The composers Monsigny (Le Deserteur), Philidor (Tom Jones) and Grétry (Richard Coeur de Lion) provided the first internationally famous examples, using topical themes taken from true stories, novels and folk legends. With the advent of the French Revolution, the genre became famous for its depiction characters rescued from dire situations at the last moment (Cherubini, Les Deux Journées), establishing the type of the rescue opera.
During the era of the Napoleonic Wars and the Restoration, the genre became a repository for the values and aspirations ordinary people, the working and middle classes. The operas of the composers Boieldieu (La Dame Blanche), Auber (Fra Diavolo), Hérold (Le Pré aux clercs), Adam (Le Postillon de Longjumeau), Halévy (L'Eclair) and Meyerbeer (Le Pardon de Ploermel) became classics of French popular culture, and in their elegance, simplicity and melodic charm enduringly capture the very essence of their times.
Course programme
Friday 24 June 2016
Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.
19:00 Dinner
20:30 A Very French Genre: the 18c (Rousseau, Monsigny, Philidor, Grétry)
22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Saturday 25 June 2016
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Revolution and Rescue: a new era (Dalayrac, Cherubini, Méhul)
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Providing the Prototype: Scribe and Boieldieu (La Dame blanche)
12:30 Free
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Free
16:00 Tea
16:30 The Epitome of a Tradition: Scribe and Auber (Fra Diavolo and Le Domino noir)
18:30 Dinner
20:00 Swashbuckling Charm: Hérold (Zampa and Le Pré aux clercs)
21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Sunday 26 June 2016
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Delightful Adventures: Adam and Halevy (Le Postillon de Longjumeau and L’Éclair)
10:30 Coffee
11:00 The Late Tradition: Barbier & Carré with Meyerbeer, Thomas (Le Pardon de Ploërmel, Mignon)
12:30 Free
12:45 Lunch
The course will disperse after lunch.
