French Opera: A Short History.

Clifton, Keith E.

French Opera: A Short History. By Vincent Giroud. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010. [x, 366 p. ISBN 978-0300-11765-3; eBook 978-0-300-18821-1. $40.00]

On the opening page of his new monograph, Vincent Giroud asks whether French opera suffers from an "identity problem" when compared to its counterparts in other languages. Using the metric of box office receipts and popular acclaim, especially where Italian and German works are concerned, the answer is probably yes. Although warhorses such as Samson et Dalila, Manon, Faust, and Carmen continue to draw audiences, most musicians--including opera specialists--would be hard pressed to extol the artistic merits of Marin Marais's Alcyone, Vincent d'Indy's L'etranger or Reynaldo Hahn's Ciboulette (all covered in the book). The birth of French opera may be traced to 17th century Paris, where Pierre Perrin created an Academy of Poetry and Music and supplied the text for Pomone, the first French stage work properly labeled an opera. Over ten dense chapters, Giroud surveys dozens of operas chronologically from 1671 to the present day, taking into account well-known figures and others long overlooked. The result is a volume teeming with facts, figures, names, dates, and plot summaries organized more like a reference book than one to be read from cover to cover.

Noting the persistent influence of foreign tastes and trends, he highlights several nonnative composers--Lully, Rossini, and Verdi, to name a few--who composed in French or set French libretti. A crucial question thus arises from the outset when attempting to define the genre: what exactly do we mean by French opera? The author favors a pragmatic approach with the working definition of "any opera set originally to a French text" (p. 2) regardless of the composer's nationality. This approach generally succeeds, especially for the first half of the 19th century, when stage works by the German-born Meyerbeer dominated the repertory at the Opera. Giroud argues that after the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871) the trend shifted back to native-born composers as symbols of national pride.

The first three chapters cover the Baroque by examining major precursors to tragedie lyrique (especially ballet de cour and comedie ballet) and surveying the early history of opera comique. A lengthy discussion of Lully and Rameau, the operatic titans of the period, follows. While much of the commentary--that Lully brought French stage music to a "point of perfection" (p. 14) or that Rameau was "far and away the greatest French opera composer of his century" (p. 49)--will seem familiar, his comments on lesser luminaries such as MarcAntoine Charpentier and Andre Campra provide a useful balance. Giroud also briefly references Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre, a favorite at the court of Louis XIV and one of the few named female composers in French operatic history; her 1694 Cephale et Procris was judged a "failure" (p. 28) at the time of its premiere for reasons the author never specifies. Was the poor reception a result of de La Guerre's music, her gender, the libretto, or some combination of these factors?

Despite the relative neglect of the music today, the period from 1750 through the first quarter of the 19th century gave rise to Philidore, Monsigny, and Gretry as dominant figures in the post-Gluck era. Gretry's Richard Coeur-de-lion is revealed as the "first opera to be based on a recurring musical theme, in other words a leitmotif" (p. 79). Later, Gluck receives special attention when Giroud revisits the complex history of Orphee (originally titled Orfeo) and Alceste before turning his attention to Cherubini's Lodoiska, dubbed the "first Romantic opera" (p. 103). Rossini's Paris years (1823-1829) included his first original work for the Theatre Italien, Il viaggio a Reims; his first French comedy, Le comte Ory, with its echoes of Rameau's Platee; and finally, Guillaume Tell, firmly in the mold of grand opera. Despite useful background information, Giroud's comments add little to those in other sources. (1)

Since no proper opera survey would be complete without a reference to the most frequently performed French opera during the nineteenth century, Adrien Boieldieu's La dame blanche, Giroud devotes several pages to the composer. He references key moments with statements such as the "subtle ironical touches" (p. 118) of George's Act I rondo. Because musical examples and probing textual analyses are absent here (as throughout the book), exactly what those touches might be remains undefined.

In two corresponding chapters titled "The Age of Grand Opera" and "French Opera Under the Second Empire," Giroud explores the period from 1825 through the start of the FrancoPrussian conflict, highlighting contributions by Auber, Meyerbeer, Halevy, Donizetti, Berlioz, Verdi, Wagner, Gounod, and Thomas. With as many as four houses running simultaneously, there were ample opportunities for composers to showcase their work even as performances on one of two main stages (the Opera or Comique) remained the ultimate goal. Starting with Auber's La muette de Portici, the genre of grand opera grew to encompass massive works such as Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots and his magnum opus, L'Africaine. Giroud then explores Halevy's La Juive, a work that succeeded despite growing anti-Semitism exacerbated by the Dreyfus affair.

During the Second Empire (1851-1870), the Theatre-Lyrique challenged the supremacy of the Opera by staging 137 works versus 52 at the main house. Giroud reminds us that ten of Verdi's operas were based on French sources before arguing for the supremacy of the French version of Don Carlos. Revealing that Gounod's "failures far outnumbered successes" (p. 175), he focuses on Faust, including the late addition--never endorsed by the composer--of Valentin's popular aria "Avant de quitter ces lieux." Gounod's La reine de Saba is exposed as the first French opera to be accused of "Wagnerism," a label that haunted several later composers, including Bizet and Debussy.

Giroud then turns to the lighter realm of operetta. Starting with Herve (pseudonym of Florimond Ronger), the genre found its greatest champion in Jacques Offenbach, another German-born expatriate. Using the BouffesParisiens theater as home base, he enjoyed tremendous success even as critics objected to parodies of Classical mythology in Orphee aux enfers and La belle Helene. Giroud then encapsulates the troubled history of Offenbach's final opera Les contes d'Hoffmann, reminding us of its multiple versions and persistent source problems.

The year 1875 was a cornerstone in French operatic history for two reasons: the completion of Charles Garnier's new home for the Opera and the world premiere of Carmen, French opera's greatest success and today the most popular opera in any language. At the same time, the Comique enjoyed "what may be its most brilliant period " (p. 197) culminating in Charpentier's Louise in 1900 and Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande two years later. Giroud's promenade through the operatic careers of Bizet, Delibes, Massenet, and Saint-Saens is useful, but his comments on lesser-known names are equally informative. Among D'Indy's four operas he singles out Fervaal for its leitmotivs, " Tristan-like use of chromaticism" (p. 227), and imaginative orchestration. Condensing Debussy's sporadic operatic career to just over three pages--and reminding us of the composer's unapologetic disdain for Louise--Giroud views Pelleas as a "defining moment" (p. 236) from the time of its first performances.

In "From the Belle Epoque to the Annees Folles," he explores the 1900-1929 period, encompassing works by Dukas, Faure, Roussel, Erlanger, Messager, Hahn, Ravel, and others. After highlighting prominent trends, including the growth of Zola-inspired French naturalism as a response to Italian verismo, the wider acceptance of Wagner after decades of ambivalence, and the 1914 appointment of Jacques Rouche as director of the Opera, Giroud proceeds to an orderly discussion of composers concluding with Satie and Stravinsky, both of whom wrote works challenging traditional operatic boundaries; this trend continued after 1930 in Honegger's opera/oratorio hybrid Antigone, to name only one example.

The lengthy final chapter extends to the present day. Arguing for Massenet as the last French composer to devote himself primarily to opera, Giroud concentrates on major names in the post-war era, especially Enesco, Poulenc, Honegger, Milhaud, and Messiaen. One need not fully subscribe to his contention that the genre entered a "long period of decline" (p. 284) after World War II to appreciate experimental styles grouped under the heading "theater musical" in the 1960s or collaborations between multiple composers for a 1981 series of Operas-Instantanes. According to Giroud, the 1983 world premiere of Messiaen's Saint Frangois d'Assise--a challenging work rarely heard in its entirety since--inaugurated the current operatic scene in France. This was followed by the opening of the Opera Bastille in 1989 and a resurgence of operas by non-native musicians led by Finnish composer Kaaija Saariaho, whose L'amour de loin (2000) was first heard at the Salzburg festival rather than in France. In the final pages, he references current figures (Philippe Boesmans, Maurice Ohana) before firmly refusing to prognosticate on the future of the art form. This is unfortunate, as many readers would enjoy knowing his thoughts regarding the prospects of a French operatic tradition more than three centuries old. With this book as proof of his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, surely he has an opinion on the matter.

On the whole, Giroud's composer-centered approach makes locating broad topics relatively easy. If only the supporting materials were equally accessible. With an index limited to proper names, finding information on specific operas, theaters, singers, or terms can be daunting. If, for example, you don't happen to know that the composer of Sigurd is Ernest Reyer, the index will offer little help. I also wanted Giroud's references to opera recordings and DVD's grouped in a separate section rather than buried in tiny print within dense endnotes.

The bibliography is expansive but incomplete, focused on selected scholars and an overreliance on articles from the New Grove while ignoring key examples of recent research--for example, no citations of Susan McClary's groundbreaking work on Carmen appear anywhere. There are also several errors and typos, including references to a main character in Ravel's Lheure espagnole as a lawyer rather than banker (p. 247). And sentences that do not make logical sense occasionally interrupt the narrative, as in this puzzling clause on p. 132: "particularly the exceptionally arduous over by Meyerbeer."

These quibbles aside, there is much to recommend French Opera as an accessible and overdue addition to the general literature on opera. Surveying the entire French operatic landscape is a Herculean task, and the author is to be commended for his illuminating summaries of the major figures who brought these works to life. Even a cursory scan reveals musical treasures waiting to be discovered (or rediscovered) by scholars, who will find a rich source of potential research topics in these pages. Every serious student of opera in French will find this book an excellent companion for their work.

And yet for all its merits, I came away with a sense of missed opportunity: frustrated by the lack of specificity regarding musical/textual relationships, the limited attention devoted to staging and dramaturgy, and the patchy source listings. Although the definitive history of French opera remains to be written, Giroud's impressive effort provides, if not a fully comprehensive snapshot of the art, then at least a convenient point of entry.

(1). For example, Donald Jay Grout's A Short History of Opera, 3rd edition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988) covers the same historical territory with more skillful attention to textual and musical issues.

Keith E. Clifton

Central Michigan University