intimate music must be eschewed. Very few complicated basses, unless the theme be simple; no roulades in the singing; and almost always must the words correspond exactly with the music; that is, in syllabic combination. Everything must be large, for remember, this is a picture to be seen from a distance. You must paint with a broom. Since the words intended to be sung express but one idea, and since the composer has only to think of the unity of his composition and is not forced to fill it with affected quips and turns, he will usually adopt such a meter or rhythm that he shall require no other throughout the whole piece. Gluck realized this, and he was truly great only when he limited his orchestra and his singers to simple unity."
With very few reservations (necessary only because Grètry wilfully limits musical drama to his own capacity) these are sound reflections, profound even, and are as applicable to the drama as "they are to music; we have only to apply them. Yes, "Everything that is to be seen and heard at close range must be eliminated."—"Great mass effects and sweep," and "You must paint with a broom." Farewell, complicated psychology, insidious and vicious and obscure symbolism—the whole art of the boudoir and drawing-room! Or, rather, let it continue its moribund existence in the out-of-date theaters. But it will be ostracized from our art, as something tiresome and absurd. Our People's Theater is led to seek by force of circumstances the freedom of the Greek theater. Broad action, faces with
