MUSIC OF THE ROMAN THEATRE.
In Rome as in ancient Greece there was a school of music, which was
devoted to the stage; but it was not held in such high esteem, nor was
it the work of the poet to supply it.
In the French _operas bouffes_ of our day we find the libretto and music
to be the work of different persons, and in this respect the Roman
comedies resembled them, save that while we rank the music above the
text, the Romans valued the words far more than the music; but in other
respects there was also much resemblance between the Roman tragedies and
modern _Opera Seria_. They divided the music into parts, such as
dialogues or duets, solos, and choruses.
Cicero says that a connoisseur could instantly determine by the style of
the music alone, what tragedy was being performed; this would indicate
an amount of tone-painting, which justifies our comparison of the Roman
with the modern stage.
The theatres were, as usual, of immense size. The Emperor Trajan built
an Odeum, or music hall, of which Apollodorus was the architect, which
was capable of seating twelve thousand spectators. These structures were
usually built of stone, and in the most thorough manner; there is
however one notable exception to the rule. In the reign of Tiberius an
amphitheatre erected by Atilius at Fidenæ, fell in during a gladiatorial
contest, and twenty thousand persons lost their lives.[68]
The music of the stage, tended rather to virtuosity than to real beauty,
the natural result being, that while Rome possessed many skillful
performers, she had no musical composers of eminence.[69] The names of
the composers of music to the comedies of Terence and Plautus are still
extant, but they seem to have enjoyed no special renown.
Quintilian speaks of the weak and womanish music of the stage, and
Martial in satirizing the Gaditanian female singers which were so much
sought for in the later days of ancient Rome, says, that it was the
surest sign of a fashionable dandy, to hear a young man trilling out the
latest Gaditanian ditties.
Many of the theatrical performers and singers were slaves, who were
bought for the purpose, and the most stringent and cruel measures were
taken to prevent them from ruining their voices by any kind of
debauchery. Theatrical factions also existed for this or that singer, in
which at times many lives were lost.[70] Laws were afterwards enacted,
to guard against such riots.
Another and less tolerable branch of Roman public musical diversion was
the dance, which although most skillfully performed by talented
pantomimists, was so indecent in its general character, and choice of
subjects, that it received strong condemnation from many writers of that
day.
Many anecdotes remain, showing how well acted this art must have been.
Demetrius, the cynic (in the reign of Nero) having reproached a dancer,
that his art was but an adjunct to music, the performer caused the
musical accompanists to cease playing, and enacted the subject of Mars
and Venus without music, and in such a manner that Demetrius was obliged
to retract, and said, “Even your hands seem to speak.”[71]
The professional dancers, or musical pantomimists, were most appreciated
under the luxurious reign of the Cæsars. A prince of Pontus once came to
the court of Nero, where he was royally entertained; as he did not
understand the Latin language, he could not appreciate theatrical
representations, but a celebrated dancer appearing, he was able to
understand his actions from beginning to end. On his departure, when
Nero had given him presents, he said “If instead, you would give me this
dancer, it would be the greatest favor of all;” on being asked the
reason, he replied that he had many barbarian neighbors, whose language
he did not understand, and that such an unfailing interpreter would be
of incalculable value to him.[72]
We can learn how much these performers entered into their acting by the
following anecdote. A dancer once acting the part of Ajax, in a double
character dance, became so frenzied, that he tore the clothes off from
the time-beater, (or conductor of music) seized the flute of the
accompanist and broke it over the head of Ulysses. The better class of
spectators condemned such a novel exhibition, but the lower orders
applauded vociferously. The performer afterwards became calm again, but,
on being desired to repeat the performance, he replied that it was
sufficient for a man to make a fool of himself _once_.[73]
The dance in Rome was esteemed only as an amusement and sensual
enjoyment, and was not studied by the respectable classes, save
sometimes in connection with singing, in which case it was not driven to
such excess as the pantomime dance described above; but neither song,
instruments, or dance were studied to any large extent among the masses
of the Roman people.