Page 124 - HandbookMarch1

Le Sueur's Musical Aesthetics 623

The orchestra is the mimetic parallel of the stage action, and the
total effect of the music and the movement must be one. The in-
struments of the orchestra are to reflect the inner emotions of the
stage figures. (One critic has exceeded even the far-reaching.inten-
tions of the composer in his suggestion that opera singers move in a
manner that will encourage the audience to "imagine the gesture to
be the cause, and not the effect, of the motive played by the
orchestra.")16
The role of the orchestra in Le Sueur's musical aesthetics is
characterized by multiplicity of function. Instrumental passages in
the operas participate more fully than is implied by the word "ac-
companiment." Invested with the responsibility of suggesting hidden
emotion or verbally inexpressible sentiments, the orchestra over-
comes the limitation of function described in the phrase "picturesque
part" and attempts to engage fully in musical characterization.
Through the simultaneous interdependence of gesture and tone an
ancient ideal spurs a new structure whose details reflect current
idioms.
According to the views and practice of Le Sueur, the orchestra
functions, in relation to stage action, on three levels of response:
1. It serves as an expressive parallel to the human movement on
the stage, whether this is in the form of pantomime or gesture
by a soloist or an ensemble.
2. It combines with dance and with chorus in an impressive frame-
work of group or mass participation.
3. It shares in the establishment of a new vision of scenic music
in which the interplay of human and mechanical resources leads
to a spectacle of large-scale proportions. In this case, the role of
orchestral music exceeds the creation of suitable atmosphere
for the accomplishment of stage transformations by "pre-dispos-
ing the listener's emotions to become engaged in the action.""7
The orchestral passage-work of short melodic figures or rhythmic
formulas has a purpose beyond the provision of exciting ac-
companiments during which mechanically contrived events such
as shipwrecks, bridge collapses, or natural catastrophes are

16 Edward J. Dent, "The Rise of the Romantic Opera," The Messenger Lectures
(Cornell University, 1937-38), unpublished typescript, pp. 88-89.
17 Aubrey Sam Garlington, Jr., "The Concept of the Marvelous in French and
German Opera, 1770-1840: A Chapter in the History of Opera Esthetics" (Ph.D.
diss., University of Illinois, 1965), p. 209.

This content downloaded from 139.94.248.191 on Mon, 24 Feb 2020 22:04:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms