On the score of both public education and its correlative, the steady increase of the ballet’s earnings, too much emphasis cannot be laid on the advantage the institution would have in its facilities for repeating great works at frequent intervals. We have seen how ground gained by the first Russian season in America was partly lost, through conditions that made it impossible to follow up victories. The choreographic idiom once understood in its fulness, and its public having found itself, the changes of fashion in popular taste would be powerless to affect the dignified status of the art. Under commercial conditions, let the general level of taste sag, or appear to sag, and fine expression is no more. The thousands who have half learned to love the good give it up, and revert to the mediocre; while those who are wholly in sympathy with the good say nothing, stay away from the theatre, and are supposed, by managers, not to exist. Good taste never dies out; it only appears to. The amalgamation of the aristocracy of taste that would be effected by the proposed institution would, in itself, have a tremendous importance. Any basis for computing the potential support for good and honest attractions would be of the utmost advantage to their proprietors. Disclosures of a substantial demand would encourage tours of the best in Europe, while a reliable measure of the limitations of such demand would be no less valuable as a warning against reckless expense. Certainly it is to the interest of the art that good attractions shall be materially profitable.
As to the thought of any tendency of such an institution to take the practice of dancing away from the laity, and confine it to paid exhibitions, the effect would be to the contrary. It would, however, make for a rise of standards. Dancing clubs and pantomime clubs that a little fertilisation would bring to light would find in a quasi-public ballet an inspiration and a guide; and the good to public health and spirits, in the way of such clubs alone, would be pronounced. Also, prevalent impressions concerning the relationship between cleverness, “individuality” and genuine workmanship would be modified, to the betterment of what is known as the American spirit.
Greek poets found metre for their verses in the tapping of feet on the floor. Since the days of Gluck and Gretry, the ballet has been among the foremost stimuli and guides in musical composition. Of late years, the Russian ballet’s lift to romantic music is a matter of almost common knowledge. Is it a ballet that is awaited as the inspiration of an American school of music? It is not impossible. But that, and a thousand other questions, are not for present consideration. The present issue is the institution itself.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LA DANSE GRECQUE ANTIQUE: Maurice Emmanuel.—Traces the origin of a number of steps to ancient Greece, by analysis of poses of dancing, figures on ceramics, etc. Good explanation of ballet steps. (French.)
A GRAMMAR OF THE ART OF DANCING: Friedrich Albert Zorn.—Explains a system of choreographic writing by means of symbols to indicate positions and movements. By means (partly) of symbols explains ballet steps, also several ballroom dances. Exact and complete. (Written in German; translated into English and other languages.)
L’ACADEMIE IMPERIALE DE MUSIQUE: Castil-Blaze.—“Histoire litteraire, musicale, choréographique, pittoresque, morale, critique, facétieuse, politique et galante de ce théâtre.” (From 1645 to 1855.) Contains much history and anecdote of Roman Empire and Middle Ages, with descriptions of mediæval ambulatory ballets, etc. (French.)
LES PENSÉES: J.-J. Rousseau.—Defends the dance against attacks of English. Rare; frequently missing from (supposedly) complete editions of the author. (French.)
MEMOIRS ET JOURNAUX: Pierre de l’Estoile.—A collection of anecdotes of the court of Henry III. A mine of information and gossip in relation to masques, etc., in the period described. (French.)
DES BALLETS ANCIENS ET MODERNES, SELON LES RÉGLES DU THÉÂTRE: Claude François Ménestrier. 1682.—Author was a Jesuit priest. Book includes extensive list of ballets produced in France up to year of its publication.