). London, UK. 1789.
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Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) (English) (Thomas Twining's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1789 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.)
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
Poetics
3.
mvp-aristotle-comment-208
ἁρμονίαν καὶ μέλος
The
και is explanatory,
μέλος being added as a synonym to explain
ἁρμονία (v. on
1, 1447 a 22
).
1449b30
4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-209
διὰ μέτρων
is opposed to
διὰ μέλους: comp.
Probl. 19. 31, 920 b 12
διὰ τὸ πολλαπλάσια εἶναι τότε τὰ μέλη ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις τῶν μέτρων. —
Plato Symp. 187 D
μέλεσί τε καὶ μέτροις. —
Lysis 205 A
οὗ τι τῶν μέτρων δέομαι ἀκοῦσαι οὐδὲ μέλος. —
Isocrates 191 B
ταῖς ᾠδαῖς καὶ τοῖς μέτροις.
1449b31
5.
mvp-aristotle-comment-210
πράττοντες ποιοῦνται τὴν μίμησιν
scil.
οἱ μιμούμενοι. Aristotle is thinking not of the poet but of the performers, who tell the story by acting it on the stage (v. on
3, 1448 a 23
).
πράττοντες recalls the idea of the
δρώντων in the preceding definition of Tragedy.
5.
mvp-aristotle-comment-211
1449b33
ὁ τῆς ὄψεως κόσμος
ὄψις is usually rendered by 'spectaculum,' 'apparatus,' 'scenery,' or mise en scène; according to Twining it comprehends 'scenery, dresses—the whole visible apparatus of the theatre'. This explanation is too wide; the reference is merely to the visible appearance of the actors when got up in character by the
σκευοποιός or costumier (see on
6, 1450 b 20
).
Aristotle accordingly more than once uses the word in a concrete sense in the plural, because each of the characters would require a special and distinctive make-up. The formula
ὁ τῆς ὄψεως κόσμος implies that the visible make-up of the actors is of the nature of a decorative adjunct (v. on
4, 1449 a 29
), a mere accessory to the poet's work (v.
6, 1450 b 16
), on which he, as an artist, has no right to rely for his effects (v.
14, 1453 b 7
). The term
ὄψις like many other technical words in the Poetics was probably already familiar in this sense in the language of the theatre (comp.
Festschrift Theodor Gomperz dargebracht p. 166
).
5.
mvp-aristotle-comment-212
μελοποιία
(properly the making of
μέλη) replaces the original term
μέλος as a synonym for it; comp.
6, 1450 b 16
, and
Pol. 8. 7, 1341 b 23
τὴν μουσικὴν ὁρῶμεν διὰ μελοποιίας καὶ ῥυθμῶν οὖσαν.
1449b34
9.
mvp-aristotle-comment-149
6.3
9.
F'appelle, un ſtyle agreablement aſſaiſonné, un ſtyle qui a le nombre, le vers, & l'harmonie.]
1
10.
mvp-aristotle-comment-150
6.4
10.
Et j'ajoûte, mais differemment dans toutes ſes parties, because que le vers regne ſeul dans les unes, & le nombre & l'harmonie dans les autres.]
2
11.
mvp-aristotle-comment-151
6.5
11.
Cette imitation étant faite par des gens qui agiſſent, il s'enfuit de là neceſſairement, que la décoration de la Scene eſt en quelque ſorte une partie de la Tragedie.]
3
46.
mvp-aristotle-comment-46
NOTE 46. P. 75.
6.4
IN SOME PARTS METRE ALONE IS EMPLOYED, IN OTHERS MELODY.
A passage of very tantalizing brevity. By
δια μετρων ΜΟΝΟΝ, are we to understand, according to the obvious and literal meaning of the expression, that in some parts of Tragedy the verse was merely recited, spoken, as in modern Tragedy? —This contradicts what, by many writers, has been considered as a fact thoroughly established, that the Greek Tragedy was accompanied by musical instruments, and was therefore strictly musical, throughout: —for as to the dreams of the
Abbé Du Bos,
Rousseau, and others, about a noted declamation, a declamation accompanied by Music, yet not sung—this is too manifest an absurdity to stand in need of confutation. If, as
Rousseau says, it is
"impossible to understand what the ancients have said about their theatrical declamation, without supposing this," would it not be better to say, at once, that we do not understand it, than to explain it into impossibilities?
As for the systematic
Abbé Du Bos, he was set upon proving his point; and he proves it like a man resolved to prove it, by wresting all sorts of authors to his purpose, and translating them as he pleased.
1
All we know clearly, is, that the ancient drama was accompanied, (in part, at least,) by musical instruments. I conclude, confidently, that since the instruments could not speak, the actors must sing—that their declamation must certainly have been, strictly speaking, musical, however simple; the chanting of the simplest plain chant, being as truly Music, i. e. as essentially distinct from speech, as the most refined melody of a modern opera.
If, then, the Greek Tragedy had a musical accompaniment throughout, it must have been sung throughout. But here, Aristotle says, as plainly as words can say it, that in some parts of Tragedy, "metre only" was employed: —
δια ΜΕΤΡΩΝ ἐνια ΜΟΝΟΝ: that is, as it is necessarily implied, without the two other
ήδυσματα, or seasonings, of Tragic language, just mentioned, melody and rhythm.
2
Some commentators, I know, endeavour to evade the force of this expression, by saying, that Aristotle means, by
δια μετρων μονον, only the noted declamation, which, being a sort of recitative, was not regarded as strictly musical, nor denominated
μελος. And in support of this, it is alleged, that the word
λέξις, Speech, is applied by him afterwards in a similar manner;
3
as
λεγεσθαι is also by
Plutarch, who talks of "some of the Iambics being spoken with an accompaniment, and others, sung:
4
as we sometimes say of a singer, that he speaks recitative well. But all this, I confess, does not satisfy me. It is one thing, to apply occasionally the word
λεξις or
λεγεσθαι, in this comparative way, to such kind of singing as most resembles speech, and another, to say roundly, that some parts of Tragedy made use of metre, or verse, only; and that too, immediately after having fixed the exclusive sense of
μονον, by enumerating the three
ήδυσματα of Tragic diction, which he asserts to be separately used in different parts, i. e.
ῥυθμου, άρμονια, μετρον, — RHYTHM, MELODY, and METRE.
5
They who dispute this meaning, must at least, I think, allow that if it had been the meaning, Aristotle could not well have expressed it with more precision. How can
μετρων here be taken in the loose and comparative sense contended for, when, in the very words immediately preceding, it is carefully limited to its strict and proper sense, by being expressly discriminated from melody, as well as from rhythm?
But after all, the fact, that the Greek Tragedy was sung throughout, though often asserted, has not yet been proved; nor do I think that it can be proved; at least, by any passage of ancient authors, that I have seen adduced to prove it. The
Abbé Vatry, in a dissertation,
Sur la recitation des Tragedies anciennes, undertook to prove, in form, that the Greek Tragedies were sung,
"bout à l'autre," like our operas. But how does he prove this?—by proving, what indeed is easily proved,
6
that a part of the Iambics, or the dialogue, was sung, and then by taking it for granted, that the ancients could not possibly have endured so barbarous a custom, as the mixture of speech and singing in the same piece.
"Il ne paroit pas qu'on puisse douter que ces cantiques ne se chantassent; mais de cela même je crois pouvoir conclurre, que tout le reste se chantoit, quoique differemment: car le bon sens, et ce que les anciens nous disent, nous conduit à penser que leur recitation etoit partout de même nature, et qu'elle ne se bigarroit point, tantôt d'une simple declamation, et tantôt d'un chant musical." By the same presumptive mode of arguing, the Abbé might also have proved,
à priori, that the Greeks could not possibly have been guilty of the modern barbarous
bigarrure of serious and ludicrous, in their Tragic drama. But the first Greek Tragedy he had opened would probably have overturned his reasoning.
A thorough discussion of all the passages of ancient authors, that throw any light upon this question, relative to the dramatic representations of the Greeks, would draw me much too far beyond my bounds. I must content myself with pointing out (for I think it has not been observed,) the stubborn difficulty which this passage of Aristotle appears to me to throw in the way of the common opinion upon this subject; and with hazarding a merely hypothetical conjecture, that, if, as Aristotle seems plainly to say, some part of the Greek Tragedy was spoken, like our Tragic declamation, without any musical accompaniment, it was, most probably, that part of the dialogue, which, as I have before observed, in
NOTE 33
, is, in every Tragedy, easily distinguished from the rest, by its being carried on in a sort of quick repartee of verse to verse. As, in this part of the dialogue, we almost constantly find the Tragic tone lowered to a more colloquial pitch, and even approaching frequently to the jocular and burlesque, it seems reasonable to think, that here, if anywhere, the musical accompaniment, and the elevation of lengthened and chanting tones, were withdrawn, and common conversation left to common speech.
But what, again, are we to understand by—
και παλιν ἐτερα δια μελους?—Are we to repeat
μονον, and understand Melody alone, without the two other
ήδυσματα, Rhythm and Metre? This cannot be. For though we may strip the Tragic language of melody and of rhythm, or, in other words, of Music, we cannot strip it of metre. The ancients most certainly did not admit prose into their Tragedies; and as little can we conceive them to have set prose to Music.
Dacier, and some other commentators, understand by
μελους here, Music, including rhythm. This sense of the word is certainly warrantable; but it can hardly be the sense here: for, surely, an instance, in which all the three
ήδυσματα were used, (as they must be, if metre be indispensable, and
μελος imply rhythm and melody,) would be but a strange illustration of the
ΧΩΡΙΣ ἐκαστου των ειδων κ. τ. αλ.
I do not see what remains, but, that we take
μελος here in its most restrained sense, as distinct from rhythm, or time, and synonymous to
άρμονια; that sense, in which Aristotle had used it before, in his first chapter.
7
8
And if we do this, we must necessarily, I think, understand, that some parts of the dialogue were sung without rhythm: I mean, without musical rhythm, or time, though certainly not without that poetical or profodic rhythm, by which in reciting verse, and, indeed, even in the most familiar conversation, the syllabic quantity must have been relatively, at least, observed, though not, I presume, with the inflexibility of musical measure, nor with such a rigorous equality of long to long, and short to short, as is essential to the execution of what is properly called Music, and as I suppose to have been observed in the choral odes.
9
Thus the dialogue of the Greek Tragedy will appear to have been not improperly compared to our recitative; differing from the chorus, as our recitative differs from the airs, both in the absence of strict time, and in the kind of melody, which was also, as mere melody, less musical than the choral melody, and more imitative of speech, as well as of action.
10
Whether the monologues, or long speeches—the
μακραι ῥησεις, as
Plato calls them—were performed in the same way, as the rest of the dialogue, or, as it has been imagined, were distinguished by being more measured and musical, is a point not easily cleared up.
11
The passages commonly appealed to for this purpose, from the grammarians
Diomedes and
Donatus, about the
Cantica of the Roman Comedy, I look upon as a very frail foundation of any conclusion with respect to the Greek Tragedy.
12
The passage of
Plutarch above quoted, note, furnishes the strongest support I know of for such a distinction. For, if by "spoken or recited to an instrumental accompaniment," (
τα μεν [sc. των ἰαμβειων] ΛΕΓΕΣΘΑΙ παρα την κρουσιν)
Plutarch meant, as I think he must mean, sung in recitative, not literally spoken, (for how could that admit of a musical accompaniment?) then,
ᾳδεσθαι, which is opposed to it, must of course imply, not mere singing as opposed to speech, but a more musical and measured melody.
6.2.
mvp-aristotle-comment-15
6.3
SOME PARTS ATTAIN THEIR END BY VERSE ALONE, AND OTHERS HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF MUSIC.
IT seems impoffible for any thing to be more clearly expressed than this; for Ariftotle, contrary to his general custom, has been particularly careful in defining the precise meaning of the two words he uses, μέτρον and μέλος ; and he also expressly says, they are employed separately. Yet notwithstanding this, many critics are decidedly of opinion, that the Greek tragedies were fung throughout, and the distinction between the dialogue and the choral odes, was exactly the fame with that between the recitative and the airs in the Italian opera; and, in support of this opinion, they draw many arguments from the accounts given by ancient writers on the manner of performing the Greek tragedy. Being not very well acquainted with the technical language of the music of my own country, I cannot be supposed to be a critic in that of Greece. Under this disadvantage, it is with diffidence I attempt to reconcile this positive declaration of Ariftotle, with those passages in other writers, which appear to contradict it, and which the reader will find in Metaftafio's ESTRATTO DELLA POETICA. The
The ancient theatres (2) were of such a vast extent, besides being open at the top, that it was impoffible for the human voice to fill them in its natural pitch; in consequence of which, it was absolutely necessary to employ artificial means to encrease its force, and the dramatic [R] mask was invented, which, in some measure, acted as a speaking trumpet: but as this must destroy all natural modulation of the voice, it was found necessary to supply this defect by an [s] artificial notation of found, and to render this more distinct and loud, it was very probably attended by fome flight inftrumental accompaniment, but folely for the purpose of encreasing and regulating the found of the voice, and not to produce any musical effect; and this was equally applicable to the [T] quick repartee of the dialogue, as to the longer monologue. It must be observed, that Ariftotle does not fimply say, that tragedy EM- PLOYS music and verse separately, but that it ATTAINS ITS END by [Q] See Note VII. chap. XIII. [R] The mask had fomething very fingular. The immenfe aperture of the mouth was ' so contrived as to augment the found of the voice; it was in effect a real speaking trumpet, (porte voix) necessary to fill the wide extent of the place, as well as the brazen vases which ▲ were placed in the intervals of the theatre.' BRUMOY. [s] For a curious obfervation of Dr. Francklin on this practice of the ancients, fee note I. [T] ' If, as Ariftotle seems plainly to say, fome part of the Greek tragedy was spoken like ⚫ our tragic declamation, without any musical accompaniment, it was, most probably, that part of the dialogue which is in every tragedy easily diftinguished from the rest, by its being ' carried on in a fort of quick repartee of verse to verse.' TWINING, note 46, page 245- Whether the monologues, or long speeches, the μακραὶ ῥήσεις, as Plato calls them, were ' performed in the fame way as the rest of the dialogue, or, as has been imagined, were ' diftinguished by being more measured, or musical, is a point not easily cleared up.' IBID. page 247. them
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. them separately, in their respective parts; using the word περαίνεσθαι, which he has just before applied to the accomplishment of its final purpose, the refinement of the paffions. Therefore, in those parts, where verse only is used, though tragedy might be compelled, from fome incidental cause, to employ accompaniment, he does not confider it as effential to the performance and effect, as he does in those parts where the end of tragedy is attained by music [u]. What Metaftafio says on this subject, is well worth our attention. He is very fanguine in the notion, that the whole composition of the ancient tragedy was musical, following the opinion of his countryman Castelvetro, which he quotes. His reasoning on this subject is founded on the idea, that all recitation must adopt some kind of tune different from the common cadence of speech. A voice,' he says, to be • heard by a number of people to whom it is addressed, must be fo exceffively altered from its natural system, that it must necessarily be regulated differently, according to the different orders of its new proportions, (that is, I suppose, according to the extent it is necessary, from the fize of the place, or the number of the auditors, to give it,) * otherwise it will form a wild, dissonant, and ridiculous scream; this new regulation must be music, and this music is so necessary to whoever speaks in public, that if it is not supplied by art, nature herself suggests it. There is no orator that does not fing; no cryer, no public vender of any merchandize, that is not conftrained, for the purpose ' of making himself heard, either to adopt, or form, according to his own caprice, some kind of tune. Even those actors who pretend to [υ] Διὰ μέλος. X recite C
recite verfe without music, are obliged to invent one which they call • declamation: music, indeed, but very imperfect, since it is only regu- • lated by the uncertain judgement of the reciter's ear. This natural ، proof, which is as clear as it is true, joined to an infinite number of others which confirm it, discovers the error of those critics who have pofitively decided, that no part of the ancient drama was sung except the chorus.' ESTRATTO DELLA POETICA, page 52. Now after all, this only proves, or rather corroborates the truth of my conjecture, that, as when the voice is carried to an extent beyond its natural pitch, it will necessarily adopt some unnatural tone; so it is highly probable that recitation in the ancient theatres, whose size required an extraordinary extent of voice, and its consequence, an unnatural tone, might have that tone regulated by some instrumental accompaniment, which though so perfectly distinct from those parts, such as the choral odes, where mufic was employed, in the fullest sense of the word, as completely to justify the opposition in which they are placed to each other by Aristotle, might yet occafion those passages in the ancient writers, that are quoted. by Metaftafio in support of his hypothefis [x]. [x] The strongest argument of Metastasio is drawn from a passage of Ariftotle himself, Problem, Sect. xix. 49. where he describes the different kinds of music adapted to the actors, and the chorus. All the others are drawn from Roman writers, except one from Lucian de Saltatione, which is evidently intended to shew the absurdity of the musical accompaniment, in his time, which was, most probably, different from that of the Athenian stage in the time of Ariftotle; for while the blames this unnatural accompaniment, he expressly says, that the AN- CIENT POETS regulated the other decorations of the theatre as well as the mere words, a proof that the practice was changed; and Metastasio himself allows he is complaining of the effeminate music of the actors of his own time; therefore it not only invalidates the evidence of the Roman writers, but tends to overturn the general system of Metastafio, as to the merit of the musical drama.. The
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. The real motive of Metastasio's attachment to this hypothesis, it is sufficiently obvious, arose from his partiality to the opera, in which he was a most excellent writer, and which he wishes to shew was a lineal, and legitimate offspring, of the Greek tragedy, as most probably it was. The Roman theatre having turned the neceffary means of modulating the voice, in so large and open a room, into a real musical accompaniment, which the Italian theatre retained as an ornament after it ceased to be abfolutely requifite. But the fize of the modern theatre (v) is by no means such as to require any unnatural elevation of the voice. And as to the necessity of every person speaking in a tone, who addresses a public assembly, it certainly is not founded on fact. A member of parliament, who was to address the house of commons, or even his constituents, in any thing like a tone, or tune, would not be heard a moment. Indeed the substitution of modulated, for empassioned accent, or, in other words, the laying any emphafis of any kind, but what the sense, or rather the expreffion of the sense requires, is a certain unerring proof that the speaker is delivering what he has before committed to memory. I have heard many good preachers; but I never heard one who did not, in the course of a fermon, lay the [z] emphasis often on places contrary to the sense. I have heard (Y) I mean the theatres of this country, used for the representation of the regular drama. The theatres of Italy, especially those at Naples, Turin, and Milan, may require modulated recitation to fill them with propriety. [z] By emphasis here, I mean the distinction of words in a fentence, and not of fyllables in a word, which, I think, both Dr. Beattie and Mr. Nares have erroneoufly confounded with accent. For a further attempt to illustrate this subject, the reader is referred to note II. chap. xx. as
as many bad speakers in parliament; but I never heard one who was speaking on the subject in debate without premeditation, that ever placed the emphafis contrary to the sense he meant to convey; and in common conversation the emphasis was never yet laid improperly. As to the tone used by the venders of merchandize, we allow a kind of fong to the cryers of oysters and mackrel; but an auctioneer, who attempted to adopt one, would certainly be laughed at. And fince the days of Garrick [A], all unnatural declamation has been entirely banished from our theatres. The probability and excellence of the musical drama is also defended by Metastasio on another principle, with which, as a general rule, I perfectly agree, viz. That an imitator, who does not undertake to pro- • duce the exact truth, but only to give as great a likeness as possible to the • material that he employs, has perfectly fulfilled his promise, and attain- ' ed his end, when he has given it every thing of which his materials are 'capable-and that it is from ignorance of this nature of imitation, that' arises the contemptuous judgement of those, who treat the musical • drama as improbable, and absurd, because the actors die with a fong in ' their mouth; as if from its first origin, language measured and modu- •lated, was not the appropriated and indispensible material of every kind • of poetical imitation.' ESTRATTO DELLA POETICA, page 87, 88. [A] However much the public may be obliged to Mr. Garrick for this and other improvements of dramatic representation, we must lament his alteration of Drury-lane Theatre, which, from being the best calculated of any I was ever in to convey found, since the deepening of the front boxes, and first gallery, is so faulty in that respect, as almost to want the afsistance of the ancient mask. This defect is now radically removed by the pulling down the old theatre and I hope it will not exist in the magnificent one which is erecting on its fite. Now
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. Now though, as I have already faid, I perfectly allow the truth of this as a general principle; yet the last part of the quotation, taken in its strictest sense, is not true; neither does it follow, because in imitations made by the fine arts the material should appear, that every material is proper for every kind of imitation, or that some materials may not be fo inadequate, or so oppofite to the imitation of the object intended, as to be entirely incapable of producing any interest. For though difficulty overcome may, in some cafes, inhance the merit of imitation, as 'fculp- • ture in marble is more valuable than in wax, on account of the greater • difficulty of the execution (B);' yet no difficulty furmounted can ever compenfate for any radical inadequacy in the material to effect its proposed end. A statue of Glycon will excite the admiration of cultivated taste, even when well copied by the easiest process; but Atlas hewn into a statue, would only awake the wonder of the multitude. Even Metastafio could fee the force of this distinction when it favored an hypothefis of his own. For arguing against the ancient chorus, he blames the absurdity of a number of persons agreeing together in the same sentiments at once, and bursting forth in a general declaration of them. (Estratto, page 236.) Forgetting that this may also be solved, by saying these combined voices are only the means of imitation, and that there is no more real abfurdity in a [c] speech being accompanied by vocal than by instrumental performers. And again, in his note on this line of the epistle to the Pifos, Quæ canerent agerentque peruncti fæcibus ora.' [B] Estratto, page 344. [c] Many of the choral odes in the Greek tragedies are in the fingular number, as spoken by one person. As in the Edipus Tyrannus, v. 1105, beginning Είπερ ἐγὼ μάντις ἐιμί where
where he is defending against Sanadon the continued music of the Greek drama, he observes, that if the contrary were allowed, there would be found in the Greek tragedy, that disgustful medly [D] of speaking and ، ، finging, which is now hardly tolerated in the [E] comic opera, as being an extravagant deformity, invented by the mirth of scurrilous licentiousness, to excite the laugh of the vulgar.' In regard to the first instance, Metastafio, aware that what he urges against the fudden coincidence of sentiment and expreffion, in the perfons of the Greek chorus, might be urged with equal force against the chorus of the Italian opera, tries to qualify it by saying, it is natural for the stage to avail itself of the pleasure of a chorus, in a facrifice, or a triumph, where the people may be supposed to fing premeditated words, or, in a popular commotion, where they may naturally agree, on a fudden, in their thoughts and expression, as in calling for justice, vengeance, pity, war, or peace. Unluckily in this cafe the theory and the practice of Metastafio are at variance; for there is hardly a concluding chorus among his operas, that is not, to the full, as unlike the sudden coincidence of popular opinion, as the most moral ode of Sophocles. And as to the people's finging a premeditated chorus, what becomes then of the material of imitation? (F) From that instant, musical language ceases to be [D] See Mr. Twining's note 46, page 245, for a complete answer to the notion of this mixture being incompatible with the dignity of the Grecian tragic muse. [E] Metastasio does not mean the Italian comic opera which is accompanied throughout and is their regular comedy, but the French opera comique (which words he uses,) and which mode of compofition, copied from the French, has driven the scenes of Shakespear from our disgraced theatre, to found their fame on the inferior, though generous efforts of a fifter art. [F] There is a curious instance of this fort in LOVE IN A VILLAGE, when Justice Woodcock fings a fong, as a fong to his daughter's lover. There is an absurdity the reverse of this, though of
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. be the language of the characters, the deception is expressly disavowed, and the performer may as well, as Bottom advises the lion, 'come forward and fay, "I am no such thing, I am a man as other men are." And ' there indeed let him name his name, and tell them plainly, he is Snug ' the joiner.' What was the effect of the musical accompaniment on the ancient theatre, whether continued throughout the whole piece, or only used in parts of it, we can now hardly judge, as we scarcely know what it was. On the modern stage it feems to weaken the force of the interest, as I think no artificial modulation can ever equal the empaffioned notes of nature uttered by a good actor. In general, the pleasure we derive from the mufic, is rather our object in the Italian opera than the intereft of the scene. It appears, I confefs, to me, that blending music with empaffioned language [G], tends strongly to weaken the energy of both, and the only way to give each their full effect is to follow the precept of Ariftotle, and keep them ' diftinct in their respective parts [H].' of exactly the fame tendency, in Tancred and Sigismunda, where the letter from Tancred, which Sigifmunda reads, is in profe. In both these cafes the material of imitation is avowed. It is exactly as if the dialogue only of the Iliad, or the Paradife Loft, were in verse, and the connective parts, like the marginal directions of the drama, were in prose. If all the other characters of Love in a Village occafionally express their sentiments in musical airs, Justice Woodcock should not be an exception. If Tancred speaks in verse, he should not write in profe. [G] It must be remembered I am not speaking of lyric poetry, but confine my observations entirely to dramatic effect. [H] Aristotle, in his first chapter, make the diftinguishing character between the regular drama and the nomi and dithyrambic poetry, to confist in this circumstance, of the one species ufing music and poetry together throughout the piece, and the other in separate places. Thofe
Those writers who have particularly confidered the powers of mufic, its merit as an imitative art, and its influence over the passions [1], have been of opinion, that its principal force does not confist so much in exciting our feelings by imitation, as in the power it possesses of caufing fuch a temper of mind, as is fit to receive the impreffions intended to be made by the poet. If this is the cafe, the chorus [K] being an essential part of the ancient tragedy, could not poffibly have been disposed better than it was by the custom of the Grecian theatre, where the leading character of the group, or the Coryphæus, was confidered as one of the characters of the drama, and took a part in the action; while the whole body together were employed as a kind of musical ornament between the intervals of the action, keeping up, and heightening the force of the impreffion arifing from the incidents, by moral and pathetic reflections on their consequences, delivered in beautiful verse, and accompanied by mufic calculated to awaken congenial sensations in the mind. M. Leffing observes, [L] (Dramaturgie, vol. i. page 44,) that ' as the ' orchestre in our theatres, in fome degree, holds the fame place with ' the chorus of the ancients, the lovers of the drama have long wished, ' that the music which precedes the performance, and that which is ، played between the acts, should agree with the nature of the piece.' And he tells us, an attempt of this fort was made by a M. Scheibe, on the tragedies of Polyeucte, and Mithridate, and executed on several dif- [1] Particularly Mr. Harris, Dr. Beattie, and Mr. Twining. [K] See note IV. chap. XII. [L] Mr. Twining makes the fame observation. The performers,' he says, 'in the orchestra • of a modern theatre, are little, I believe, aware that they occupy the place, and may confider ' themselves as the lineal defcendants of the ancient chorus.' NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION, Part ii. Sect. xxi. page 103. ferent
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. ferent theatres in the year 1736. The fame attempt, he says, was also made by M. Agricola, at Berlin, on the tragedy of Semiramis, and with complete success. I fear this experiment would hardly succeed on our theatre. It is, sometimes, very difficult for the lover of the drama to prevail on his neighbours, to suppress their conversation in the most interesting scenes of a tragedy; and I believe no musical power, lefs than that of Orpheus, could charm an English audience from the pleasure of talking between the acts. We fee, every day, the same persons, who, in the country, would pay half a guinea, and travel twenty miles in the dark, to fit in raptures, real or affected, at a concert, performed by a band, in every respect inferior to those which fill our theatrical orchestres, appear perfectly inattentive to the music at the play-houses, and who would think a person out of his senses, who should request their attention to any piece of mufie that should be performed between the acts of a play. Only one attempt, that I know of, (I cannot say of this kind, fince its tendency was directly oppofite,) has been made here, to introduce any thing, during the intervals of the representation, at all allusive to the incidents of the piece. This was in the tragedy of Zara, where, in the intervals, a humourous dialogue was to be sung by Mr. Beard and Mrs. Clive, commenting on, and ridiculing the incidents and sentiments of the preceding act. Of the success of this curious attempt, or whether the dialogue was ever performed, I am ignorant; but it is generally printed with the tragedy. Y NOTE
3.
mvp-aristotle-comment-38
Ritter, cap. 6 § 3
λέγω δὲ ἡδυσμένον μὲν λόγον τὸν ἔχον τα ῥυθμὸν καὶ ἁρμονίαν καὶ μέλος:
λόγος ὁ ἔχων ῥυθμὸν est
λόγος ἔμμετρος : numero enim condiri sive suavem reddi sermonem liquet ; numerumque metri patrem esse veteres dicere solebant. conf. ad c. 4, 6. quod c. 1, 10.
ῥυθ μός pro saltatione ponitur, id nihil impedit quo minus hunc
ῥυθμὸν pro numero sermonis accipiamus: numerus enim non magis sermoni quam saltationi competit. saltationem vero h. 1. intelligere non possumus, quoniam haec tragoediae quidem, sed non sermonis, est condimentum.
ἁρμονίαν καὶ μέλος est
ἁρμονικὸν μέλος, cantum harmoniae legibus aс- commodatum, quemadmodum
λόγοι καὶ μιμήσεις sunt
λόγοι μιμητικοὶ in fragmento operis
περὶ Ποιητῶν, quod transcripsimus pag. 84. quod Victorius
μέτρον pro
μέλος ex coniectura sua scripsit, id loci ratione non satis perspecta fecit.
διὰ μέτρων ἔνια μόνον περαίνεσθαι –
διὰ μέλους: nonnulla metrica tantum oratione (
διὰ μέτρων) alia cantu absolvuntur sive peraguntur. saltationem non memoravit, quia saltatio non sine canticis, cantica autem multa sine saltatione peraguntur. de significatione
μέτρων diximus ad c. 1,6.
4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-39
Ritter, cap. 6 § 4
ὁ τῆς ὄψεως κόσμος: quia personae agentes ipsae producuntur, et quidem homines gravitate conspicui ac fere claris natalibus orti, non solum scena opus est, sed co etiam apparatu quo viri graves et illustres instructi solent itaque non solum
ὄψις sed
ὄψεως κόσμος requiritur. etiam illud notandum est, ipsi Aristoteli
ὄψιν vel
ὄψεως κόσμον esse.videri necessariam tragoediae partem (
ἐξ ἀνάγκης τι μόριον τραγωδίας). aliter iudicavit huius operis interpolator infra §. 19 et c. 26, 3. vide quae ad illos locos monentur et ad c. 14, 1.
εἶτα μελοποιία καὶ λέξις: postquam agentes in conspectum spectatorum venerunt, eos aut loqui aut canere oportet: eo enim imitationem peragunt.
λέγω δὲ λέξιν μὲν αὐτὴν τὴν τῶν μέτρων σύνθεσιν:
λέξις vulgo quamcumque dictionem denotat, sed hoc loco Aristoteles orationem modis musicis cantuque carentem sed numeris tamen adstrictam
λέξιν nove vocavit. discrepat quod infra (§. 18) scripsit auctor personatus
λέγω δέ,
ὥσπερ πρότερον εἴρηται,
λέξιν εἶναι τὴν διὰ τῆς ὀνομασίας ἑρμηνείαν. –
μελοποιίαν δὲ ὃ τὴν δύναμιν φανερὰν ἔχει πᾶσαν: vocis
μελοποιίας in aperto esse omnem potestatem sive significationem dicit:
λέξιν enim modo posuit discedens a vulgari loquendi usu,
μελοποιίαν autem intelligit eam quam vulgo dicere solent.
πᾶσιν, non
πᾶσαν, legendum esse Madius putavit.