University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 1998 Understanding French Grand Opera Through Dance Maribeth Clark University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Dance Commons, European History Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, and the Music Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Maribeth, "Understanding French Grand Opera Through Dance" (1998). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 955. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/955 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/955 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Understanding French Grand Opera Through Dance Abstract This dissertation examines the reception of nineteenth-century French grand operas (ca. 1828-1879) at the Academie Royale de Musique in relationship to dance in order to understand how past choreographic practices inflected audiences' understandings of the spectacle. It focuses primarily on the music and the practices of the Parisian composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, and leans heavily on journalistic accounts of dance from the Revue Musicale, Le Ménestrel, and La France musicale to place his works in the context of more general practices and perceptions of operatic and choreographic works at this theater. These journalistic accounts, in combination with archival sources such as violon répetiteur scores and the partie de ballet, reveal the aesthetic and commercial importance of dancers and danced episodes to the genre of grand opera in general. In demonstrating this importance, the study recovers aspects of the French operatic experience that have been comparatively neglected by musicological scholarship. The dissertation is comprised of four case studies, each focusing on a different issue of musical expression and understanding in the context of dancing. The first chapter examines the many ways audiences interpreted the bodies of Opéra dancers, concentrating particularly on the criticism of Théophile Gautier, the travesty role of the page, and bacchanales in Meyerbeer's Robert le diable (1831) and Le prophète (1849). The second chapter discusses the reception of the 1837 revival of La Muette de Portici (1828), an opera that starred a female mime alongside the more conventional singing roles, suggesting that its performance history reveals the increasing conceptual separation of ballet from opera. In the third chapter, the performance history of the fifth-act ball scene from Gustave, ou Le bal masqué (1833) serves as an example of the many types of permutations that divertissements underwent as part of the Opera's production process. The final chapter addresses issues of social dance, demonstrating how quadrille arrangements of operas shaped operatic listening habits. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Music First Advisor Jeffrey Kallberg Second Advisor Chris Hasty Keywords communication and the arts, nineteenth century, Auber, Daniel François Esprit, journalism Subject Categories Dance | European History | Journalism Studies | Music This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/955 UNDERSTANDING FRENCH GRAND OPERA THROUGH DANCE Maribeth Clark A Dissertation in Music Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1998 11 « ' «" " » / Supervisor of Di^sertat ion Graduate Group Chairperson Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a great debt to the mentors, colleagues and friends who have contributed to this project. Jeffrey Kallberg encouraged me to take on the topic of nineteenth- century dance in Paris, and has challenged me to think deeply about its possibilities. I have also benefited tremendously from the insights of Gary Tomlinson, who read this work at a late stage. James Haar raised many of the questions about this genre with which I am still struggling during a seminar on French grand opera at UNC-Chapel Hill. Roger Parker and Marian Smith both read large parts of this dissertation, pushing me out of the dissertation doldrums on more than one occasion with their enthusiasm. Questions and comments from Judith Chazin-Bennahum, Liane Curtis, Lynn Garafola, Dana Gooley, Rebecca Harris-Warrick, Carol Marsh, and Mary Ann Smart have enriched this study. The friendship of Alfred Cramer, Bonnie Gordon, Peter Hoyt, YouYoung Kang, Ben Korstvedt, and Mary Kathleen Morgan has sustained me through the writing process. Through their example and wise counsel, Stephanie Sanger and Cristle Collins Judd helped me maintain an identity as a scholar as I acquired the additional identity of parent. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The staff and resources available at the Rare Book Room of the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania, the Performing Arts Division of the New York Public Library, the Music Division of the Bibliotheque Nationale, the Bibliotheque de 1'Opera, and the Archives Nationales have greatly enriched this project. I am also grateful for the financial support provided by the University, the Mellon Foundation, a Chimicles Fellowship from the Writing across the University program, and the AMS 50 Fellowship from the American Musicological Society. From the beginning my family has supported and encouraged me, particularly William Kenley Clark, Barbara Hosterman Clark, Christine Landes Hosterman, Crissi Clark Miller, Sue Hosterman, Sonja Jaffee and Diane Jaffee. Esther Kenley continually reminds me of the richness of life and the value of every moment. Most of all, however, I thank Andrew Jaffee for his patience, his steadfast love, his eye for misplaced papers and books, and his tolerance for musicology. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. i v ABSTRACT UNDERSTANDING FRENCH GRAND OPERA THROUGH DANCE Maribeth Clark Supervisor: Jeffrey Kallberg This dissertation examines the reception of nineteenth- century French grand operas (ca. 1828-1879) at the Acad6mie Royale de Musique in relationship to dance in order to understand how past choreographic practices inflected audiences' understandings of the spectacle. It focuses primarily on the music and the practices of the Parisian composer Daniel-Frangois-Esprit Auber, and leans heavily on journalistic accounts of dance from the Revue Musicale, Le M^nestrel, and La France musicale to place his works in the context of more general practices and perceptions of operatic and choreographic works at this theater. These journalistic accounts, in combination with archival sources such as violon repetiteur scores and the partie de ballet, reveal the aesthetic and commercial importance of dancers and danced episodes to the genre of grand opera in general. In demonstrating this importance, the study recovers aspects of the French operatic experience that have been comparatively neglected by musicological scholarship. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The dissertation is comprised of four case studies, each focusing on a different issue of musical expression and understanding in the context of dancing. The first chapter examines the many ways audiences interpreted the bodies of Opdra dancers, concentrating particularly on the criticism of Th^ophile Gautier, the travesty role of the page, and bacchanales in Meyerbeer's Robert le diable (1831) and Le prophdte (1849). The second chapter discusses the reception of the 1837 revival of La Muette de Portici (1828), an opera that starred a female mime alongside the more conventional singing roles, suggesting that its performance history reveals the increasing conceptual separation of ballet from opera. In the third chapter, the performance history of the fifth-act ball scene from Gustave, ou Le bal masque (1833) serves as an example of the many types of permutations that divertissements underwent as part of the Opera's production process. The final chapter addresses issues of social dance, demonstrating how quadrille arrangements of operas shaped operatic listening habits. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABBREVIATIONS AWV Auber Werke Verzeichnis F-Pn Bibliotheque Nationaie F-Po Bibliotheque de L'Opera Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v i i CONTENTS Acknowledgments ii Abstract iv Abbreviations vi List of Tables ix List of Illustrations x Introduction: French Grand Opera and Dance in Mid- Nineteenth-Century Paris 1 Chapter 1: The Performative Power of Women in the Context of Dance 12 The Dancer as Art 2 0 The Dancer as Undisciplined 31 The Undisciplined Dancer as Sexually Available 40 The Coquetry and Beauty of the Public Woman 58 Conclusion 66 Chapter 2: Gesture and Song in La Muette de Portici 68 Why Fenella Is Mute 7 0 Fenella as a Dancer 82 Fenella's Influence on the Leading Tenor Role 90 Chapter 3: Finding Merit in the Masked Ball from Gustave,ou le bal masque 119 Popularizing the Opera Ball 121 The Imaginary Landscape of Gustave's Masked Ball 125 Revisions to Gustave's Masked Ball 157 The Play of Pure Pleasure against Artistic Merit 175 Chapter 4: The Quadrille and the Undoing