A writer in the last century
expressly complains that at the end of every act, the audience,
"carried away by a jig of Vivaldi's, or a concerto of Giardini's, lose
every warm impression relative to the piece, and begin again cool and
unconcerned as at the commencement of the representation." He
advocates the introduction of music adapted to the subject: "The music
after an act should commence in the tone of the preceding passion, and
be gradually varied till it accords with the tone of the passion that
is to succeed in the next act," so that "cheerful, tender, melancholy,
or animated impressions" may be inspired, as the occasion may need. At
the conclusion of the second act of "Gammer Gurton's Needle," 1566,
Diccon, addressing himself to the musicians, says simply: "In the
meantime, fellows, pipe up your fiddles." But in a later play, the
"Two Italian Gentlemen," by Anthony Munday, printed about 1584, the
different kinds of music to be played after each act are stated,
whether a "pleasant galliard," a "solemn dump," or a "pleasant
allemaigne." So Marston in his "Sophonisba," 1606, indicates
particularly the instruments he would have played during the pauses
between the acts.
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