Hamline University DigitalCommons@Hamline Departmental Honors Projects College of Liberal Arts Spring 2014 French Opera and the French Revolution, Etienne Nicolas Mehul Savannah J. Dotson Hamline University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp Part of the Education Commons, European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Other History Commons, and the Other Music Commons Recommended Citation Dotson, Savannah J., "French Opera and the French Revolution, Etienne Nicolas Mehul" (2014). Departmental Honors Projects. 25. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp/25 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts at DigitalCommons@Hamline. It has been accepted for inclusion in Departmental Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Hamline. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. French Opera and the French Revolution Etienne Nicolas Méhul Savannah Dotson An Honors Thesis submitted for partial fulfillment of the requirement for graduation with Honors in History. Hamline University St. Paul, MN April 2014 Committee: Advisor, Dr. Nurith Zmora Dr. George Chu Dr. John Mazis Dr. Elissa Harbert Abstract Although Etienne Nicolas Méhul is relatively unknown today, he was greatly respected by his contemporaries, including Beethoven, Cherubini and Berlioz. He rose to popularity and notoriety during the most turbulent years of the French Revolution, when most intellectuals fled for their lives, and yet he managed to maintain his status as a favorite of the people. From an examination of some of his operas - Euphrosine (1790), Ariodant (1799) , Adrien (1792, 1799) , and Horatius Coclès (1794) - it is apparent that Méhul used thinly veiled allegories to express his views, both political and personal.