Most of the leading characters are duplicated or
triplicated. Miranda has a sister, Dorinda, who is repellently
coquettish. This new creation finds a lover in another new character,
a brainless youth, Hippolito, who has never before seen a woman.
Caliban becomes the most sordid of clowns, and is allotted a sister,
Milcha, who apes his coarse buffoonery. Ariel, too, is given a female
associate, Sycorax, together with many attendants. The sailors are
increased in number, and a phalanx of dancing devils join in their
antics.
But the chief feature of the revived _Tempest_ was the music,
the elaborate scenery, and the scenic mechanism.[19] There was
an orchestra of twenty-four violins in front of the stage, with
harpsichords and "theorbos" to accompany the voices; new songs
were dispersed about the piece with unsparing hand. The curious
new "Echo" song in Act III.--a duet between Ferdinand and Ariel--was
deemed by Pepys to be so "mighty pretty" that he requested the
composer--Bannister--to "prick him down the notes." Many times did the
audience shout with joy as Ariel, with a _corps de ballet_ in
attendance, winged his flight to the roof of the stage.
[Footnote 19: The Dryden-D'Avenant perversion of _The Tempest_ which
Pepys witnessed underwent a further deterioration in 1673, when Thomas
Shadwell, poet laureate, to the immense delight of the playgoing
public, rendered the piece's metamorphosis into an opera more
complete.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158