Pantomime
Silent action carried by music, plus Britain's separate Christmas pantomime tradition
Related
Pantomime in music theatre means silent action: gesture and body tell the story while music keeps time, mood and scene changes. Noverre's ballet-pantomime and the London Harlequin entertainments bound movement to the orchestra.
Britain later used the word for Christmas pantomime: fairy-tale plots such as Cinderella or Robinson Crusoe, with songs, dance, cross-dressing and audience participation. It is not silent at all; only the name survives from the older tradition.
It is not ballet, whose core is dance vocabulary, nor masque, which centres on court ritual and scenery. Its difference from incidental music is that action leads and music must follow it.
Sources
- 哑剧的芭蕾哑剧源流与英国圣诞童话剧支系，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Pantomime"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.