Opéra Comique
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''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
that contains spoken dialogue and
aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...
s. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a lesser extent the
Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne or Théâtre-Italien are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed b ...
),
M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet Mary Elizabeth Caroline Bartlet (1948 – 11 September 2005) was a Canadian-born musicologist known for her scholarship on French music, and particularly opera, in the 18th and 19th centuries. She also produced pioneering Critical edition (opera), ...
and
Richard Langham Smith Richard Langham Smith (born 10 September 1947, Barnes, London) is an English musicologist who has written on Debussy and contemporary French music in general. For his contribution to the latter he was admitted to rank of Chevalier of the Ordre d ...

"Opéra comique"
'' Grove Music Online''. Oxford Music Online. 19 November 2009
which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the Paris theatre of the same name, ''opéra comique'' is not necessarily comical or shallow in nature; '' Carmen'', perhaps the most famous ''opéra comique'', is a
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
.


Use of the term

The term ''opéra comique'' is complex in meaning and cannot simply be translated as "comic opera". The genre originated in the early 18th century with humorous and satirical plays performed at the theatres of the Paris fairs which contained songs ('' vaudevilles''), with new words set to already existing music. The phrase ''opéra comique en vaudevilles'' or similar was often applied to these early-stage works. In the middle of the 18th century, composers began to write original music to replace the ''vaudevilles'', under the influence of the lighter types of Italian opera (especially Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's ''
La serva padrona ''La serva padrona'', or ''The Maid Turned Mistress'', is a 1733 intermezzo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) to a libretto by Gennaro Federico, after the play by Jacopo Angello Nelli. It is some 40 minutes long, in two parts without o ...
''). This form of ''opéra comique'' was often known as ''
comédie mêlée d'ariettes The French term ''comédie mêlée d'ariettes'' ('comedy mixed with little songs') was frequently used during the late ''ancien régime'' for certain types of '' opéra comique'' (French opera with spoken dialogue). The term became popular in th ...
'', but the range of subject matter it covered expanded beyond the merely comic. By the 19th century, ''opéra comique'' often meant little more than works with spoken dialogue performed at the Opéra-Comique theatre, as opposed to works with recitative delivery which appeared at the
Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
. Thus, probably the most famous of all ''opéras comiques'', Georges Bizet's '' Carmen'', is on a tragic subject. As Elizabeth Bartlet and
Richard Langham Smith Richard Langham Smith (born 10 September 1947, Barnes, London) is an English musicologist who has written on Debussy and contemporary French music in general. For his contribution to the latter he was admitted to rank of Chevalier of the Ordre d ...
note in their '' Grove'' article on the subject, composers and librettists frequently rejected the use of the umbrella term ''opéra comique'' in favor of more precise labels.


History


Beginnings

''Opéra comique'' began in the early eighteenth century in the theatres of the two annual Paris fairs, the Foire Saint Germain and the Foire Saint Laurent. Here plays began to include musical numbers called ''vaudevilles'', which were existing popular tunes refitted with new words. The plays were humorous and often contained satirical attacks on the official theatres such as the
Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...
. In 1715 the two fair theatres were brought under the aegis of an institution called the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique. In spite of fierce opposition from rival theatres the venture flourished and leading playwrights of the time, including
Alain-René Lesage Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...
and
Alexis Piron Alexis Piron (9 July 1689 – 21 January 1773) was a French epigrammatist and dramatist. Life He was born at Dijon, where his father, Aimé Piron, was an apothecary. Piron senior wrote verse in the Burgundian language. Alexis began life as ...
, contributed works in the new form.Grove


Late 18th century

The ''
Querelle des Bouffons The ("Quarrel of the Comic Actors"), also known as the ("War of the Comic Actors"), was the name given to a battle of musical philosophies that took place in Paris between 1752 and 1754. The controversy concerned the relative merits of French an ...
'' (1752–54), a quarrel between advocates of French and Italian music, was a major turning-point for ''opéra comique''. Members of the pro-Italian faction, such as the philosopher and musician
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
, attacked serious French opera, represented by the '' tragédies en musique'' of Jean-Philippe Rameau, in favor of what they saw as the simplicity and "naturalness" of Italian comic opera (
opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
), exemplified by
Pergolesi Pergolesi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, (1710–1736), Italian composer, violinist, and organist * Michael Angelo Pergolesi, 18th-century Italian decorative artist {{Surname Italian-langu ...
's ''
La serva padrona ''La serva padrona'', or ''The Maid Turned Mistress'', is a 1733 intermezzo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) to a libretto by Gennaro Federico, after the play by Jacopo Angello Nelli. It is some 40 minutes long, in two parts without o ...
'', which had recently been performed in Paris by a traveling Italian troupe. In 1752, Rousseau produced a short opera influenced by Pergolesi, ''
Le Devin du village ''Le devin du village'' ("The Village Soothsayer") is a one-act French opera ( intermède) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who also wrote the libretto. It was the first work in the repertory of the Académie Royale de Musique for which the text and mus ...
'', in an attempt to introduce his ideas of musical simplicity and naturalness to France. Its success attracted the attention of the Foire theatres. The next year, the head of the Saint Laurent theatre, Jean Monnet, commissioned the composer
Antoine Dauvergne Antoine Dauvergne (3 October 1713 – 11 February 1797) was a French composer and violinist. Dauvergne was born in Moulins, Allier. He served as master of the ''Chambre du roi'', director of the Concert Spirituel from 1762 to 1771, and direc ...
to produce a French opera in the style of ''La serva padrona''. The result was '' Les troqueurs'', which Monnet passed off as the work of an Italian composer living in Vienna who was fluent in French, thus fooling the partisans of Italian music into giving it a warm welcome. Dauvergne's opera, with a simple plot, everyday characters, and Italianate melodies, had a huge influence on subsequent ''opéra comique'', setting a fashion for composing new music, rather than recycling old tunes. Where it differed from later ''opéras comiques'', however, was that it contained no spoken dialogue. In this, Dauvergne was following the example of Pergolesi's ''La serva padrona''. The short, catchy melodies which replaced the ''vaudevilles'' were known as ''ariettes'' and many ''opéras comiques'' in the late 18th century were styled ''comédies mêlées d'ariettes''. Their librettists were often playwrights, skilled at keeping up with the latest trends in the theatre.
Louis Anseaume Louis Anseaume (1721 – 7 July 1784 in Paris) was a French playwright and librettist. He contributed the words for operas by André Ernest Modeste Grétry, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, Egidio Romualdo Duni, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Franço ...
,
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 th ...
and
Charles Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, a ...
were among the most famous of these dramatists. Notable composers of ''opéras comiques'' in the 1750s and 1760s include Egidio Duni,
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny ( – ) was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (1813). He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical gen ...
and
François-André Danican Philidor François-André Danican Philidor (7 September 1726 – 31 August 1795), often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the ''opéra comique''. ...
. Duni, an Italian working at the francophile court of
Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
, composed ''
Le peintre amoureux de son modèle (''The Painter in Love with his Model'') is an '' opéra comique'' in two acts by the composer Egidio Duni with a libretto by Louis Anseaume. It was first performed at the Théâtre de la Foire Saint-Laurent in Paris on 26 July 1757. The Italia ...
'' in 1757 with a libretto by Anseaume. Its success encouraged the composer to move to Paris permanently and he wrote 20 or so more works for the French stage. Monsigny collaborated with Sedaine in works which mixed comedy with a serious social and political element. '' Le roi et le fermier'' (1762) contains Enlightenment themes such as the virtues of the common people and the need for liberty and equality. Their biggest success, '' Le déserteur'' (1769), concerns the story of a soldier who has been condemned to death for deserting the army. Philidor's most famous ''opéra comique'' was '' Tom Jones'' (1765), based on
Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel ''Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
's 1749 novel of the same name. It is notable for its realistic characters and its many ensembles. The most important and popular composer of ''opéra comique'' in the late 18th century was
André Grétry André Ernest Modeste Grétry (; baptised 11 February 1741; died 24 September 1813) was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (present-day Belgium), who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous ...
. Grétry successfully blended Italian tunefulness with a careful setting of the French language. He was a versatile composer who expanded the range of ''opéra comique'' to cover a wide variety of subjects from the Oriental fairy tale ''
Zémire et Azor ' (''Zémire and Azor'') is an opéra comique, described as a ''comédie-ballet mêlée de chants et de danses'', in four acts by the Belgian composer André Grétry. The French text was by Jean-François Marmontel based on ''La Belle et la bête'' ...
'' (1772) to the musical satire of '' Le jugement de Midas'' (1778) and the domestic farce of ''
L'amant jaloux ''L'amant jaloux, ou Les fausses apparences'' (''The Jealous Lover, or False Appearances'') is a French comédie mêlée d'ariettes in three acts by André Grétry first performed at Versailles on 20 November 1778. The libretto is by the Irish play ...
'' (also 1778). His most famous work was the historical "rescue opera", '' Richard Coeur-de-lion'' (1784), which achieved international popularity, reaching London in 1786 and
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1797.Holden article on Grétry. Between 1724 and 1762 the Opéra-Comique theatre was located at the Foire Saint Germain. In 1762 the company was merged with the
Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne or Théâtre-Italien are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed b ...
and moved to the Hôtel de Bourgogne. In 1783 a new, larger home was created for it at the Théâtre Italien (later renamed the
Salle Favart The Salle Favart, officially the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, is a Paris opera house and theatre, the current home of the Opéra-Comique. It was built from 1893 to 1898 in a neo-Baroque style to the designs of the French architect Louis Bernie ...
).


Revolution and the 19th century

The
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
brought many changes to musical life in Paris. In 1793, the name of the Comédie-Italienne was changed to the Opéra-Comique, but it no longer had a monopoly on performing operas with spoken dialogue and faced serious rivalry from the
Théâtre Feydeau The Théâtre Feydeau (), a former Parisian theatre company, was founded in 1789 with the patronage of Monsieur, Comte de Provence (later to become Louis XVIII), and was therefore initially named the Théâtre de Monsieur. It began performing in t ...
, which also produced works in the ''opéra comique'' style. ''Opéra comique'' generally became more dramatic and less comic and began to show the influence of musical
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
. The chief composers at the Opéra-Comique during the Revolutionary era were
Étienne Méhul Étienne Nicolas Méhul (; 16 November 1765 ~ 24 December 1817) was a French composer of the classical period. He was known as "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution". He was also the first composer to be called a ...
,
Nicolas Dalayrac Nicolas-Marie d'Alayrac (; bapt. 13 June 175326 November 1809), nicknamed the Musician poet, more commonly Nicolas Dalayrac, was a French composer of the Classical period. Intended for a military career, he made the acquaintance of many mu ...
,
Rodolphe Kreutzer Rodolphe Kreutzer (15 November 1766 – 6 January 1831) was a French violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer of forty French operas, including '' La mort d'Abel'' (1810). He is probably best known as the dedicatee of Beethoven's Violin S ...
and
Henri-Montan Berton Henri-Montan Berton (17 September 1767 – 22 April 1844) was a French composer, teacher, and writer, mostly known as a composer of operas for the Opéra-Comique. Career Henri-Montan Berton was born the son of Pierre Montan Berton.Charlton ...
. Those at the Feydeau included Luigi Cherubini,
Pierre Gaveaux Pierre Gaveaux (9 October 1761 – 5 February 1825) was a French operatic tenor and composer, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's ''Médée'' and for composing '' Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal'', the first operatic version of t ...
,
Jean-François Le Sueur Jean-François Le Sueur (more commonly Lesueur; ) (15 February 17606 October 1837) was a French composer, best known for his oratorios and operas. Life He was born at Plessiel, a hamlet of Drucat near Abbeville, to a long-established family of ...
and
François Devienne François Devienne (; 31 January 1759 – 5 September 1803) was a French composer and professor for flute at the Paris Conservatory. Career Devienne was born in Joinville, as the youngest of fourteen children of a saddlemaker. After receiving ...
. The works of Méhul (for example '' Stratonice'', 1792; ''
Ariodant ''Ariodant'' is an '' opéra comique'' (''drame mêlé de musique'') in three acts by the French composer Étienne Méhul first performed at the Théâtre Favart in Paris on 11 October 1799. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman is based on ...
'', 1799), Cherubini ('' Lodoïska'', 1791; ''
Médée ''Médée'' is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Pierre Corneille in 1635. Summary The heroine of the play is the sorceress Médée. After Médée gives Jason twin boys, Jason leaves her for Creusa. Médée ...
'', 1797; ''
Les Deux journées ''Les deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau'' (''The Two Days, or The Water Carrier'') is an opera in three acts by Luigi Cherubini with a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It takes the form of an opéra comique, meaning not that the subject matte ...
'', 1800) and Le Sueur ('' La caverne'', 1793) in particular show the influence of serious French opera, especially
Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
, and a willingness to take on previously taboo subjects (e.g. incest in Méhul's ''
Mélidore et Phrosine is an opera by the French composer Étienne Méhul. It takes the form of a ''drame lyrique'' (a type of ''opéra comique'') in three acts. The libretto, by Antoine Vincent Arnault, is loosely based on the myth of Hero and Leander. The work was f ...
'', 1794; infanticide in Cherubini's famous ''Médée''). Orchestration and harmony are more complex than in the music of the previous generation; attempts are made to reduce the amount of spoken dialogue, and unity is provided by techniques such as the "reminiscence motif" (recurring musical themes representing a character or idea). In 1801 the Opéra-Comique and the Feydeau merged for financial reasons. The changing political climate – more stable under the rule of
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
– was reflected in musical fashion as comedy began to creep back into ''opéra-comique''. The lighter new offerings of Boieldieu (such as '' Le calife de Bagdad'', 1800) and Isouard ('' Cendrillon'', 1810) were a great success. Parisian audiences of the time also loved Italian opera, visiting the Théâtre Italien to see ''
opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
'' and works in the newly fashionable bel canto style, especially those by Rossini, whose fame was sweeping across Europe. Rossini's influence began to pervade French ''opéra comique''. Its presence is felt in Boieldieu's greatest success, ''
La dame blanche ''La dame blanche'' ( English: ''The White Lady'') is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no fewer than five works of the Sc ...
'' (1825) as well as later works by Auber (''
Fra Diavolo Fra Diavolo (lit. Brother Devil; 7 April 1771–11 November 1806), is the popular name given to Michele Pezza, a famous guerrilla leader who resisted the French occupation of Naples, proving an "inspirational practitioner of popular insurrect ...
'', 1830; ''
Le domino noir ''Le domino noir'' (''The Black Domino'') is an '' opéra comique'' by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed on 2 December 1837 by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris.Wild and Charlton (2005), p. 226. The lib ...
'', 1837),
Ferdinand Hérold Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold (28 January 1791 – 19 January 1833), better known as Ferdinand Hérold (), was a French composer. He was celebrated in his lifetime for his operas, of which he composed more than twenty, but he also wrote ballet mus ...
(''
Zampa ''Zampa'','' ou La fiancée de marbre'' (''Zampa, or the Marble Bride'') is an opéra comique in three acts by French composer Ferdinand Hérold, with a libretto by Mélesville. The overture to the opera is one of Hérold's most famous works an ...
'', 1831), and
Adolphe Adam Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and '' Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas '' Le po ...
(''
Le postillon de Lonjumeau ''Le postillon de Lonjumeau'' (''The Postillion of Lonjumeau'') is an opéra-comique in three acts by Adolphe Adam to a French libretto by Adolphe de Leuven and Léon Lévy Brunswick. The opera has become the most successful of Adam's works, ...
'', 1836).


See also

* Musical theatre


References

Notes Sources * Holden, Amanda (Ed.) (2001), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Opera Comique Opera genres Opera terminology