The Musical World of Marie-Antoinette

Barrington James has been a reporter, editor and foreign correspondent for several major news organizations, including the New York Herald Tribune, United Press International, and the International Herald Tribune in Paris. He lives in Sèvres, France.

Table of Contents


Preface

A Note on Sources

1. A Country Ripe for Change

A Surprise Meeting 7 • The Harp 9 • Music Takes Over 10 • The Petit Trianon 11 • The Trianon Theater

2. Christoph Willibald Gluck and the Quest for Drama

French Influence in Vienna 16 • Reform Operas 17 • Calzabigi 18 • Ideas of Paris 19 • Du Roullet 20 • A Bold Enterprise 21 • Stormy Rehearsals 22 • A Letter from Rousseau 23 • This Happy Revolution 24 • A New Part for the Goddess 25 • Orphée et Eurydice

3. “Simplicity, Truth, and Naturalness”

Alceste 28 • Armide 28 • Dramatic Impact 29 • Painter, Poet and Musician 30 • A Terrible Battle 32 • La Harpe’s Attack 32 • Anonyme de Vaugirard

4. The Baroness and the Broken Old Songbird

Two Divas 35 • A Fight with a Prince 36 • The Voice of the People 37 • Brutal Hostility 38 • Madame la Baronne 40 • Arnould Attempts a Comeback

5. Niccolò Piccinni

In Search of a Fortune 43 • Du Barry’s Rivalry 44 • Is There No Sun? 46 • Orlando and Orlandino

6. Iphigénie en Champagne

Atys 51 • An Operatic Duel 52 • The Drunken Soprano 54 • A Convivial Dinner

7. A Star Is Born: Madame ­Saint-Huberty

Didon 59 • An Unfortunate Marriage 60 • Didon Transformed 61 • Authentic Costume 63 • Quarrels with Management 64 • Piccinni Returns to Naples

8. Mozart

The Duc de Guînes 66 • A Warning 67 • From Child Prodigy to Nobody 68 • From Mannheim to Paris 69 • Baron von Grimm 73 • Aristocrats 74 • Slow Return to Salzburg

9. Antonio Salieri

Écho et Narcisse 78 • Les Danaïdes 80 • Salieri’s Deception 82 • Les Horaces

10. Tragédie Lyrique

In Search of a Common Language 85 • Italy versus France 85 • Lully 86 • Rameau 87 • Scribblers 89 • The Buffoons 89 • Religious Undertone 90 • Rousseau 91 • Le devin du village 93 • A Hell for the Ears 95 • The French Howl 96 • Why Was the Paris Opéra So Different?

11. The Entrepreneur

The Performing Monkey Pays 99 • De Vismes du Valgay 100 • Expanding the Repertoire 101 • A Fresh Start 102 • Castor et Pollux 104 • Les Bouffons, Bis 104 • A Modern Impresario 106 • The Opéra Conspiracy 106 • De Vismes’ Denial

12. Ballet and the Art of Gesture

Dupré’s Graceful Steps 110 • Ballets within Operas 111 • Pantomime 111 • Gluck and Ballet 112 • Noverre 113 • Enormous Ill Will

13. ­Marie-Madeleine Guimard

Mirza et Lindor 117 • Extravagance 119 • A Favorite at Court 120 • Ballet and Meaning 121 • Nature 122 • Grace

14. Concerts

Concert Life 124 • Aristocrats 126 • Foreigners 126 • Baron Bach 127 • The Concert Spirituel 127 • Gossec and the Concert des Amateurs 128 • L’Orchestre de la Société Olympique 130 • The Court 131 • Menus Plaisirs

15. Opéra Comique

The Italian Theater 133 • Jean Monnet 133 • Financial Crisis 135 • The Merged Company 137 • An Italian Innovator 138 • Monsigny 138 • Philidor 140 • Nicolas-Marie d’Alayrac

16. Marguerite Montansier

Into the Queen’s Circle 144 • The Theater at Versailles 145 • Paisiello 147 • Montansier’s Role 147 • Move to Paris 148 • Théâtre de Monsieur

17. ­André-Modeste Grétry

The Queen’s Music Director 152 • Grétry Walks to Rome 153 • A Meeting with Voltaire 154 • Hostile Reception in Paris 155 • Marmontel Comes to the Rescue 156 • Opus One 157 • Zémire et Azor 158 • Michel-Jean Sedaine 160 • Tragedies

18. ­Jean-Nicolas Bouilly

Pierre le Grand 163 • Antoinette 163 • Grétry’s Great Loss 164 • Grétry Quits Music 166 • Revolutionary Politics 167 • Fidelio

19. The Opéra in the 1780s

Fire, Again! 169 • A Race to Rebuild 171 • Safety Concerns 172 • Antoine Dauvergne 172 • The Stars Run Away 174 • Mlle. Théodore 175 • Undisputed Talent 176 • Dauberval Flees to London

20. Antonio Sacchini

L’Olympiade 179 • Xenophobia at the Opéra 180 • Renaud 181 • Chimène 182 • Dardanus 183 • Œdipe à Colone 184 • Arvire et Évélina

21. Figaro and Tarare

The Marriage of Figaro 187 • The Necklace Affair 187 • The End Game 188 • A Wave of Slander 189 • Tarare 190 • An Oriental Theme

22. The Show Goes On

Resentment of Bureaucracy 194 • Dauvergne Reappointed 195 • A School for Principals 197 • Les Filles de l’Opéra 197 • The Show Goes On 198 • Tu dors Brutus

23. Religion and Revolution

The Grand Motet 202 • Jean-François Lesueur 203 • Gossec and the Big Sound 204 • François Giroust 205 • A New Religion 207 • A Revolution in Song 209 • La Marseillaise 211 • Dialogue des Carmélites

24. Tragic Epilogue

A Fateful Aria 214 • Censorship 216 • Farewell to the Theater 216 • The Temple

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index