French Opera 1730–1830: Meaning and Media

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Contents: The romance and its cognates: narrative, irony and vraisemblance in early opera-comique
Continuing polarities: Opera theory and opera-comique
Orchestra and chorus at the Comedie-Italienne (Opera-Comique), 1755-1799
The overture to Philidor's Le BA"cheron (1763)
'Envoicing' the orchestra: Enlightenment metaphors in theory and practice
'Minuet-scenes' in early opera-comique
Motive and motif: Mehul before 1791
Motif and recollection in four operas of Dalayrac
The French theatrical origins of Fidelio
Storms, sacrifices: the 'Melodrama Model' in Opera
Ossian, Le Sueur and opera
The dramaturgy of 'Grand Opera': some origins
On the nature of 'Grand Opera'
'A maA (R)tre d'orchestre... conducts': new and old evidence on French practice
Index.

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The majority of these collected essays date from 1992 onwards, three of them having been specially expanded for this volume. Drawing on recent archival research and new musicological theory, they investigate distinctive qualities in French opera from early opéra comique to early grand opera. ’Media’ is interpreted in terms of both narrative systems and practical theatre resources. One group of essays identifies narrative systems in ’minuet-scenes’, in the diegetic romance, and in special uses of musical motives. Another group concerns the theory and Ã¦sthetics of opera, in which uses of metaphor help us interpret audience reception. A third group focuses on orchestral and staging practices, brought together in a new theory of the 'melodrama model’ linking various genres from the 1780s with the world of the 1820s. French opera’s relation with literature and politics is a continuing theme, explored in writings on prison scenes, Ossian, and public-private dramaturgy in grand opera. David Charlton has written widely on French music and opera topics for over 25 years. The selection of his articles presented here focuses on the period 1730-1830 when Paris was a hotbed of influential ideas in music and music theatre, with many of these ideas taken up by foreign composers. This volume assesses the French contribution to the development of Classical and Romantic styles and genres which has hitherto not received the attention it deserves.

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