was a genre of
French drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
of the 18th century. In this type of
sentimental comedy, the impending tragedy was resolved at the end, amid reconciliations and floods of tears. Plays of this genre that ended unhappily nevertheless allowed the audience to see that a "moral triumph" had been earned for the suffering heroes and heroines.
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...
's masterpiece, ''
A Woman Kilde with Kindnesse'' (acted 1603; printed 1607), can be considered a forerunner of this genre.
In
Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée's , the genre is fully developed. Comedy was no longer to provoke laughter, but tears. The innovation consisted in destroying the sharp distinction then existing between tragedy and comedy in
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
. Indications of this change had been already offered in the work of
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, and La Chaussée's plays led naturally to the domestic drama of
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...
and of
Michel-Jean Sedaine
Michel-Jean Sedaine (2 June 1719 – 17 May 1797) was a French dramatist and librettist, especially noted for his librettos for ''opéras comiques'', in which he took an important and influential role in the advancement of the genre from the ...
.
Louis-Sébastien Mercier considered himself a supporter of this genre.
By blurring the distinctions between comedy and tragedy, the formed the basis for the subsequent genre known as , the form of realistic comedy heralded by Diderot's (published 1757, performed 1771).
There are many examples of 'comédie larmoyante' in both French and Italian opera where it gave birth to the genre of
opera semiseria Opera semiseria ('semi-serious opera') is an Italian genre of opera, popular in the early and middle 19th century.
Related to the opera buffa, opera semiseria contains elements of comedy but also of pathos, sometimes with a pastoral setting. It can ...
:
André Grétry's ''
Lucile'',
Nicolas Dalayrac's ,
Pasquale Anfossi's (1776) and
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's
work of the same name (1779).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comedie Larmoyante
French literature
Larmoyante