Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

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to the ba.ok a grcnd effect is obtained by
me< ns of on extraordinary bit of sky that
rau t be seen to be understood, eo wild
and frenzied is ito appearance.
Sullivan's music received considerable praise and was a-reoted
on the opening night v;ith come enthusiasm. The Times devoted
an entire column to the ocore, of which it regarded this
fourth act as the most important passage. The '..orde of the
witches' dialogue were declaimed to the music, rat..icr than
spoken or sung, an; 1 the orchestra was hidden, after the manner
of Bayreuth.
The incantation is introduced by on andante
maestoso of a singularly weird character, and
that character is well sustained throughout
the ccene. Ac each apparition rises from the
cauldron the strains of the orchestra empharize
its nature i- an individual and striking manner.
The critic was rcDiuiOcl by the first chorus of The Golden
Legend, but did not approve of the conclusion to the act,
which GO once1, reminiscent (as "operatic, evil—tongued" perrons
night object) of ':'.I''..o.Vin; fore. Sullivan end Irving wore
called before the curtain at the end of the ret, in true
operatic fashion.
Such an clabor te episode r.ii ;ht seem out of place in the
context of Irving 1 s carefully worked-out development of Ilacbeth's
psycholof-/, but it was in some respects consistent vitli his
ap^ro cii to the nlay. It conformed to Mo presentation of
tlio hero's icntal crises a^^inst a background of visual effects,
ac r. more eiahirrte equivalent of the "significant" tableaux
e.t the end of i.(nportant scenes. It was in keeping with his
policy of conbii.ing all the arts, in a Gesajn-blcunstwerk whose
Wagnerif n affinities were ompliasizod by its ur,e of the nor;t
advanced tocluiical anarajus (ctern, electric Lighting,
"tr-uirifomr tions") a.nc 1 the conceal nont of the jrchectra. : ihis
overall artistic policy and Irving's personal, pictorial
technique as an actor were co;.i^lcnent: ry. It v;a.s, moreover,
a new departure, for the witches were played by actresses
rather tham ac ors, and the v.unic attributed to Loc?:e had been
diacrrded. TJio opinion of The ^iner: was representative of the