For observe, O Abu
Nozeyr, that each art aims to awake its own specific emotion. Sculpture
appeals to our sense of form, painting to our delight in colour, dancing
to the pleasure of rhythmic motion, the mechanic arts to our liking for
sudden action, while music and the uttered word represent the union of
the clearest and vaguest modes of expressing thought. It follows
therefore that the highest phase of human emotion can only be expressed
by that art which gives us simultaneously the living form of a Venus de
Milo with the colouring of a Titian, the grace of a Nautch girl, the
miracle-working powers of a Hindu fakir, the elocution of a Demosthenes,
and the voice of a Malibran."
"By the beard of the Prophet," exclaimed Abu Nozeyr, "I thought such
bliss was to be had only in the Paradise of the Faithful; and that is
Grand Opera, Harding Effendi?"
"With certain modifications," I replied. "Nothing human is perfect, Abu
Nozeyr. It is a regrettable circumstance that the human voice attains
its perfect development many years after the human form. Hence our
heroes on the lyric stage are all middle-aged and our heroines somewhat
heavy in movement.
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