Note 713 — Chapter XXV

At first, only airs were introduced into the play, but gradually the whole was sung. (Ponz, Viage de España, Madrid, 12mo, Tom. VI., 1782, p 152. Signorelli, Storia dei Teatri, Napoli, 1813, 8vo, Tom. IX. p. 194.) One of these zarzuelas, in which the portions that were sung are distinguished from the rest, is to be found in the “Ocios de Ignacio Alvarez Pellicer de Toledo,” s. l. 1635, 4to, p. 26. Its tendency to approach the Italian opera is apparent in its subject, which is “The Vengeance of Diana,” as well as in the treatment of the story, in the theatrical machinery, etc.; but it has no poetical merit. A small volume, by Andres Dávila y Heredia, (Valencia, 1676, 12mo), called “Comedia sin Música,” seems intended, by its title, to ridicule the beginnings of the opera in Spain; but it is a prose satire, of little consequence in any respect. See ante, pp. 160, 237, 361, 399.