Synopses & Reviews
This is the first study to recognize the wider picture of opera within early-modern French culture. Downing Thomas considers the place of music within a cultural environment--the employment of music by Louis XIV as a symbol of absolutism; the use of music as a statement against the monarchy; and the long-term development of opera as a reflection of humanism. Thomas examines key works by Lully, Rameau, and Charpentier, among others, and extends his reach from the late seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth.
Review
"This book is not an easy read, but any time spent between its covers will be amply rewarded.... a fluently written study that moves smoothly across the decades to become a cultural history of French opera from its origins to the Revolution.... Highly recommended." Choice
Review
"It goes beyond strict musical analysis and examines these oeuvres and their contexts from a broad cultural perspective, drawing on the writings of contemporary philosophers and commentators." Opera Quarterly"This book is not an easy read, but any time spent between its covers will be amply rewarded.... a fluently written study that moves smoothly across the decades to become a cultural history of French opera from its origins to the Revolution.... Highly recommended." Choice
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-404) and index.
Synopsis
This is the first study to recognise the broad impact of opera in early-modern French culture.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. French Opera in the Shadow of Tragedy: 1. Song as performance and the emergence of French opera; 2. The opera king; 3. The ascendance of music and the disintegration of the hero in Armide; 4. The disruption of poetics I: Medee's excessive voice; 5. The disruption of poetics II: Hippolyte et Aricie and the reinvention of tragedy; Part II: Opera and Enlightenment: From Private Sensation to Public Feeling: 6. Heart strings; 7. Music, sympathy, and identification at the Opéra-Comique; 8. Architectural visions of lyric theater and spectatorship; 9. Opera and common sense: Lacépède's Poetique de la musique; Conclusions; Works Cited; Index.