This scene shows that the Burmese employ in their dramas loud and soft music, according to the events represented; and that the orchestra is conducted by a leader or music-director. The following example, from another scene, indicates the employment of the full orchestra fortissimo in conformity with the action.
Forest. A Hunter.
Hunter.—"I and my dog will now go and kill whatever enemy appears. With my bow and my dog I care not what I encounter, elephants, deer, or what not; so come along (to his dog) brave Tiger. (To the band.) Now as I go on a grand expedition, burst forth like thunder!"
A detailed description of a kind of opera which was performed at Singapore is given by Charles Wilkes;[101] but, as the actors were transient visitors to Singapore, who came from the neighbourhood of Madras, their play must have been a specimen of the popular Hindu dramas. Its title was 'The Results of Misplaced Friendship;' the words were recited in a "monotonous recitative," accompanied by a band of instrumental performers. As regards the plot of the piece, suffice it to say that it had a moral aim, and that a Brahmin and a clown were the most amusing characters of the Dramatis Personæ. The clown displayed much cleverness in mimicking a European in his dress and manners. The 'Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus,' translated from the original Sanskrit, by R. H. Wilson, London, 1835, contain but few allusions to music; but these are ancient dramas, and the Hindus possess, as R. H. Wilson in his interesting Introduction points out, different kinds of theatrical entertainments. There was in former time no building appropriated to the public performance of dramas. The Kings had in their palaces a kind of music hall, called Sangita Sálá, in which were given entertainments consisting principally of music and dancing, and occasionally of dramatic representations.
Turning to Thibet, we meet with actors who are also singers, dancers, and acrobats. They perform in the streets, courtyards, and other open places of the towns, and their entertainments are enlivened by a musical band, and by the witticisms of their clowns. The actors generally wear masks.[102]
In China, dramatic performances, enacted by itinerant players, take place not unfrequently in the Joss-houses, or houses of religious ceremonies. The plays generally have reference to some remarkable event in the lives of the earliest Chinese Emperors, and almost always combine the comic with the tragic. The musical band occupies the back part of the stage behind the actors. The expenses of the entertainment are sometimes defrayed by private persons. Thus, on a certain occasion three performances were given in a town daily, for three days in succession, in honour of "The Mother of Heaven," a goddess who presides over the welfare of sailors, the defrayers of the entertainment being three merchants who had just received the returns of a lucky venture.[103] Female characters are represented by boys and eunuchs. The plot of a Chinese drama, which was performed at Tien-sing before the English Ambassador, in a temporary theatre erected opposite to his yacht, is described by Sir G. Staunton, as follows:—
"An Emperor of China and his Empress are living in supreme felicity, when on a sudden his subjects revolt. A civil war ensues, battles are fought; and, at last, the arch-rebel, who is a General of cavalry, overcomes his sovereign, kills him with his own hand, and routes the imperial army. The captive Empress then appears upon the stage in all the agonies of despair naturally resulting from the loss of her husband and her dignity, as well as the apprehension of that of her honour."
How interesting would it be to the student of National Music to possess an exact notation of the music belonging to this scene, and to ascertain in what manner the intense emotions and vehement passions represented are expressed in the Chinese musical compositions!
"Whilst she is tearing her hair, and rending the skies with her complaints, the conqueror enters, approaches her with respect, addresses her in a gentle tone, soothes her sorrows with his compassion, talks of love and adoration, and like Richard the Third with Lady Anne, in Shakespeare, prevails in less than half-an-hour on the Chinese Princess to dry up her tears, to forget her deceased consort, and to yield to a consoling wooer. The piece concludes with a wedding and a grand procession."[104]
The Japanese are fond of dramatic representations, and have special buildings for their performances. Captain Golownin describes the theatre in Matsmai, the capital city of the island of Yesso, as "a large and pretty high building. At the back is the stage, which, as with us, has a raised floor. From the stage to the front wall, where the entrance is situated, two rows of seats are placed for the spectators. In the middle, where we have the pit, there is a vacant space in which straw mats are laid down for the spectators. As this space is much lower than the stage, those in front do not intercept the view from those behind. There is no orchestra, either because the Japanese perform no music in their theatres, or because the musicians are reckoned among the actors."