Opéra-Comique and the French Revolution

One of the most influential changes that came from the French Revolution was the radically new use of mass communication as political propaganda. Theatre, and particularly the highly popular and genuinely French stage genre opéra-comique was particularly important. This form of public entertainment was unlike anything else in its time, consisting of a continuous mix of spoken dialogue and music. Opéra-comique, therefore, is both radically different to opera, which is entirely sung, and to theatre, which is entirely spoken. This unique mix made opéra-comique hugely successful before the Revolution. Under the Revolution itself it became an extremely useful political tool and the battle of public opinion, so important during the Revolution, was largely fought on the main opéra-comique stages. The project focuses on this specific form of public entertainment. Revolutionary opéra-comique opens up new horizons for scholarship on the French Revolution by allowing for thorough examinations of the large and often neglected repertoire of opéra-comique plays from the revolutionary period. The project will examine representative pieces and relate them to key political movements of the French Revolution by employing a interdisciplinary approach including musicology, literary studies and history in order to gain a better knowledge of this highly influential repertoire that formed one of the most important means of communication to a broad audience during one of the defining moments of World history.

The project is funded by Research Council Norway.