French opera

In rivalry with imported Italian opera productions, ain Wagner's works, the orchestra plays a leading role in
separate French tradition was founded by the ItalianDebussy's unique opera
Jean-Baptiste Lully at the court of King Louis XIV.Pelléas et
Despite his foreign origin, Lully established an AcademyMélisande (1902) and there
of Music and monopolised French opera from 1672.are no real arias, only recitative. But the drama is
Starting with Cadmus et Hermione, Lully and hisunderstated, enigmatic and completely unWagnerian.
librettist Quinault createdOther notable 20th century names include Ravel,
tragédie en musique,a formDukas, Roussel and Milhaud. Francis Poulenc is one of
in which dance music and choral writing werethe very few post-war composers of any nationality
particularly prominent. Lully's operas also show awhose operas (which include Dialogues des
concern for expressive recitative which matched thecarmélites)) have gained a
contours of the French language. In the 18th century,foothold in the international repertory. Olivier Messiaen's
Lully's most important successor was Rameau, wholengthy sacred drama Saint
composed five tragédiesFrançois d'Assise (1983) has
en musique as well as numerous works in otheralso attracted widespread attention.
genres such as opera-ballet, all notable for their richThe early years of the twentieth century saw two
orchestration and harmonic daring. After Rameau'smore French operas which, though not on the level of
death, the German Gluck was persuaded to produceDebussy's achievement, managed to absorb
six operas for the Parisian stage in the 1770s. TheyWagnerian influences while retaining a sense of
show the influence of Rameau, but simplified and withindividuality. These were Gabriel
greater focus on the drama. At the same time, by theFauré's austere Classical
middle of the 18th century another genre was gainingdrama
popularity in France: opéra©lope (1913) and Paul Dukas's colourful Symbolist
comique. This was the equivalent of the Germandrama, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1907). The more
singspiel, where arias alternated with spoken dialogue.frivolous genres of operetta and
Notable examples in this style were produced byopéra comique still thrived in
Monsigny, Philidor and, above all,the hands of composers like
Grétry. During theAndré Messager and
Revolutionary period, composers such asReynaldo Hahn. Indeed, for many people, light and
Méhul and Cherubini, whoelegant works like this represented the true French
were followers of Gluck, brought a new seriousnesstradition as opposed to the "Teutonic heaviness" of
to the genre, which had never been wholly "comic" inWagner. This was the opinion of Maurice Ravel, who
any case.wrote only two short but ingenious operas: L'heure
By the 1820s, Gluckian influence in France had givenespagnole (1911), a farce set in Spain; and L'enfant et
way to a taste for Italian bel canto, especially after theles sortileges (1925), a fantasy set in the world of
arrival of Rossini in Paris. Rossini's Guillaume Tell helpedchildhood in which various animals and pieces of
found the new genre of Grand opera, a form whosefurniture come to life and sing.[48] A younger group of
most famous exponent was another foreigner,composers, who formed a group known as Les Six
Giacomo Meyerbeer. Meyerbeer's works, such as Lesshared a similar aesthetic to Ravel. The most
Huguenots emphasised virtuoso singing andimportant members of Les Six were Darius Milhaud,
extraordinary stage effects. LighterArthur Honegger and Francis Poulenc. Milhaud was a
opéra comique alsoprolific and versatile composer who wrote in a variety
enjoyed tremendous success in the hands of Boieldieu,of forms and styles, from the
Auber, Hérold and AdolpheOpéras-minutes (1927-28),
Adam. In this climate, the operas of the French-bornnone of which is more than ten minutes long, to the
composer Hector Berlioz struggled to gain a hearing.epic Christophe Colomb (1928). [49] The Swiss-born
Berlioz's epic masterpiece Les Troyens, the culminationHonegger experimented mixing opera with oratorio in
of the Gluckian tradition, was not given a fullworks such as Le roi David (1921) and Jeanne d'Arc
performance for almost a hundred years.au bucher (1938). But the most successful opera
In the second half of the 19th century, Jacquescomposer was Poulenc, though he came late to the
Offenbach created operetta with witty and cynicalgenre with the surrealist comedy Les mamelles de
works such as Orphée auxTirésias in 1947. In complete
enfers; Charles Gounod scored a massive successcontrast, Poulenc's greatest opera, Dialogues des
with Faust; and Bizet composed Carmen, which, onceCarmélites (1957) is an
audiences learned to accept its blend of Romanticismanguished spiritual drama about the fate of a convent
and realism, became the most popular of allduring the French Revolution. Poulenc wrote some of
opéra comiques. Massenet,the very few operas since the Second World War to
Saint-Saëns and Delibes allwin a wide international audience. Another post-war
composed works which are still part of the standardcomposer to attract attention outside France was
repertory. At the same time, the influence of RichardOlivier Messiaen, like Polulenc a devout Catholic.
Wagner was felt as a challenge to the French tradition.Messiaen's religious drama Saint
Many French critics angrily rejected Wagner's musicFrançois d'Assise (1983)
dramas while many French composers closely imitatedrequires huge orchestral and choral forces and lasts
them with variable success. Perhaps the mostfour hours.
interesting response came from Claude Debussy. As