Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A note on references
- Introduction
- Part I The ballet d'action in historical context
- Part II The ballet d'action in close-up
- 5 Character and action
- 6 Dialogues in mime
- 7 Choreography is painterly drama
- 8 The admirable consent between music and action
- 9 Putting performance into words
- Conclusions
- Appendix
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
6 - Dialogues in mime
from Part II - The ballet d'action in close-up
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A note on references
- Introduction
- Part I The ballet d'action in historical context
- Part II The ballet d'action in close-up
- 5 Character and action
- 6 Dialogues in mime
- 7 Choreography is painterly drama
- 8 The admirable consent between music and action
- 9 Putting performance into words
- Conclusions
- Appendix
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
A two-line review in the London Times of an unnamed work encapsulates the bizarre subject of dialogue in the ballet d'action. ‘The dialogue of the new pantomime, says a morning paper, is but mediocre – The truth is not a word of dialogue has been yet written for it.’ The reviewer was obviously bemused by the tendency of his journalist colleagues to refer to ‘dialogue’ in a mute, non-verbal performance. His puzzlement is understandable, since, of all the dramatic attributes of the ballet d'action, dialogue is the most problematic.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Mime, Music and Drama on the Eighteenth-Century StageThe Ballet d'Action, pp. 140 - 161Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
Dramatic Dialogue: The Duologue of Personal EncounterCambridge University Press 1983 19Google Scholar
Scritti Teatrali e LetterariRomeSalerno 1994 168
1765
Scritti Teatrali e LetterariRomeSalerno 1994 166
Music and the French Enlightenment: Reconstruction of a Dialogue, 1750–1764OxfordClarendon Press 1993Google Scholar
Les Fêtes d'Hébé, ou Les Talents Lyriques, Ballet en Trois Actes et un PrologueParisDurand et Fils 1895Google Scholar
Correspondence and Related DocumentsVoltaire Foundation 1973