Magnetism, muteness, magic : Spectacle and the Parisian lyric stage c1830

Abstract

This study explores four works staged at the Paris Opera between 1827 and 1831 in a theatrical context. After an introductory chapter, in which the importance of spectacle to the Parisian public is considered, and the theatrical and critical context for my study is set out, there is a short chapter that considers a conspicuous failure at the Opera: Chelard's Macbeth (1827), which attempted to break new ground, but was criticised for the mishandling of its melodramatic subject. In the second chapter the ballet-pantomime La Somnambule (1827) is examined, together with the general representation of sleepwalking in a number of works at the secondary theatres, against the background of the growing interest in the phenomenon of magnetism. Chapter Three deals with the interest in mute heroines surrounding the premiere of Auber's opera La Muette de Portici (1828). A consideration of works staged at the secondary theatres reveals both the difficulties and the potential in the representation of communication through mime and music and provides a context in which to assess the opera.

The final chapter traces the fortunes of Faust in Paris from 1823, the year that saw the first translations of Goethe's work into French, to 1831, when the Opera staged its phenomenally successful Faustian opera Robert le diable. The intervening years saw a number of adaptations of the legend as operas and mélodrames, and this chapter suggests how the Opera absorbed elements of these versions of Goethe and transformed them. In short, these works illustrate the relation between high and low culture, music and mise en scène, creation and reception. The dissertation as a whole both helps to explain the emergence of grand opéra and its impact on later European music theatre, and provides an insight into the expectations of audiences and critics at the end of Bourbon Restoration in Paris.

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