Phoebus
must foretel, Mercury must charm with his caduceus, and Juno must
reconcile the quarrels of the marriage-bed; to conclude, they must all
act according to their distinct and peculiar characters. If the
persons represented were to speak upon the stage, it would follow, of
necessity, that the expressions should be lofty, figurative, and
majestical: but the nature of an opera denies the frequent use of
these poetical ornaments; for vocal music, though it often admits a
loftiness of sound, yet always exacts an harmonious sweetness; or, to
distinguish yet more justly, the recitative part of the opera requires
a more masculine beauty of expression and sound. The other, which, for
want of a proper English word, I must call the _songish part_, must
abound in the softness and variety of numbers; its principal intention
being to please the hearing, rather than to gratify the understanding.
It appears, indeed, preposterous at first sight, that rhyme, on any
consideration, should take place of reason; but, in order to resolve
the problem, this fundamental proposition must be settled, that the
first inventors of any art or science, provided they have brought it
to perfection, are, in reason, to give laws to it; and, according to
their model, all after-undertakers are to build. Thus, in epic poetry,
no man ought to dispute the authority of Homer, who gave the first
being to that masterpiece of art, and endued it with that form of
perfection in all its parts, that nothing was wanting to its
excellency.
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