Opera in the Age of Rousseau Music, Confrontation, Realism [Hardcover]

A wide-ranging account of opera on stage and in society in the age of Rousseau, from Rameau to Gluck.David Charlton's book provides the first detailed account of opera in the society of Louis XV, from Rameau to Gluck. Offering many new perspectives on opera's development and Rousseau's contributions to it, the book will be essential to those with interests in music, theatre, literature and pre-Revolution culture.David Charlton's book provides the first detailed account of opera in the society of Louis XV, from Rameau to Gluck. Offering many new perspectives on opera's development and Rousseau's contributions to it, the book will be essential to those with interests in music, theatre, literature and pre-Revolution culture.Historians of French politics, art, philosophy and literature have long known the tensions and fascinations of Louis XV's reign, the 1750s in particular. David Charlton's study comprehensively re-examines this period, from Rameau to Gluck and elucidates the long-term issues surrounding opera. Taking Rousseau's Le Devin du Village as one narrative centrepiece, Charlton investigates this opera's origins and influences in the 1740s and goes on to use past and present research to create a new structural model that explains the elements of reform in Gluck's trag?dies for Paris. Charlton's book opens many new perspectives on the musical practices and politics of the period, including the Querelle des Bouffons. It gives the first detailed account of intermezzi and opere buffe performed by Eustachio Bambini's troupe at the Paris Op?ra from August 1752 to February 1754 and discusses Rameau's comedies Plat?e and Les Paladins and their origins.Part I. Princely Theatre: 1. Palaces and patronage: Le Devin and the 1754 Alceste; 2. Acting: from convention to discipline; 3. The Op?ra: cycles versus changes; 4. The reality of pastoral, 174252; 5. Le Devin du Village: a contextual enquiry; Part II. Opinion: 6. Opera as a subject of debate; 7. The Querelle: 'two ridilsð