Full Description
For decades, eighteenth-century Paris had been declining into a baroque backwater. Spectacles at the opera, once considered fit for a king, had become "hell for the ears," wrote playwright Carlos Goldoni. Then, in 1774, with the crowning of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, Paris became one of the world's most vibrant musical centers.
Austrian composer Christophe-Willibald Gluck, protege of the queen, introduced a new kind of tragic opera--dramatic, human and closer to nature. The expressive pantomime known as ballet d'action, forerunner of the modern ballet, replaced stately court dancing. Along the boulevards, people whistled lighter tunes from the Italian opera, where the queen's favorite composer, Andre Modeste Gretry, ruled supreme.
This book recounts Gluck's remaking of the grand operatic tragedy--long symbolic of absolute monarchy--and the vehement quarrels between those who embraced reform and those who preferred familiar baroque tunes or the sweeter melodies of Italy. The turmoil was an important element in the ferment that led to the French Revolution and the beheading of the queen.
Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
A Note on Sources
1. A Country Ripe for Change
A Surprise Meeting 7 • The Harp 9 • Music Takes Over 10 • The Petit Trianon 11 • The Trianon Theater
2. Christoph Willibald Gluck and the Quest for Drama
French Influence in Vienna 16 • Reform Operas 17 • Calzabigi 18 • Ideas of Paris 19 • Du Roullet 20 • A Bold Enterprise 21 • Stormy Rehearsals 22 • A Letter from Rousseau 23 • This Happy Revolution 24 • A New Part for the Goddess 25 • Orphée et Eurydice
3. "Simplicity, Truth, and Naturalness"
Alceste 28 • Armide 28 • Dramatic Impact 29 • Painter, Poet and Musician 30 • A Terrible Battle 32 • La Harpe's Attack 32 • Anonyme de Vaugirard
4. The Baroness and the Broken Old Songbird
Two Divas 35 • A Fight with a Prince 36 • The Voice of the People 37 • Brutal Hostility 38 • Madame la Baronne 40 • Arnould Attempts a Comeback
5. Niccolò Piccinni
In Search of a Fortune 43 • Du Barry's Rivalry 44 • Is There No Sun? 46 • Orlando and Orlandino
6. Iphigénie en Champagne
Atys 51 • An Operatic Duel 52 • The Drunken Soprano 54 • A Convivial Dinner
7. A Star Is Born: Madame Saint-Huberty
Didon 59 • An Unfortunate Marriage 60 • Didon Transformed 61 • Authentic Costume 63 • Quarrels with Management 64 • Piccinni Returns to Naples
8. Mozart
The Duc de Guînes 66 • A Warning 67 • From Child Prodigy to Nobody 68 • From Mannheim to Paris 69 • Baron von Grimm 73 • Aristocrats 74 • Slow Return to Salzburg
9. Antonio Salieri
Écho et Narcisse 78 • Les Danaïdes 80 • Salieri's Deception 82 • Les Horaces
10. Tragédie Lyrique
In Search of a Common Language 85 • Italy versus France 85 • Lully 86 • Rameau 87 • Scribblers 89 • The Buffoons 89 • Religious Undertone 90 • Rousseau 91 • Le devin du village 93 • A Hell for the Ears 95 • The French Howl 96 • Why Was the Paris Opéra So Different?
11. The Entrepreneur
The Performing Monkey Pays 99 • De Vismes du Valgay 100 • Expanding the Repertoire 101 • A Fresh Start 102 • Castor et Pollux 104 • Les Bouffons, Bis 104 • A Modern Impresario 106 • The Opéra Conspiracy 106 • De Vismes' Denial
12. Ballet and the Art of Gesture
Dupré's Graceful Steps 110 • Ballets within Operas 111 • Pantomime 111 • Gluck and Ballet 112 • Noverre 113 • Enormous Ill Will
13. Marie-Madeleine Guimard
Mirza et Lindor 117 • Extravagance 119 • A Favorite at Court 120 • Ballet and Meaning 121 • Nature 122 • Grace
14. Concerts
Concert Life 124 • Aristocrats 126 • Foreigners 126 • Baron Bach 127 • The Concert Spirituel 127 • Gossec and the Concert des Amateurs 128 • L'Orchestre de la Société Olympique 130 • The Court 131 • Menus Plaisirs
15. Opéra Comique
The Italian Theater 133 • Jean Monnet 133 • Financial Crisis 135 • The Merged Company 137 • An Italian Innovator 138 • Monsigny 138 • Philidor 140 • Nicolas-Marie d'Alayrac
16. Marguerite Montansier
Into the Queen's Circle 144 • The Theater at Versailles 145 • Paisiello 147 • Montansier's Role 147 • Move to Paris 148 • Théâtre de Monsieur
17. André-Modeste Grétry
The Queen's Music Director 152 • Grétry Walks to Rome 153 • A Meeting with Voltaire 154 • Hostile Reception in Paris 155 • Marmontel Comes to the Rescue 156 • Opus One 157 • Zémire et Azor 158 • Michel-Jean Sedaine 160 • Tragedies
18. Jean-Nicolas Bouilly
Pierre le Grand 163 • Antoinette 163 • Grétry's Great Loss 164 • Grétry Quits Music 166 • Revolutionary Politics 167 • Fidelio
19. The Opéra in the 1780s
Fire, Again! 169 • A Race to Rebuild 171 • Safety Concerns 172 • Antoine Dauvergne 172 • The Stars Run Away 174 • Mlle. Théodore 175 • Undisputed Talent 176 • Dauberval Flees to London
20. Antonio Sacchini
L'Olympiade 179 • Xenophobia at the Opéra 180 • Renaud 181 • Chimène 182 • Dardanus 183 • Œdipe à Colone 184 • Arvire et Évélina
21. Figaro and Tarare
The Marriage of Figaro 187 • The Necklace Affair 187 • The End Game 188 • A Wave of Slander 189 • Tarare 190 • An Oriental Theme
22. The Show Goes On
Resentment of Bureaucracy 194 • Dauvergne Reappointed 195 • A School for Principals 197 • Les Filles de l'Opéra 197 • The Show Goes On 198 • Tu dors Brutus
23. Religion and Revolution
The Grand Motet 202 • Jean-François Lesueur 203 • Gossec and the Big Sound 204 • François Giroust 205 • A New Religion 207 • A Revolution in Song 209 • La Marseillaise 211 • Dialogue des Carmélites
24. Tragic Epilogue
A Fateful Aria 214 • Censorship 216 • Farewell to the Theater 216 • The Temple
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
