have
been that of the 'Calandra,' a comedy which Balthazzar Peruzzi caused to
be performed before Leo X in 1516 at the Chateau of St. Ange." Duruy de
Noirville[21] says that Peruzzi revived the "ancient decorations" of the
theater in this "Calandra" which "was one of the first Italian plays in
music prepared for the theater. Italy never saw scenery more magnificent
than that of Peruzzi." This is a matter in which Noirville cannot be
called authoritative, but it is certain that the fame of the production
of "Calandra" was well established. Noirville's authority for his
statements was Bullart's "Academie des Sciences et d'Arts," Brussels,
1682. Whether the comedy had music or not we cannot now determine, and
it is a matter of no grave importance. The interesting point is that the
fame of the scenic attire of "Calandra" seems to have been well
established among the early writers on the theater and that they also
regarded as significant its indoor performance. The performance of
Poliziano's "Orfeo," however, took place some forty years earlier than
that of "Calandra," and it was without doubt in a closed hall and
therefore most probably with artificial light of flambeaux and lamps.

[Footnote 21: "Histoire du Theatre de l'Opera en France depuis
l'Etablissement de l'Academie Royale de Musique jusqu'a present."
(Published anonymously.) Paris, 1753.]

CHAPTER VII

Character of the Music

It becomes now the duty of the author to make some examination of the
music of this first lyric drama. But here we unfortunately find
ourselves adrift upon a windless ocean. We are driven to the necessity
of deducing our information from the results of analogical
reconstruction. Nothing indeed can be more fascinating than the attempt
to arrive at a comprehension of the music of Poliziano's "Orfeo." All
record of it appears to be lost and the Italian savants who have given
us illuminating studies of the literary structure of the work, of its
environment and its performance, have hazarded scarcely a remote
conjecture as to the style of its music.

But we are not without a considerable amount of knowledge of the kinds
of music in use at the time when this work was produced and we can
therefore arrive at some idea of the nature of the lyric elements of the
"Orfeo." First of all we may fairly conclude that some portions of the
text were spoken. It seems, for instance, improbable that the prologue
delivered by Mercury could