Theatrical Politics and the Drame lyrique

Theatrical Politics andonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA the Drame ly rique JA M E S B . K O P P During the late re ighte e nth ce ntury ,opera-com ique was influe nce db y unhappy cond itionsat two of the roy allysubsidized theaters of Paris. While the actors of the financially distressed Comedie Italienne sought to escape ruin through drastic cuts in personnel and changes in repertory, the haughty and abusive actors of the Comedie Franchise, the nations foremost the­ ater, provoked authors into seeking a more hospitable stage for their works. In conjunction with an emerging literary trend, these circumstances con­ tributed to a sudden flourishing of the dram e lyrique at the Comedie Italienne during the 1760s and 1770s. A musical version of Diderot's dram e bourgeois, the drame lyrique represented almost everything that was new in opera-comique during the later eighteenth century. Not only the libretto but also the music of this new genre owed much to several of France's leading dramatists, who were virtually forced to become librettists during a time of rapid changes in the style of opera-comique. The Comedie Italienne had originated as the sixteenth-century home of a troupe of commedia dell'arte players. The troupe was expelled from Paris in 1697 for having insulted Madame de Maintenon, mistress of Louis XIV. After the king's death, the troupe was allowed to return, but the ac­ tors soon suffered a cooling of public interest in their offerings of com­ media dell'arte. The year 1718 saw a milestone for the company: they suc­ ceeded, despite the jealous opposition of the Comedie Frangaise, in giving a play entirely in the French language, thus inaugurating a long and bitter rivalry. 133 134 / k o pp Anothe rmile stonefor the Come d ieItalie nnecame in 1762, whe n the financially troub le d company acquire dpe rformancerights for musical the­ ater from a prosperous rival, the Opera-Comique de la Foire. Although the transaction was described as a merger, the Comedie Italienne had ef­ fectively purchased the Opera-Comique's lease with the operators of the Academie Royale de Musique (holders since 1669 of a royal privilege over performance of all musical theater in France). The musical content of ear­ lier plays at the Comedie Italienne had been slight enough to escape regula­ tion by the Academie; words were sung to traditional RQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA vaudeville airs, so that these early examples of opera-comique were analogous to English ballad opera. But the troupe was willing to assume the expense of royalties in order to be able to present works in the ariette style. This newer style of opera-comique employed music borrowed from or modeled on the Ital­ ian intermezzi that, when performed at the Academie by the Bambini troupe in 1752, had ignited the querelle des bouffons. By purchasing the lease from the Opera-Comique de la Foire, the Italian actors hoped also to acquire that troupe's prosperity, and for a few years the ploy seemed to have worked. But the financial condition of the com­ pany began to deteriorate steadily in 1764, and in 1769 the Premiers Gentilshommes de la Chambre, the troupe's royal overseers, took drastic mea­ sures to put the Comedie Italienne on a better financial basis. Persuaded that members of the company who played only spoken French works were deadwood, the overseers ordered those actors pensioned off and the spoken French repertory dropped.1 Meanwhile, actors at the Comedie Franchise, the venerable home of spo­ ken French tragedy and comedy, had grown abusive of their enviable posi­ tion as France's leading theater. Under a royal regulation of 1697, authors had been entitled to receive one-ninth of the profits when their five-act work was performed by the Comedie Fran^aise, or one-twelfth for a work with three acts. This share had been subject to minimum receipts of 500 livres in winter and 300 livres in summer, and the actors had had the right to withdraw the work if, in two consecutive performances, it failed to produce receipts above the minimum.2 But by 1757 the actors began to chip away at authors' rights. According...