Grand opera is a genre of 19th-centuryopera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts andorchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on or around dramatic historic events. The term is particularly applied (sometimes specifically used in its French-language equivalentgrand opéra,pronounced[ɡʁɑ̃t‿ɔpeʁa]) to certain productions of theParis Opéra from the late 1820s to around 1860;[1] 'grand opéra' has sometimes been used to denote the Paris Opéra itself.
The term 'grand opera' is also used in a broader application in respect of contemporary or later works of similar monumental proportions from France, Germany, Italy, and other countries.[2]
It may also be used colloquially in an imprecise sense to refer to 'serious opera without spoken dialogue'.[3]
Paris at the turn of the 19th century drew in many composers, both French and foreign, especially those of opera. Several Italians working during this period, includingLuigi Cherubini, demonstrated that the use ofrecitative was suited for the powerful dramas that were being written. Others, such asGaspare Spontini, wrote works to glorifyNapoleon. These operas were composed on a suitably grand scale for the Emperor. Other factors which led to Parisian supremacy at operatic spectacle were the ability of the large Paris Opéra to stage sizeable works and recruit leading stage-painters, designers and technicians, the long tradition of Frenchballet, and the art of stagecraft. The first theatre performance lit by gas, for example, wasAladin ou La lampe merveilleuse at the Opéra in 1823. The theatre had the innovative designersDuponchel,Cicéri andDaguerre on its staff as well.
.jpg)
Several operas byGaspare Spontini,Luigi Cherubini, andGioachino Rossini can be regarded as precursors to French grand opera. These include Spontini'sLa vestale (1807) andFernand Cortez (1809, revised 1817), Cherubini'sLes Abencérages (1813), and Rossini'sLe siège de Corinthe (1827) andMoïse et Pharaon (1828). All of these have some of the characteristics of size and spectacle that are normally associated with French grand opera. Another important forerunner wasIl crociato in Egitto byMeyerbeer, who eventually became the acknowledged king of the grand opera genre. InIl crociato, which was produced by Rossini in Paris in 1825 after success inVenice,Florence and London. Meyerbeer succeeded in blending Italian singing-style with an orchestral style derived from his German training, introducing a far wider range of musical theatre effects than traditional Italian opera. Moreover,Il crociato with its exotic historical setting, onstage bands, spectacular costumes and themes of culture clash, exhibited many of the features on which the popularity of grand opera would be based.
What became the essential features of 'grand opéra' were foreseen byÉtienne de Jouy, the librettist ofGuillaume Tell, in an essay of 1826:
Division into five acts seems to me the most suitable for any opera that would reunite the elements of the genre: [...] where the dramatic focus was combined with the marvellous: where the nature and majesty of the subject [...] demanded the addition of attractive festivities and splendid civil and religious ceremonies to the natural flow of the action, and consequently needed frequent scene changes.[4]
| The golden age of grand opera, 1828–1850 |
|---|
 |
|
The first opera of the grand opera canon is, by common consent,La muette de Portici (1828) byDaniel François Auber. This tale of revolution set inNaples in 1647, ending with an eruption ofMount Vesuvius into which the heroine precipitates herself, embodied the musical and scenicsensationalism which were to be grand opera's hallmark. The libretto forLa muette was byEugène Scribe, a dominant force in French theatre of the time who specialized in melodramatic versions, often involving extremes of coincidence, of historical topics which were well-tailored for the public taste of the time. This was his first libretto for the Opéra. He was to write or be associated with many of the libretti of the most successful grand operas which followed.La muette's reputation was enhanced by it being the touchpaper for a genuine revolution when it was produced inBrussels in 1830.
In 1829, this was followed by Rossini's swansongGuillaume Tell. The resourceful Rossini, having largely created a style of Italian opera to which European theatre had been in thrall, recognized the potential of new technology which included larger theatres and orchestras and modern instrumentation. He proved in this work that he could rise to meet them in this undoubted grand opera. However, his comfortable financial position, and the change in political climate after theJuly Revolution, persuaded him to quit the field. Therefore,Guillaume Tell was his last public composition.
After the Revolution, the new regime determined toprivatize the previously state-run Opéra and the winner of the contract was a businessman who acknowledged that he knew nothing of music,Louis-Désiré Véron. However, he soon showed himself extremely shrewd at discerning public taste by investing heavily in the grand opera formula. His first new production was a work long contracted from Meyerbeer, whose premiere had been delayed by the Revolution. This was fortunate for both Véron and Meyerbeer. AsBerlioz commented, Meyerbeer had "not only the luck to be talented, but the talent to be lucky."[5] Meyerbeer's new operaRobert le diable chimed well with the liberal sentiments of 1830s France. Moreover, its potent mixture of melodrama, spectacle, titillation (including a ballet of the ghosts of debauched nuns), and dramatic arias and choruses went down extremely well with the new leaders of taste, the affluent bourgeoisie. The success ofRobert was as spectacular as its production.
Over the next few years, Véron brought on Auber'sGustave III (1833, libretto by Scribe, later adapted forVerdi'sUn ballo in maschera), andFromental Halévy'sLa Juive (1835, libretto also by Scribe), and commissioned Meyerbeer's next operaLes Huguenots (1836, libretto by Scribe and Deschamps), whose success was to prove the most enduring of all grand operas during the 19th century.
Having made a fortune in his stewardship of the Opéra, Véron cannily handed on his concession toHenri Duponchel, who continued his winning formula, if not to such financial reward. Between 1838 and 1850, the Paris Opéra staged numerous grand operas of which the most notable were Halévy’sLa reine de Chypre (1841) andCharles VI (1843),Donizetti'sLa favorite andLes martyrs (1840) andDom Sébastien (1843, librettos by Scribe), and Meyerbeer'sLe prophète (1849) (Scribe again). 1847 saw the premiere ofGiuseppe Verdi's first opera for Paris,Jérusalem, an adaptation, meeting the grand opera conventions, of his earlierI Lombardi alla prima crociata.
For production statistics of grand opera in Paris, seeList of performances of French grand operas at the Paris Opéra.
A notable feature of grand opera as it developed in Paris through the 1830s was the presence of a lavish ballet, to appear at or near the beginning of its second act. This was required, not for aesthetic reasons, but to satisfy the demands of the Opera's wealthy and aristocratic patrons, many of whom were more interested in the dancers themselves than the opera. These individuals also did not want their regular meal-times disturbed. The ballet therefore became an important element in the social prestige of the Opéra.[6] Composers who did not comply with this tradition might suffer as a consequence, as didRichard Wagner with his attempt to stage a revisedTannhäuser as a grand opera in Paris in 1861, whichhad to be withdrawn after three performances, partly because the ballet was in act 1 (when the dancers' admirers were still at dinner).
The most significant development, or transformation, of grand opera after the 1850s was its handling byGiuseppe Verdi, whoseLes vêpres siciliennes (1855), proved to be more widely given in Italy and other Italian-language opera houses than in France. The taste for luxury and extravagance at the French theatre declined after the 1848 revolution, and new productions on the previous scale were not so commercially viable. The popularFaust (1859) byCharles Gounod started life as anopéra comique and did not become agrand opera until rewritten in the 1860s.Les Troyens byHector Berlioz (composed 1856–1858, later revised), was not given a full performance until nearly a century after Berlioz had died, although portions had been staged before, but the spirit of this work is far removed from the bourgeois taste of the grand opera of the 1830s and 1840s.
By the 1860s, taste for the grand style was returning.La reine de Saba byCharles Gounod was rarely given in its entirety, although the big tenor aria, "Inspirez-moi, race divine", was a popular feature of tenor recitals. Meyerbeer died on 2 May 1864; his late opera,L'Africaine, was premiered posthumously in 1865.Giuseppe Verdi returned to Paris for what many see as the greatest French grand opera,Don Carlos (1867). Ambroise Thomas contributed hisHamlet in 1868, and finally, at the end of the decade, the revisedFaust was premiered at the Opéra in its grand opera format.
During the 1870s and 1880s, a new generation of French composers continued to produce large-scale works in the tradition of grand opera but often broke its melodramatic boundaries. The influence of Wagner's operas began to be felt, and it is a moot point whether these works can be simply called grand opera.Jules Massenet had at least two large scale historical works to his credit,Le roi de Lahore (Paris, 1877, assessed byGrove as "the last grand opera to have a great and widespread success".[7]) andLe Cid (Paris, 1885). Other works in this category includePolyeucte (Paris, 1878) byCharles Gounod andHenry VIII byCamille Saint-Saëns (Paris, 1883).Ernest Reyer had started to compose hisSigurd years earlier, but, unable to get it premiered in Paris, settled forLa Monnaie in Brussels (1884). What may have been one of the last successful French grand operas was by an unfamiliar composer,Émile Paladilhe:Patrie! (Paris, 1886). It ran up nearly 100 performances in Paris, and quite a few in Belgium, where the action takes place, but has since disappeared without a trace.
The expensive artifacts of grand opera (which also demanded expensive singers)—Les Huguenots was known as 'the night of the seven stars' because of its requirement of seven top-grade artistes—meant that they were economically the most vulnerable as new repertoire developed. Hence they lost pride of place at the Paris Opéra (especially when many of the original stage sets were lost in fire in the late 19th century). However, as late as 1917, theGaîté-Lyrique devoted an entire season to the genre, including Halévy'sLa reine de Chypre.
Some of these works –Guillaume Tell,La favorite,Les vêpres siciliennes andDon Carlos, for instance – continue to have a place in the operatic repertoire.[8][9][10][11][12] Even the pieces that are rarely staged are increasingly being resuscitated for compact disc recordings, and many are revived at opera festivals and by companies such asPalazetto Bru Zane.
After virtually disappearing from the operatic repertory worldwide in the 20th century, Meyerbeer's major grand operas are once again being staged by leading European opera houses.[13][14][15]
French grand opera was generally well received in Italy, where it was always performed in Italian translation.
Italian operas with their own ballet started to become relatively common in the late 1860s and 1870s. Some of these, such asIl Guarany by the Brazilian composerAntônio Carlos Gomes were designated as "opera ballo" (i.e. 'danced opera'). Others, such asLa Gioconda byAmilcare Ponchielli were not, although they qualified for the description. They constituted an evolution of grand opera.
Verdi'sAida, despite having only four acts, corresponds in many ways to the grand opera formula. It has a historical setting, deals with 'culture clash' and contains several ballets as well as its extremely well known Grand March. It was a huge success, both at its world premiere in Cairo in 1871 and its Italian premiere in Milan in 1872. It led to an increase in the scale of some of the works by other composers that followed it. This was particularly noticeable in works byGomes (Fosca in 1873, and hisSalvator Rosa in 1874);Marchetti (especiallyGustavo Wasa in 1875); Ponchielli: (I Lituani in 1874) andLa Gioconda (Milan, 1876, revised 1880)); andLauro Rossi (La Contessa di Mons, premiered in Turin in 1874).
Other operas on this scale continued to be composed by Italian composers during the 1880s and even 1890s, but with less frequency; examples being Marchetti'sDon Giovanni d'Austria (1880) and Ponchielli'sIl figluol prodigo (also 1880).[16]
French grand operas were regularly staged by German opera houses; an early article byRichard Wagner depicts German opera managers hurrying to Paris to try to identify the next hit.[17] The Dresden performances ofLe prophète (in German) in 1850 were the occasion for a series of articles by Wagner's disciple,Theodor Uhlig, condemning Meyerbeer's style and crudely attributing his alleged aesthetic failure to hisJewish origins, inspiring Wagner to write his anti-Jewish diatribeDas Judenthum in der Musik ("Jewishness in Music").
Meyerbeer himself was German by birth, but directed nearly all his mature efforts to success in Paris.Richard Wagner'sRienzi, the composer's first success (producedDresden, 1842) is totally Meyerbeerean in style. Wagner was at that time a sincere admirer of the older composer, who assisted him in arranging performances ofRienzi andDer fliegende Holländer in Dresden and Berlin. As described above, Wagner attempted in 1860/1861 to recastTannhäuser as a grand opera, and thisParis version, as later adapted for Vienna, is still frequently produced today.Götterdämmerung, as noted byGeorge Bernard Shaw,[18] shows clear traces of some return by Wagner to the grand opera tradition, and a case could also be argued forDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg.[19]
Meyerbeer's only mature German opera,Ein Feldlager in Schlesien is in effect aSingspiel, although act 2 has some of the characteristics of grand opera, with a brief ballet and an elaborate march. The opera was eventually transformed by the composer toL'étoile du nord.
In many German-language houses, especially in Vienna, whereEduard Hanslick and laterGustav Mahler championed Meyerbeer and Halévy respectively, the operas continued to be performed well into the 20th century. The growth ofanti-Semitism in Germany, especially after theNazi Party obtained political power in 1933, spelled the end of the works of these composers on German stages until modern times whenLa Juive,Les Huguenots,Le prophète andL'Africaine have been revived.[20][21][22][23]
The first American grand opera,Leonora, was written by the American composerWilliam Fry forAnn Childe Seguin to take the title role in the 1840s.[24]
| Subgenres | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Performing arts | |||
| Visual arts | |||
