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Article PRESENT STATE OF THE SPANISH THEATRE. ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Present State Of The Spanish Theatre.
the piece is corrected . It wearied us by the great number of proverbs with which it is filled . The best edition is that of 1566 , and extremely scarce . After Lopes de Rueda , Cervantes names Naharro , a native of Toledo , as one of the restorers of the theatre . He was especially famous in the character of a poltroon or a knave . He added a variety of embellishments to the stageand brought the music from behind
, the curtain by which it was hidden , and placed it in front of the theatre ; he made the actors lay-aside their masks , and the false hair and beards with which they covered their heads and chins ; he invented machinery , decorations , clouds , thunder , and lightning , and was the first who introduced battles and challenges into theatrical representations . Comedthen lost its primitive simplicityCervantes
y . acknowledges that he himself was one of the first to adopt this vitiated taste ; he had , nevertheless , written several pieces which might have served as models to his countrymen , and were more perfect than any by which they were preceded . Complicated intrigues , and an unexpected denouement , were the deli ght of the people , and Cervantes
saw , when it was too late , that a corrupted taste had taken very deeproot . Lie had corrected his nation of its eagerness for extravagant adventure , and by his Don Quixote had thrown an indelible ridicule upon the kni ghts of chivalry : perhaps he may be reproached with having enervated the heroic sentiments , energy of character , and of mindb
greatness , y which the Spanish nation was distinguished . It is sometimes a misfortune to open the eyes of a people , and deprive them'of their enthusiasm . Pie wished to correct the theatre also . He composed several pieces quite unconnected , and without the least regard to the rules which probability requires ; but so similar in every thing to the pieces which were then representedthat they
, were received with applause . The irony and instruction were lost to the age in which he lived . The theatre was , at that time , in hi gh reputation , and the , poets in vogue had such powerful protectors , that Cervantes dared not to explain himself in terms less equivocal ; he was already persecuted for possessing sense and judgment , and so poorthat he was afraid truthtoo frequentlrepeatedshould
, , y , aggravate his misfortunes . The theatre is no unimportant object ; it is a general and national . taste which , on one hand , is furiously attacked ; and , on the other , obstinatel y defended . We have seen music at first produce witticisms , and afterwards libels and abuse . Sounds , more or less grave or acute , have filled the too-susceptible mind ' of a philosopher with bitterness
, and produced endless disputes . There is not an Englishman who would not defend Shakespear as he would his household gods ; ancl the French , worthy of eulogium , for the good reception they have always given to strangers , did not receive , as they ought to have done , this hero of the English stage , when he appeared amongst them , cloathed in all the graces of the French language , to take his place by the side of their tragic poets . Our tastes and plea-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Present State Of The Spanish Theatre.
the piece is corrected . It wearied us by the great number of proverbs with which it is filled . The best edition is that of 1566 , and extremely scarce . After Lopes de Rueda , Cervantes names Naharro , a native of Toledo , as one of the restorers of the theatre . He was especially famous in the character of a poltroon or a knave . He added a variety of embellishments to the stageand brought the music from behind
, the curtain by which it was hidden , and placed it in front of the theatre ; he made the actors lay-aside their masks , and the false hair and beards with which they covered their heads and chins ; he invented machinery , decorations , clouds , thunder , and lightning , and was the first who introduced battles and challenges into theatrical representations . Comedthen lost its primitive simplicityCervantes
y . acknowledges that he himself was one of the first to adopt this vitiated taste ; he had , nevertheless , written several pieces which might have served as models to his countrymen , and were more perfect than any by which they were preceded . Complicated intrigues , and an unexpected denouement , were the deli ght of the people , and Cervantes
saw , when it was too late , that a corrupted taste had taken very deeproot . Lie had corrected his nation of its eagerness for extravagant adventure , and by his Don Quixote had thrown an indelible ridicule upon the kni ghts of chivalry : perhaps he may be reproached with having enervated the heroic sentiments , energy of character , and of mindb
greatness , y which the Spanish nation was distinguished . It is sometimes a misfortune to open the eyes of a people , and deprive them'of their enthusiasm . Pie wished to correct the theatre also . He composed several pieces quite unconnected , and without the least regard to the rules which probability requires ; but so similar in every thing to the pieces which were then representedthat they
, were received with applause . The irony and instruction were lost to the age in which he lived . The theatre was , at that time , in hi gh reputation , and the , poets in vogue had such powerful protectors , that Cervantes dared not to explain himself in terms less equivocal ; he was already persecuted for possessing sense and judgment , and so poorthat he was afraid truthtoo frequentlrepeatedshould
, , y , aggravate his misfortunes . The theatre is no unimportant object ; it is a general and national . taste which , on one hand , is furiously attacked ; and , on the other , obstinatel y defended . We have seen music at first produce witticisms , and afterwards libels and abuse . Sounds , more or less grave or acute , have filled the too-susceptible mind ' of a philosopher with bitterness
, and produced endless disputes . There is not an Englishman who would not defend Shakespear as he would his household gods ; ancl the French , worthy of eulogium , for the good reception they have always given to strangers , did not receive , as they ought to have done , this hero of the English stage , when he appeared amongst them , cloathed in all the graces of the French language , to take his place by the side of their tragic poets . Our tastes and plea-