Le Répertoire de l’Opéra de Paris (1671–2009): Analyse et interprétation (review)

Reading a book of conference proceedings in some ways is like observing an extended family gathering, where individual differences appear all too pronounced despite efforts to maintain a unified front. The natural diversity of opinions, methodology, and scholarship represented in such publications highlights at once the richness of the research findings as well as their unevenness. At least this was the impression I had reading Le Répertoire de l’Opéra de Paris (1671–2009), edited by Michel Noiray and Solveig Serre.

This large volume of twenty-six chapters (with an Introduction and a ‘grille d’analyse’ by the editors) originated as papers presented at a conference held at the Opéra national de Paris in December 2009. As Noiray and Serre explain in the Introduction, the realization of the online database Chronopéra—a collection of the Opéra de Paris’s repertory from 1749 to 1989—served as the catalyst for the meeting. With such a wealth of materials readily available to researchers, it was felt that there was a need to explore and interpret them.

Of course, scholars of French music have long been fascinated by the Opéra. It has been—and still is—one of the most-studied topics in French music, thanks to the prestige of the institution as well as the long-standing dominance of the operatic genre in France. Any new study on the Opéra, therefore, risks comparisons with the ground-breaking works of David Charlton, Jean Mongrédien, Patrick Barbier, Hervé Lacombe, Anselm Gerhard, Steven Huebner, James Johnson, and Jann Pasler—to name but a few. In this regard, it cannot be said that Le Répertoire de l’Opéra de Paris (1671–2009) has exceeded the high standard set by previous research.

As its title indicates, the book covers the entire span of the Opéra’s history, from its early beginning as the Académie royale de musique to the present-day Opéra national de Paris. The volume’s specific focus on the repertory of the Opéra casts light on the great multitude of works that have graced the stage of France’s leading music theatre, from tragédie lyrique, comédie lyrique, mélodrame, scène patriotique, ballet, grand opéra, petit opéra, divertissement, pièce de circonstance, to adaptations of foreign works—all of which serve to remind us of the richness of the Opéra’s history, marked variously by periods of stringent state regulatory control and relative autonomy.

The drawback of a volume that attempts to cover such an ambitious chronological span and range of repertory is that breadth has a tendency to prevail over depth. A significant proportion of the chapters rely on a descriptive approach to the repertory, thereby acting as a kind of intermediary between the online database Chronopéra and the reader. While this approach may prove informative for some, those wishing for more contextualization and critical analysis will probably be disappointed. As I read the book, I found myself wondering whether stronger conclusions might have been drawn from some of the evidence presented. A more nuanced interpretation of the Opéra’s programming and repertory would no doubt have offered more stimulating reading.

Nevertheless, there are chapters scattered throughout the volume that are refreshingly thought-provoking. These include Maud Pouradier’s interesting study (pp. 37–52) on the concept and usage of the word ‘répertoire’: how it evolved from being a calendar of forthcoming spectacles to one with connotations of ‘archive’ and ‘property’ belonging to individuals, institutions, or the public. In some ways, a more ideal position for this study would have been the first main chapter following the Introduction (instead of the second), for its topic serves as a perfect prelude to a book...