The Italian festivals in their best form mark the point of
transition from real life into the world of art.
The two chief forms of festal display were originally here, as
elsewhere in the West, the Mystery, or the dramatization of sacred
history and legend, and the Procession, the motive and character of
which was also purely ecclesiastical.
The performances of the Mysteries in Italy were from the first more
frequent and splendid than elsewhere, and were most favorably affected
by the progress of poetry and of the other arts. In the course of time
not only did the farce and the secular drama branch off from the
Mystery, as in other countries of Europe, but the pantomime also, with
its accompaniments of singing and dancing, the effect of which depended
on the richness and beauty of the spectacle.
The Procession, in the broad, level, and well-paved streets of the
Italian cities, was soon developed into the 'Trionfo,' or train of
masked figures on foot and in chariots, the ecclesiastical character of
which gradually gave way to the secular. The pro- cessions at the
Carnival and at the feast of Corpus Christi were alike in the pomp and
brilliancy with which they were conducted, and set the pattern
afterwards followed by the royal or princely progresses. Other nations
were willing to spend vast sums of money on these shows, but in Italy
alone do we find an artistic method of treatment which arranged the
processions as a harmonious and significative whole.
Pages:
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459