Untitled

Ex. 85 CO
&-
Et.8 5 (ii)
THE DANIEL PLAYS 219
nr r*ii i.t a I V
Ec-ce ve-nit san-ctusil-Ie, san-cto-rum san-ctis-si-mus.
Ec-ce ve-nit san-ctusil -
(Lo, that holy man cometh, most holy among the holy.)
le, san-cto - rum san-ctis - si-mus.
and the drama is rounded off by an angel singing the hymn, c
Nuntium
vobis fero de supernis' (I bring you tidings from the highest), the
only liturgical piece in the whole composition, other than the Te
Deum which follows. Here, surely, we have most of the ingredients
for a medieval opera.
A brief reference must be made here to Terence's celebrated imita
tor, the learned German nun, Roswitha, who in the tenth century
had at Gandershekn studied the Roman author, and remained torn
between fascination and pious deprecation. The result was that she
herself produced six plays in Latin prose avowedly modelled on
the form of that master, but without imitating
his metres or the
6
worldly licence' of his plots. Her own themes celebrated Christian
chastity and the constancy of the martyrs, but whether the plays, brief
expositions of traditional legends, were acted in any way even in her
own nunnery is still a matter of controversy. It is even doubtful
whether in those times the normal methods by which the classical
stage would have presented a Terence play were really understood.
Estimates of the real value of Roswitha's dramatic experiments
vary widely, 1 but the conclusion that they were almost wholly un
known until their rediscovery in the early sixteenth century has yet
to be shaken. What to the present writer seem exaggerated claims
have been made in late years as to the part they may have played in
the development of drama. It may be true that they 'fairly cry out
for performance', but until they can show themselves linked to an
evolutionary development such as the liturgical drama can daim, with
records and details of production, these extraordinary plays must
remain an interesting side-issue.
1 See^cs&m,Ocl!945,forani^^
The writer leans to the view that tibe plays were probably performed in foe lifetime of
the authoress, but admits the absence of proof. The article piwides a useful and up-todate
bibliography CHI the set^eoL Karl Young, op, cit, i, pp* 2-6, has a scholarly review
of the question, and conctedes that Roswitha*s work had no influence on the develop
ment of drama.