MUSIC AND THE DRAMA. 189 
be as high again above that, in order that the rigging-loft may be properly 
disposed and that the decorations may be drawn straight up without being 
folded together. The depth below the stage must be at least from 36 it. to 
40 ft., and in large theatres 45 ft. Even quite small theatres require at 
least 12 ft., on account of the traps, &c.; but when the depth is so small, 
the wings can no longer be set on carriages, but must be pushed to and fro 
by hand, an inconvenience which exists in the theatres of Turin and Naples. 
The length or rather depth of the stage cannot be determined by positive 
rules; but it should be at least twice that of the proscenium-opening. 
Besides this there is the proscenium itself, 7. ¢e. the space between the 
curtain, a, and the foot-lights, bb (pl. 25, jig. 14). The deepest stages are 
those of Turin, Naples, and St. Petersburg; yet they have not more than 
seventeen pairs of wings, or, in technical language, are seventeen grooves 
deep. When the stage is too deep, the architecture in the back-ground 
becomes too much reduced by the perspective and gets out of proportion 
with the figures. 
b. The Substructure. The construction of a stage is exceedingly interest- 
ing in its details, and next to that of a ship of the line is difficult to repre- 
sent by drawing. The substructure of a large stage consists of platforms 
( figs. T, 8, 11, 13), the framework of which consists of sleepers, a (jig. 11), 
which rest on stone piers and extend the entire depth of the stage; on these 
stand the pillars which support the beams for the first story of the space 
allotted to the machinery. These sleepers lie seven feet apart, but none 
must lie under the middle of the stage. Above this first platform lies the 
middle floor (fig. 12), on which stand the wing-carriages. The cross-beams 
have a groove in the direction of their length, in which is inserted an iron 
rail with a high rim, thus forming a sort of railway for the wheels, a, 
of the wing-carriages (fig. 15). From this middle floor the posts are 
doubled, as between each two of them there stands a wing-carriage, which 
passes up through the stage. (In fig. 15, d is the stage.) As the tie-beams 
of the substructure cannot be bound together by cross-pieces running from 
front to rear, because the spaces between these tie-beams must be open from 
top to bottom, they are connected at various heights by strong chains 
furnished with hooks, which can be removed for a while as occasion requires. 
The posts, too, are not inserted perpendicularly into the sleepers, but their 
tops incline one eighteenth or one twentieth of their length towards the rear ; 
because if they stood perpendicular, the sloping position of the stage would 
have the effect of pressing the whole framework out towards the footlights : 
the inclined position of the posts, however, averts this evil. 
c. The Stage. In a large theatre the stage must be so constructed as to 
open at any place and still possess the greatest solidity. The stage is com- 
posed of panels of pine boards, a (pl. 26, fig. 9, lower view, jig. 8, section), 
each made of three pieces connected together by two battens, 6; and 
‘between the rows of posts there are small trap-doors, 6b (jig. 11), to admit 
the supporting frames of the shifting pieces or similar objects which are to 
ascend from below. Thus the entire stage is movable, and only the portion 
between the line of the curtain and the foot-lights is nailed fast. For the 
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