Opera in the Age of Rousseau: Music, Confrontation, Realism

Opera in the Age of Rousseau: Music, Confrontation, Realism

by David Charlton
Opera in the Age of Rousseau: Music, Confrontation, Realism

Opera in the Age of Rousseau: Music, Confrontation, Realism

by David Charlton

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Overview

Historians of French politics, art, philosophy and literature have long known the tensions and fascinations of Louis XV's reign, the 1750s in particular. David Charlton's study comprehensively re-examines this period, from Rameau to Gluck and elucidates the long-term issues surrounding opera. Taking Rousseau's Le Devin du Village as one narrative centrepiece, Charlton investigates this opera's origins and influences in the 1740s and goes on to use past and present research to create a new structural model that explains the elements of reform in Gluck's tragédies for Paris. Charlton's book opens many new perspectives on the musical practices and politics of the period, including the Querelle des Bouffons. It gives the first detailed account of intermezzi and opere buffe performed by Eustachio Bambini's troupe at the Paris Opéra from August 1752 to February 1754 and discusses Rameau's comedies Platée and Les Paladins and their origins.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781107504349
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 03/26/2015
Series: Cambridge Studies in Opera
Pages: 436
Product dimensions: 9.65(w) x 6.69(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

David Charlton is Professor Emeritus, Music History, at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is a regular contributor to conferences and has sat on the Council of the Royal Musical Association and the Comité International Hector Berlioz. He has published widely on the history of opera and his books include Grétry and the Growth of Opéra-Comique (1986), E. T. A. Hoffmann's Musical Writings (1989), French Opera, 1730–1830 (2000) and The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera (as editor, 2003).

Table of Contents

Part I. Princely Theatre: 1. Palaces and patronage: Le Devin and the 1754 Alceste; 2. Acting: from convention to discipline; 3. The Opéra: cycles versus changes; 4. The reality of pastoral, 1742–52; 5. Le Devin du Village: a contextual enquiry; Part II. Opinion: 6. Opera as a subject of debate; 7. The Querelle: 'two ridiculous theses'; 8. Visions of reform; Part III. Italian Opera for Paris: 9. Travelling opera; 10. 'A real kick in the backside': Bambini's performances and their effect; 11. Creative consequences; Part IV. Towards European Integration: 12. New generations, new tastes; 13. In three acts: from Zaïde to Les Paladins; 14. In three acts: the replacement of Rameau.
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