INDIVIDUALISM IN ART. 
277 
INDIVIDUALISM IN ART. 
W. KINETON PARKES. 
(Continued from page 250.) 
If we trace the history of the opera, we shall see how 
individualism gradually asserted itself. 
Opera is the blending of three arts, the art of acting, of 
music, and of poetry. It originated in the application of 
recitative to recitation. Recitative was in the beginning 
all the music that was used in opera, if it can be called opera 
at that stage. This in time gave place to concerted music : 
choruses, part-song's, and solos alternated with the recitatives, 
and dialogue became entirely eliminated. From being a play 
in its function it became one of the best forms of musical 
expression, and it is now, with oratorio, the highest form of 
musical art in which poetry is employed. The history of 
opera is one of the most striking examples of the development 
and progress of an art. “Transformation of the homogeneous 
into the heterogeneous,” we know, “is that in which progress 
essentially consists,” * and this is exemplified in the evolution 
of the opera as it is in all the products of human thought 
and action. From the simple homogeneous productions of 
unknown men, we see opera in our time evolved into the 
complex, heterogeneous production of several great men. For 
the successful performance of primitive opera little was 
required, but see the numberless things that have to be 
combined for the performance of a great modern opera in 
which the individuality of those whose genius has produced 
it must be displayed. The instrumental music is composed by 
a great musician in such a way that it entails a large 
and varied orchestra; the vocal parts are written so that 
none but the most highly trained singers can sing them. The 
music is ingeniously wrought into harmony with the words of 
the poet, and the whole must be interpreted by the genius of 
the actor-singer. Take Gounod’s “ Faust: ” there is the 
wonderful individuality of the composer ; there is the glorious 
individuality of Goethe ; and to interpret these great masters 
we must have such men as Signor Foli and Maas ; such women 
as Mdme. Patti and Mdme. Nilsson. 
In the realm of pure sensuous music we may instance the 
great and vivid individuality of Wagner. With him, every¬ 
thing is in harmony with the music; the acting is that 
* Herbert Spencer. Essay on “ Progress.” 
