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French opera In rivalry with imported Italian opera them with variable success. Perhaps the productions, a separate French tradition most interesting response came from was founded by the Italian Jean-Baptiste Claude Debussy. As in Wagner's works, Lully at the court of King Louis XIV. the orchestra plays a leading role in Despite his foreign origin, Lully Debussy's unique opera Pelléas et established an Academy of Music and Mélisande (1902) and there are no monopolised French opera from 1672. real arias, only recitative. But the Starting with Cadmus et Hermione, Lully drama is understated, enigmatic and and his librettist Quinault created completely unWagnerian. tragédie en musique,a form in Other notable 20th century names include which dance music and choral writing Ravel, Dukas, Roussel and Milhaud. were particularly prominent. Lully's Francis Poulenc is one of the very few operas also show a concern for post-war composers of any nationality expressive recitative which matched the whose operas (which include Dialogues contours of the French language. In the des carmélites)) have gained a 18th century, Lully's most important foothold in the international repertory. successor was Rameau, who composed five Olivier Messiaen's lengthy sacred drama tragédies en musique as well as Saint François d'Assise (1983) numerous works in other genres such as has also attracted widespread attention. opera-ballet, all notable for their rich The early years of the twentieth century orchestration and harmonic daring. After saw two more French operas which, though Rameau's death, the German Gluck was not on the level of Debussy's persuaded to produce six operas for the achievement, managed to absorb Wagnerian Parisian stage in the 1770s. They show influences while retaining a sense of the influence of Rameau, but simplified individuality. These were Gabriel and with greater focus on the drama. At Fauré's austere Classical drama the same time, by the middle of the 18th Pénélope (1913) and Paul century another genre was gaining Dukas's colourful Symbolist drama, popularity in France: opéra Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1907). The more comique. This was the equivalent of the frivolous genres of operetta and German singspiel, where arias alternated opéra comique still thrived in with spoken dialogue. Notable examples the hands of composers like André in this style were produced by Monsigny, Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. Indeed, for Philidor and, above all, Grétry. many people, light and elegant works During the Revolutionary period, like this represented the true French composers such as Méhul and tradition as opposed to the "Teutonic Cherubini, who were followers of Gluck, heaviness" of Wagner. This was the brought a new seriousness to the genre, opinion of Maurice Ravel, who wrote only which had never been wholly "comic" in two short but ingenious operas: L'heure any case. espagnole (1911), a farce set in Spain; By the 1820s, Gluckian influence in and L'enfant et les sortileges (1925), a France had given way to a taste for fantasy set in the world of childhood in Italian bel canto, especially after the which various animals and pieces of arrival of Rossini in Paris. Rossini's furniture come to life and sing.[48] A Guillaume Tell helped found the new younger group of composers, who formed a genre of Grand opera, a form whose most group known as Les Six shared a similar famous exponent was another foreigner, aesthetic to Ravel. The most important Giacomo Meyerbeer. Meyerbeer's works, members of Les Six were Darius Milhaud, such as Les Huguenots emphasised Arthur Honegger and Francis Poulenc. virtuoso singing and extraordinary stage Milhaud was a prolific and versatile effects. Lighter opéra comique composer who wrote in a variety of forms also enjoyed tremendous success in the and styles, from the hands of Boieldieu, Auber, Hérold Opéras-minutes (1927-28), none of and Adolphe Adam. In this climate, the which is more than ten minutes long, to operas of the French-born composer the epic Christophe Colomb (1928). [49] Hector Berlioz struggled to gain a The Swiss-born Honegger experimented hearing. Berlioz's epic masterpiece Les mixing opera with oratorio in works such Troyens, the culmination of the Gluckian as Le roi David (1921) and Jeanne d'Arc tradition, was not given a full au bucher (1938). But the most performance for almost a hundred years. successful opera composer was Poulenc, In the second half of the 19th century, though he came late to the genre with Jacques Offenbach created operetta with the surrealist comedy Les mamelles de witty and cynical works such as Tirésias in 1947. In complete Orphée aux enfers; Charles Gounod contrast, Poulenc's greatest opera, scored a massive success with Faust; and Dialogues des Carmélites (1957) Bizet composed Carmen, which, once is an anguished spiritual drama about audiences learned to accept its blend of the fate of a convent during the French Romanticism and realism, became the most Revolution. Poulenc wrote some of the popular of all opéra comiques. very few operas since the Second World Massenet, Saint-Saëns and Delibes War to win a wide international all composed works which are still part audience. Another post-war composer to of the standard repertory. At the same attract attention outside France was time, the influence of Richard Wagner Olivier Messiaen, like Polulenc a devout was felt as a challenge to the French Catholic. Messiaen's religious drama tradition. Many French critics angrily Saint François d'Assise (1983) rejected Wagner's music dramas while requires huge orchestral and choral many French composers closely imitated forces and lasts four hours. 1 A B C D 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110