Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/506

* DBAMA. 488 DBAMA. as the "Pear Garden.' was founded by an emperor of the T"ang Dynasty. Drama proper did not develop till about the thirteenth eeutury. Its best period is considered that of the Yuen Dy- nasty, ending in the fourteenth century; but per- haps the most famous of all Chinese plays is the one called Pi I'a Chi (Story of the Guitar), of a somewhat later period. There are many printed collections of plays, but these diller materially from their acted versions. The avowed aims of the Chinese drama are of the most elevated sort, glorifying all the virtues. The pieces themselves are generally rather arid and conventional: as acted, they include much interpolated matter, such as to give reason, per- haps, for the low esteem in which actors are held. Chinese plays are broadly classified, not as tragedies and comedies, but as "civil" or "niili- tarj".' The latter include combats and violent deeds of all sorts. The former are quieter and deal with the more ordinary aspects of social life, with a tendency to the comic. There is little attempt at realism or stage setting. Wo- men's parts are taken by men. Whole series of pieces are commonly performed without in- termission, a fact which has led to state- ments as to the extraordinary length of Chinese plays. The only drama of importance developed among the native civilizations q{ America was the so-called Inca drama of Peru. Meoi.evai. Drama. Europe during the Middle Ages saw dramatic progress in one direction. -Many of the Christian Fathers condemned dramatic exhibitions of all kinds, but the Church as a whole, more practical, undertook to offset the pagan shows by a Christianized equivalent. This seems to have arisen nattirally. out of the responsive chants and narrations of biblical events with which the congregations were both instructed and entertained, and which in time came to be a regular liturgical drama, developing into the miracle-plans (q.v.), and mysterirs (q.v. ), and pasition-plays (q.v.) which at Ober- ammergati and elsewhere have come down to our own day. With a similar purpose arose also the moritlitifS (q.v.), which were often rendered by wandering churchmen. Out of such iH'ginnings, varied somewhat by occasional secular tenden- cies (see Fabce), modern drama may be said to have promised to develop, when the Renais- sance came with a new impulse. Italian Drama. In Italy, where the revival of the classical type was earliest, the religious drama reached a considerable degree of literary progress before it was superseded. The fifteenth eenturj' saw the development of the so-called Rapprcscntazione Sarru. produced chiefly in connection with the festivities in honor of Saint John the Baptist. Notable among these are the Abramo e Isacco (1440) of Feo Belcari, and Lorenzo de' Medici's f>an fliovanni and Son Paolo. The modem history of the drama in Italy, passing by less regiilar attempts like that of Poliziano, is considered to begin with Tris- sino's Sofoiiisha (I.t15). a dull and conventional tragj'dy in blank verse. About the same time Plautean comedy was revived in the writings of C'arilinal Hibbicna. Arinsto. and Miichiavclli. Tas- so's Aminta (1573) set a fashion of pastoml drama which was much imitated. Toward the end of the century, Giambattista della Porta, play- wright as well as philosopher, exhibited a num- ber of comedies of a familiar and sometimes even farcical kind, but of an agreeable original- ity. The political inllueiice of Spain was now at its height on Italian territory, and the roman- tic drama of the West gradually found favor in Italy. Hurgliini, Michelangelo Buonarroti, nephew of the great artist, and other writers continued the reaction against the domination of the classic taste: notable in the movement were Buonarroti's comedies, Taiuia (1(>1"2) and Ficra (1018). About the beginning of the seven- teenth century, too. Kinuivini and others, by the union of music with the romantic drama, succeeded in establishing what was called melo- drama. Kegular tragedy and comedy were well- nigh supersede<l. and all Italy turned to the miisiea opera. Zeno. a century later, fixed the nuisical drama on a literary level., and in it -Metastasio. whose pujailarity was established by the performance in Rome (1723) of his Didone Ahhaiidoiinta. completely fascinated the Italian public. His long series of works culminated in the triunqili of his .l/i7io Reflolo (1750). Meanwhile, however, the regular drama had been revived. The arch;eologist Maffei composed his Meropc (17131. with the definite purpose of restoring the classic tragedy to Italy. The political preponderance of Spain had now given way to that of France, and MatTei's friend, the actor-playwright Riceoboni, contributed not a little to the consequent increase of French in- fluence upon the Italian stage. The other fore- most name-- of the eighteenth century in Italian drama are those of Goldoni, Gozzi. and Allieri. (loldoni. who left his native Venice in 17(>1 to complete liis life in Paris, has been called "the Italian Molifre': he is the great Italian exem- plar of regular literary comedy. His great rival. Carlo (Jozzi, won fame in quite a different style. Taking the popular institution of the commcdia drll' arte ("comedy of masks'), for which Goldoni expressed contempt, he gave it a literary form which for a few years enjoyed innnense stiM'Css. The bold and passionate Al- fieri inaugurated a new era in Italian tragedy. He was a follower of the classic school, an obscrxer of the unities, and aimed, while writing such tragedies as FHippo II., Saul, and La Con- fliura de' Pazzi. to help revive the vigor of the national spirit. His successors, among them Monti, N'iccolini. Manzoni, Silvio Pellieo. and, later. Cossa. somewhat relaxed their adherence to classic forms: in the nineteenth century Italy shared in the extending influence of Shake- spearean methods. The dramatists thus affected have given prominence to historical drama, and some of their works have tieen of a high order. In recent years the novelist and poet D'Anminzio has gained some distinction as a playwright, with dranuis written for the actress Dusc. Among the other Italian actors of the past century who have gained an international reputation are Modena. Tonniiaso Salvini. and Madame Ristori. Spanish Drama. The great period of the Spanish drama came earlier than did that of Italy, and at a time when the best poets, while writing for the stage, still busied their pens in the composition of religioiis dramas in the ser- vice of the Church. Passing over "-ome of the earlier names, among them those of Santillana. I.ope de Rueda, who, as actor, manager, and plaj-vright, has been called the Patriarch of the