| Uniform title | Vie quotidienne à l'Opéra au temps de Rossini et de Balzac, Paris, 1800-1850. English |
| Contents |
Introduction -- Rulers and music. The emperor's tastes and shortcomings ; Laws regulating the theaters ; Napoleon and the Opera ; Between Saint Cecilia and Saint Goulifar ; The pleasures of love ; A castrato at the court theater ; The court theater after the Empire -- Managing the Opera and the Opera-comique. The venues of the Opera ; Personnel and financing ; The chorus, dancers, and musicians of the Opera ; Scenery and stage machinery ; Producing an opera ; The Opera-comique -- Major and minor periods of the Opera. Pasticcio operas ; Spontini honors the empire ; Auber and Rossini to the aid of the restoration ; Meyerbeer and the post-1830 period ; Berlioz, or the unloved ; The fashion for parodies ; Opera as propaganda -- Opera audiences. Society and customs ; Fads and traditions of the opera-going public ; A Parisian's musical week ; An evening at the Opera ; Auguste Levasseur, professional claqueur ; The Opera balls -- Artistic life. Musical studies in Paris ; "Barking" style ; Five great figures in French singing ; The birth of the diva ; A day in the life of la Malibran ; The singers' social and professional lives ; Profession: composer ; The Boulevard des Italiens -- Life at the Theatre-Italien. A lively history ; The company and its personnel ; The repertoire and stage direction ; Parisians for and against Rossini ; Characteristics and customs of Theatre-Italien audiences ; The dilettanti ; Bel canto in the 1830 salon -- The press and opera. A half-century of evolution ; The music press ; Cliques and rivalries ; Content of the articles ; Journalistic weaknesses ; Style and humor. |
| Abstract |
A dazzling artistic climate reigned in Paris in the first half of the 19th century. Musically, the city was the capital of the world, attracting composers and singers of many nationalities to the great stages of the Opera and the Theatre-Italien. Among the composers who chose Paris as a second home were Rossini, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Donizetti, Liszt, and Chopin. This book explores every facet of Parisian musical life in those glorious days, from tragedie lyrique to opera seria, from the high drama of grand opera to the uproarious parodies of vaudeville. In the process we meet such luminaries as Rossini and Berlioz, the castrato Crescentini, and the diva Maria Malibran. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-234) and index. |
| LCCN | 94026952 |
| ISBN | 0931340837 |
