Opéra comique
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Opéra comique (pl., opéras comiques) is a genre of opéra that contains spoken dialogue, and sometimes recitatives, in addition to arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a lesser extent the Comédie-Italienne),[1] which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the same name Paris theatre, Opéra-Comique, opéra comique is, despite its name, not always comic or light in nature—indeed, Carmen, likely the most famous opéra comique, is a tragedy. It is sometimes confused with 18th-century French version of the Italian opera buffa, in French known as opéra bouffon (different again from the 19th century opéra bouffe).[2]
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[edit] History
[edit] Early Beginnings
Opéra comique was born from small fair theater performances in the early 18th Century. These fairs were presented to the people and therefore verged on the vulgar. Poking fun at public officials to the larger theaters,[1] they performed their plays to popular songs which connected well with the audience. The composers drew things from French heritage but also drew from foreign places, which added appeal for other countries [1]. Their satires about political figures and their risqué performances did not earn opéra comique a good name within the court. Louis XIV tried to put them down by signing several ordinances against them and even boosting other theaters in the hope that they would create more public appeal than the producers of opéras comiques.
[edit] Rise of Opéra-comique
When Louis died in 1715, opéra comique was ‘legitimized’ and was left to flourish.[3] Not only did the Crown want to get rid of opéra comique and the fair theaters, but the more substantial theaters, like the Comédie-Française, wished their competition ill. They didn’t know when they banned speaking in the fairs, they “unwittingly promoted the ingenious dodge of a comedy sung to popular songs, which then became a far more potent rival that what had preceded it.” [4]
[edit] “Hybrids”
There were many “hybrids” that formed from opéra comique. Jacques Offenbach, a composer of that time, “lamented the hybrid forms, leaning more towards the traditions of grand opéra, which had seduced several composers away from the pure traditions of opéra comique and which he regarded as a stream that had turned into a river and subsequently burst its banks.” [1] Some of these “hybrids” were “comedie, comédie lyrique, comedie-parade, opéra bouffon, drame lyrique. … [and] comédie mêlée d'ariettes” [5]
[edit] Terminology
[edit] Discrepancies
The terminology is seriously disputed, which makes it difficult to define opéra comique in itself. Some sources claimed that opéra comique is quite literal in the sense that it is a comic opéra ,[6], and some sources that say Bizet’s Carmen is the most famous of opéras comiques and Carmen is definitely not comic.[2] M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet and Richard Langham Smith, authors of the article Opéra comique found on Grove Music Online, suggest that opéras comiques were parodies and were quite comic until around the 19th Century, where they came to have more grave content. However, they all agree that opéra comique is not to be confused with opéra bouffon, another genre of opéra.[1]
[edit] Identification Problems
Another definition given is that of the pieces being named opéras comiques only because they were performed at the theater Opéra-Comique.[1] One problem with correctly identifying opéras comiques was that composers would often write down the wrong performance date, or even not write a date down at all.[7] They would also frequently mislabel their pieces [8] Sometimes they would even make up a genre for their piece, calling it a ‘ “roman musical”, “complainte”, [or] “fantaisie lyrique” ’ [1] Bartlet and Smith further argue that there were many pieces that were labeled opéras-comiques only because they had spoken dialogue , giving examples like Bizet’s Carmen and Gounod’s Faust. They also state that conversely, there were pieces that were never labeled opéras comiques.
[edit] Defining Features
In the eighteenth century opéra comique consisted of spoken dialogue, satire, and accompanied by well-known vaudevilles. The coming of Bizet’s Carmen changed the definition making that distinction between opéras comiques and opéra almost disappear.[2]
There were other distinctions between opéra comique and other opéra genres other than having spoken dialogue vs. recitative... Bartlet and Smith discuss the differences between opéra comique' traditions and grand opéra. Grand opéra would be very extravagant in its performances where opéra comique would rarely go to those lengths. Also, “while ballet was de rigueur at the Opéra, it was not at the Opéra-Comique which preferred crowd scenes involving choral writing”. (De rigueur referring to the fashionable necessity or expectancy attached to ballet and the Opéra .) Opéra comique was also unique because it preferred a single leading soprano with a “lighter” supporting soprano where the Opéra preferred having two dominant soprano voices. Opéra comique preferred a lighter male voice as well.[1]
[edit] Early Composers
The earliest opéra comique composer, according to Daniel Heartz and John A. Rice in their book, From Garrick to Gluck: Essays on Opéra in the Age of Enlightenment was Alain-René Lesage. He was a leading poet for the fairs for a few decades, but he stuck to the traditional vaudevilles. Two poets rose up to compete. Alexis Piron and Charles Francois Panard were more involved with revolutionizing the infant opéra-comique. They went to “more musical novelty.” [4] The old airs were used less and less and because of that, Lesage wrote Les couplets en procès for the Saint-Germain fair.
[edit] Popularizations
Bartlet and Smith say “The mixture of well-known airs, the audience’s interpretation of the couplets (in part informed by the recollection of the original words and an appreciation of the irony resulting from a comparison with the new) and, in the spoken dialogue, [the] witty repartee among the actors (in which improvisation had a significant role)” are some of the reasons why opera comique was so popular. Denise Gallo in her book Opera, The Basics says how opéra comique was very closely tied with the boredom the people had with the current grand opéras.[9] The people had only been exposed to stiff, tragic opéras until the foundation of opéra comique. The difference between the two attracted attention to the lighter opéra comique and made it popular.
[edit] Notable examples
- La dame blanche, by François-Adrien Boieldieu (1825)
- Fra Diavolo by Daniel Auber (1830)
- Faust by Charles Gounod (1859)
- Carmen by Georges Bizet (1875)
- Lakmé by Léo Delibes (1883)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet and Richard Langham Smith. "Opéra comique." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 19 Nov. 2009 http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43715
- ^ a b c John Warrack , Nicholas Temperley "opéra comique" The Oxford Companion to Music. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford University Press, 2002. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Brigham Young University (BYU). 13 October 2009 http://www.oxfordreference.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t114.e4850
- ^ Richard Somerset-Ward, Kiri Te Kanawa The Story of Opera New York : Abrams 1998
- ^ a b Daniel Heartz ; John A Rice From Garrick to Gluck : essays on opera in the age of Enlightenment Hillsdale, N.Y. : Pendragon Press 2004
- ^ Charlton, David Grétry and the growth of opéra-comique Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press 1986
- ^ “Opéra comique.” The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev. Ed. Michael Kennedy. Oxford Music Online. 18 Nov. 2009 <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e7488>.
- ^ Nicole Wild and David Charlton. The´aˆtre de l’Ope´ra-Comique Paris: Re´pertoire 1762–1972. Sprimont, Pierre Mardaga, 2005. 552 pp. Pb. Accessed Nov 18, 2009
- ^ “Opéra comique.” The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev. Ed. Michael Kennedy. Oxford Music Online. 18 Nov. 2009 <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e7488>.
- ^ Gallo, Denise P. Opera : the basics New York : Routledge, 2006
[edit] See also
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