Opéra comique (French:[ɔpeʁakɔmik]; plural:opéras comiques) is a genre ofFrench opera that contains spoken dialogue andarias. It emerged from the popularopéras comiques en vaudevilles of theFair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a lesser extent theComédie-Italienne),[1] which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the Paris theatreof the same name,opéra comique is not necessarily comical or shallow;Carmen, perhaps the most famousopéra comique, is atragedy.
The termopéra 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 phraseopéra 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 thevaudevilles, under the influence of the lighter types of Italian opera (especiallyGiovanni Battista Pergolesi'sLa serva padrona). This form ofopéra comique was often known ascomédie mêlée d'ariettes, 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 theOpéra-Comique theatre, as opposed to works withrecitative delivery which appeared at theParis Opéra. Thus, probably the most famous of allopéras comiques,Georges Bizet'sCarmen, is on a tragic subject. AsElizabeth Bartlet andRichard Langham Smith note in theirGrove article on the subject, composers and librettists frequently rejected the use of the umbrella termopéra comique in favor of more precise labels.[1][2]
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 calledvaudevilles, which were existing popular tunes refitted with new words. The plays were humorous and often contained satirical attacks on the official theatres such as theComédie-Française. 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, includingAlain-René Lesage andAlexis Piron, contributed works in the new form.[1][3][4]
TheQuerelle des Bouffons (1752–54), a quarrel between advocates of French and Italian music, was a major turning-point foropéra comique. Members of the pro-Italian faction, such as the philosopher and musicianJean-Jacques Rousseau, attacked serious French opera, represented by thetragédies en musique ofJean-Philippe Rameau, in favor of what they saw as the simplicity and "naturalness" of Italian comic opera (opera buffa), exemplified byPergolesi'sLa serva padrona, 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, 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 composerAntoine Dauvergne to produce a French opera in the style ofLa serva padrona. The result wasLes 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 subsequentopéra comique, setting a fashion for composing new music, rather than recycling old tunes. Where it differed from lateropéras comiques, however, was that it contained no spoken dialogue. In this, Dauvergne was following the example of Pergolesi'sLa serva padrona.[1][5]
The short, catchy melodies which replaced thevaudevilles were known asariettes and manyopéras comiques in the late 18th century were styledcomédies mêlées d'ariettes. Their librettists were often playwrights, skilled at keeping up with the latest trends in the theatre.Louis Anseaume,Michel-Jean Sedaine andCharles Simon Favart were among the most famous of these dramatists.[4] Notable composers ofopéras comiques in the 1750s and 1760s includeEgidio Duni,Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny andFrançois-André Danican Philidor. Duni, an Italian working at the francophile court ofParma, composedLe peintre amoureux de son modèle 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.[6] Monsigny collaborated with Sedaine in works which mixed comedy with a serious social and political element.Le roi et le fermier (1762) containsEnlightenment 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.[7] Philidor's most famousopéra comique wasTom Jones (1765), based onHenry Fielding's 1749 novel of the same name. It is notable for its realistic characters and its many ensembles.[8][9]
The most important and popular composer ofopéra comique in the late 18th century wasAndré Grétry. Grétry successfully blended Italian tunefulness with a careful setting of the French language. He was a versatile composer who expanded the range ofopéra comique to cover a wide variety of subjects from the Oriental fairy taleZémire et Azor (1772) to the musical satire ofLe jugement de Midas (1778) and the domestic farce ofL'amant jaloux (also 1778). His most famous work was the historical "rescue opera",Richard Coeur-de-lion (1784), which achieved international popularity, reaching London in 1786 andBoston in 1797.[10][11]
Between 1724 and 1762 the Opéra-Comique theatre was located at the Foire Saint Germain. In 1762 the company was merged with theComédie-Italienne and moved to theHôtel de Bourgogne. In 1783 a new, larger home was created for it at the Théâtre Italien (later renamed theSalle Favart).[12]
TheFrench Revolution 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 theThéâtre Feydeau, which also produced works in theopéra comique style.Opéra comique generally became more dramatic and less comic and began to show the influence of musicalRomanticism.[4] The chief composers at the Opéra-Comique during the Revolutionary era wereÉtienne Méhul,Nicolas Dalayrac,Rodolphe Kreutzer andHenri-Montan Berton. Those at the Feydeau includedLuigi Cherubini,Pierre Gaveaux,Jean-François Le Sueur andFrançois Devienne.[13] The works of Méhul (for exampleStratonice, 1792;Ariodant, 1799), Cherubini (Lodoïska, 1791;Médée, 1797;Les Deux journées, 1800) and Le Sueur (La caverne, 1793) in particular show the influence of serious French opera, especiallyGluck, and a willingness to take on previously taboo subjects (e.g. incest in Méhul'sMélidore et Phrosine, 1794; infanticide in Cherubini's famousMédée). 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).[4]
In 1801 the Opéra-Comique and the Feydeau merged for financial reasons. The changing political climate – more stable under the rule ofNapoleon – was reflected in musical fashion as comedy began to creep back intoopéra-comique. The lighter new offerings ofBoieldieu (such asLe calife de Bagdad, 1800) andIsouard (Cendrillon, 1810) were a great success.[4] Parisian audiences of the time also loved Italian opera, visiting the Théâtre Italien to seeopera buffa and works in the newly fashionablebel canto style, especially those byRossini, whose fame was sweeping across Europe. Rossini's influence began to pervade Frenchopéra comique. Its presence is felt in Boieldieu's greatest success,La dame blanche (1825) as well as later works byAuber (Fra Diavolo, 1830;Le domino noir, 1837),Ferdinand Hérold (Zampa, 1831), andAdolphe Adam (Le postillon de Lonjumeau, 1836).[14]
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