Two Sentimental One-Act Comédies at the Salle Favart, Ca. 1790-99
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IDEOLOGICAL DIVERSIONS: TWO SENTIMENTAL ONE-ACT COMÉDIES AT THE SALLE FAVART, CA. 1790-99 A Thesis by Danielle L. Herrington Bachelor of Music, Wichita State University, 2012 Master of Music, Wichita State University, 2014 Submitted to the School of Music and the faculty of the Graduate School of Wichita State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music July 2015 © Copyright 2015 by Danielle L. Herrington All Rights Reserved IDEOLOGICAL DIVERSIONS: TWO SENTIMENTAL ONE-ACT COMÉDIES AT THE SALLE FAVART, CA. 1790-99 The following faculty members have examined the final copy of this thesis for form and content, and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Music with a major in Music History/Literature. ____________________ Mary Channen Caldwell, Committee Chair ____________________ Wilson Baldridge, Committee Member ____________________ Walter Mays, Committee Member iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I offer many thanks to my advisor Dr. Mary Channen Caldwell for her constant encouragement and direction during this project. She challenged me with questions that took my topic to a level I did not believe possible for myself and patiently reminded me to tie my findings back to the larger narrative when I became consumed (and overwhelmed!) with the details. Her patient understanding kept me slightly sane through this process, as I missed every deadline I set. I thank Dr. Wilson Baldridge for the countless hours of poring over my translations with eager excitement. He guided me to find just the right word in accordance with eighteenth-century conventions and dramatic intent. Although a difficult, time-consuming task, he volunteered his time to help me craft accurate interpretations, and without that assistance the appendices still would not be finished. I am grateful to Dr. Walter Mays for working with me personally each week for the past nine months. He has helped me expand my analysis abilities, and I can count on him to always offer skepticism that keeps me searching for the truth. Thanks to my dear friend Constantine Novotny for digitally notating the musical examples for this thesis—only requiring payment in the form of grilled cheese. I am also grateful to my husband, family, close friends, and sweet Albere for support and love through this process. I thank them most for their understanding, as time rarely permitted socializing. Lastly, I am indebted to Dr. Dean Roush for recognizing the academic in me and acknowledging my studious nature. By awarding me my assistantship, he gave me the opportunity to work in the Wichita State Musicology and Theory area, pursue this project, and take part in the preservation of this art form that continues to inspire me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 Throwaway Operas 3 Virtuous Domesticity: Integrating Enlightenment Ideologies in Revolution Comédie 6 Thesis Overview 9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW: GAUGING THE GAPS 11 III. DEREGULATION OF THE THEATER SYSTEM 16 Continued Privileges at the Opéra 17 Major Competitor to the Favart: The Théâtre Feydeau 19 Artist-Run Success at the Favart 20 Genre Milieu: Comédie mêlée d’ariettes to Opéra-Comique 23 Questions of Quality 27 Prevalence of One-act Comédie at the Favart 29 Dealing with the Propaganda Myth 35 IV. CULMINATION OF THE COMÉDIE IN TWO SENTIMENTAL ONE-ACTS 40 Methodolgy for Selecting Case-Studies 42 Singers and Their Characters 45 Philippe et Georgette Synopsis 50 Le Secret Synopsis 54 Bending Neo-Classical Constraints, Moving On Up 57 V. SENSIBILTÉ OF SEX AND STATUS: PRE-ROMANTIC IDEOLOGIES 61 Sensibilité Ideology 62 Domestication of Women in Eighteenth-Century France 65 Collective Cognitive Dissonance Views 70 Relationship Interactions 75 Social and Sex-Specific Status 79 Indirect Discourse 83 Généreux Ami: Virtue Trumps All 85 How to Categorize as Rescue Opera 90 v TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Chapter Page VI. SINGING THROUGH THE REVOLUTION: 93 MUSICAL FORM AND CHARACTERISTICS Available Instrumentation at the Favart 94 Linking Music to Characters 99 Dramatic Flow through the Framework 105 Changing Forms: Airs 111 Changing Forms: Ensembles 116 VII. CONCLUSION 126 BIBLIOGRAPHY 129 APPENDICES 138 A. Philippe et Georgette Extant Editions and Translation 139 B. Le Secret Extant Editions and Translation 171 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1 Comparisons of Profitable and Non-Profitable Favart Premieres……………………….31 3.2 Economically-Successful Premieres of the Favart Repertoire 1790-1799………………32 4.1 Sixteen Most Profitable One-Act Favart Comédies in the 1790s………………………..42 4.2 Genre Distinctions of Five Most-Performed One-Act Comédies………………………..44 4.3 Philippe et Georgette Characters………………………………………………………...46 4.4 Le Secret Characters……………………………………………………………………..47 4.5 Philippe et Georgette Index of Musical Numbers……………………………………….51 4.6 Le Secret Index of Musical Numbers…………………………………………………….54 6.1 The Favart’s Orchestra in Early 1790s…………………………………………………..95 6.2 Philippe et Georgette Instrumentation Order……………………………………………97 6.3 Le Secret Instrumentation Order…………………………………………………………98 6.4 Philippe et Georgette Index of Scenes; Form of Dalayrac’s Comédie…………………107 6.5 Le Secret Index of Scenes; Form of Solié’s Comédie…………………………………..108 6.6 Form of Le Secret Duo No. 3…………………………………………………………...116 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 6.1 Philippe’s Theme in Overture, p1………………………………………………………102 6.2 Philippe’s Theme in No. 6, p86………………………………………………………...102 6.3 Philippe et Georgette Pervasive Military Rhythm……………………………………...102 6.4 Bonnefoi’s Theme in Overture, p3……………………………………………………..103 6.5 Bonnefoi’s Theme in No. 5, p78………………………………………………………..103 6.6 Introductory Rhythmic Motif of Philippe et Georgette No. 1………………………….104 6.7 Georgette’s Theme in No. 1, p33……………………………………………………….105 6.8 Georgette’s Theme Sung by Babet in No. 7, p95…….………………………………...105 6.9 Le Secret Duet-like Air No. 5, p72….………………………………………………….115 6.10 Le Secret Duo No. 3 Melodic Treble Motif, p41……………………………………….117 6.11 Le Secret Duo No. 3 Sections B into C, p46…………………………………………....118 6.12 Dupuis Textual Musical Link in Le Secret No. 8, p108-109……………………….…..123 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Control—a word intrinsic to French culture throughout its history. But propaganda as the main goal of musical works composed during the decade? Art only conceived under the influence of a specific political viewpoint? These myths are associated with the years 1790 to 1799 of the French Revolution. Social, political, and cultural unrest permeated the period of drastic change throughout France, and especially Paris, affecting the production of art under a new deregulated theater system. Twenty-seven million French citizens, or 98 percent of the population under the societal-tier of the Third Estate, renamed themselves the National Assembly at the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789 and initiated a society liberated from the monarchy.1 Historians speculate what spurred people to revolt, the most accepted cause being increased taxation during the decades following the Seven Years War (1756-63).2 The Revolution decade experimented with multiple types of government. In the end, the decade closed with another authoritative regime replacing the monarchy. Instead of achieving triumph as a unified republican nation, the Revolution garnered political dispute and bloodshed rather than securing citizen equality. With this highly charged political atmosphere as the backdrop, this document inspects the writing, production, and evolution of a hybrid musical genre subject to ideological change. The frequently shifting laws first freed theaters from restraint with the passing of a liberty law in January 1791; however, censorship was re-instated on August 4, 1793, during what is called the Terror. When the Terror years ended with the fall of one of its mightiest leaders, Maximilien Robespierre on July 27, 1794, the period referred to as the Thermidorean Reaction 1 P.M. Jones, The French Revolution 1787-1804, (London: Person and Longman, 2003), 4. 2 Ibid., 7-13. The universal taxes that were unevenly distributed were the capitations and the vingtièmes. 1 (1794-1799) took place. The Directory (the government in power during the Reaction) attempted to establish balance following the experienced extremes from liberated laws to violence. In reaction to the constant legal flux, theater economics and the thematic material of the works being produced were impacted. For the theaters, the short period of liberation from government control, granted with the liberty law in 1791, broke more than a century tradition of the monarchy’s power over the content and production of ballet, theater, and opera.3 Influenced by shifting politics, theatrical themes imitated aspects of the social climate: from displaying sentimental domesticity to heroic propaganda. To better represent these themes, playwrights and librettists employed bourgeois characters rather than mythological or aristocratic. The content then could depict the daily reality of the people enduring the intensity of the Revolution’s events. The characters of the works reflecting society are not authentic representations of social norms but instead provide ideal representations of the Enlightenment and republican culture, specifically exemplified in the sensibilité philosophy. Yet, despite the extensive social criticism available through operatic and theatrical works, analysis has only begun to explore the rich repertoire premiered in Paris from 1790 to 1799—a period anticipating fundamental