In the first half of the nineteenth century, New Orleans’ reputation at home and abroad was for French opera. Performances of opéra comique appeared on the city’s stages in the last decade of the eighteenth century; from the 1830s, grand opéra became a mainstay of the repertoire at the francophone Théâtre d’Orléans, whose resident company was recruited annually from Europe. ‘Rossini fever’ seems largely to have bypassed New Orleans, and the relatively few performances of Italian operas that the city did have in the first three decades of the century were always in French (or sometimes English) translation and often heavily adapted. Between 1837 and 1842, however, English-born impresario James Caldwell arranged several short seasons of Italian opera in an attempt to lure novelty-loving audiences to his St Charles Theatre. Although there were already numerous troupes performing opera in Italian further north in the United States, the troupes Caldwell engaged came to New Orleans from the south, from Cuba, where they were contracted to Havana’s theatres. This chapter focuses on the seasons given by these troupes, exploring the discussions that took place about the relative merits of French and Italian comedy, and the exchange of performers and materials between the permanent French troupe and the visiting Italians. When the Théâtre d’Orléans troupe was invited to visit Havana the press expressed concerns that Cuba was ‘uncivilised’ and unhygienic, and that news of a tour there would ultimately prevent New Orleans from recruiting high-quality performers for its own francophone troupe.

Around 1800, the human voice was not only considered a musical instrument; it also served as a central motif in the national historiography of music. This chapter investigates a popular source in German-speaking music pedagogy on the systematic education of the (primarily female) voice: Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner’s Briefe an Natalie über den Gesang (1st ed. Leipzig 1803, 2nd ed. 1824). This 'manual' is based on thirty-one fictive letters and is heavily charged with stereotypes of 'the Italian'. The chapter discusses the multiple levels on which the idea of a decidedly Italian voice is constructed and shaped against a transnational background. A close reading shows how the voice served as a wide-ranging projection screen beyond strictly musical topics, tackling anthropological, moral, aesthetic and societal questions, all of them attempting to spread clichés of Italian music into German everyday musical life.

Chapter 8 assembles for the first time the available information about performance histories of earlier popular opera between 1714 and 1790, aiming to discover whether a ‘core’ or ‘canon’ of these works may legitimately be talked of. The introduction explains sources and methods, followed by tables showing for exactly how long the most-seen works held the stage. ‘The Crisis of 1745’ details the economic difficulties of the Comédie-Française, Comédie-Italienne and Fair theatres which lay behind anticompetitive strategies. Favart’s Acajou was one flashpoint, followed by Anne-Marie Du Boccage’s published attack on the Opéra Comique in 1745. ‘Theatre Politics and the Bouffon Legacy’ concerns the backstage history of rivalry between the Opéra Comique and Comédie-Italienne during the final decade of competition, centred on their responses to a revolution in public taste: enthusiasm for comic intermezzi at the Opéra during 1752–54. The Opéra is shown to have played an increasingly defensive game. ‘Creating a Repertory’ is based on close analysis of revivals of popular opera, seen together with Favart’s new role as programming manager at the Opéra Comique. A distinct core of repeatable works is finally identifiable, though revivals can be shown to have involved updating.

Chapter 4 proposes that popular opera had a ‘binary identity’ because it was understood as a domestic as well as a public entertainment. ‘Contexts’ begins by establishing the prevalence of singing and amateur acting in France. Privileged groups left behind the best record of activity, but Charles Perrault and Le Cerf de La Viéville stressed that opera melodies were sung throughout all social classes. An article by James Parakilas introduces the notion of private performance as a valid aspect of opera history. Arrangements of French opera are demonstrated through early artefacts from Amsterdam and mid-century periodicals from Paris. Solo versions, with texts, of opera overtures and chaconnes are illustrated and contextualised. Laurent Bordelon’s ‘opéra comique’, Arlequin Roland furieux, is identified as the first comedy to bear that designation, conceived for domestic use. The nature and sale of music for Comédie Française plays are described; Jean-Claude Gillier’s music was highly valued. In ‘Those Who Play Instruments’ arrangements of popular opera are studied in relation to the acquisition of musical skills: copying, arranging, figured bass playing. ‘Domestic Operas’ discusses contrasting works made and published for private performance in mid-century: Hautemer’s Le Troc and Marmontel and La Borde’s Annette et Lubin.

Chapter 12 explains how the French ‘musico-dramatic art’ functioned in practice and how it was theorised. The Introduction accounts for the 1762 merger of the Opéra Comique and Comédie-Italienne, describing the crossroads faced by popular opera. A case study of Le Roi et le fermier (1762) follows, Sedaine and Monsigny’s most ambitious work before Le Déserteur. ‘Politics and Kingship’ traces the origins of its libretto to English tradition: old ballads and Robert Dodsley’s The King and the Miller of Mansfield. Its figure of the monarch and its critique of courtiers are linked to Sedaine’s reworking. ‘The New Art in Action’ sets out Sedaine and Monsigny’s ambitious design, especially the ‘royal hunt and storm’ and overall approaches to musical planning. An analysis by Raphaëlle Legrand explains Sedaine’s techniques from a longer-term perspective. Musical absorption and transmission of political and human aspects is explained, taking in reference to France’s ‘new patriotism’ at the end of the Seven Years War. Theoretical aspects of ‘musico-dramatic art’ articulated by Laurent Garcin, Étienne Framery, Michel-Jean Sedaine and André Grétry are summarised. The importance of Philidor’s music is identified. The ‘Coda’ draws attention to the orchestral and symphonic nature of Philidor’s work and of subsequent popular opera.

Chapter 7 is a detailed critical study of comic and serious themes in popular operas. An Introduction establishes the philosophical basis of social critique in popular opera. A managerial shift in 1715 was made towards more intellectually engaging material, sometimes including social satire. This had been prominent in Gherardi’s theatre and was maintained in works by Alain-René Lesage, Philippe d’Orneval, Alexis Piron and Charles-Simon Favart. In ‘Recycling’ methods of reworking previous comedies are shown in two case studies involving Molière, Sedaine, Raymond Poisson and Louis Anseaume. A critical survey compares subjects and their treatment in fourteen works adapted from the Fables and Tales of La Fontaine. Evolving approaches to the poet’s material accompanied changing musical and moral approaches, for example in the depiction of poverty. In ‘Marriage as a Measure of Society’ a sample of eighteen popular operas discloses three areas of interest, though in very different comic modes: traditional resistance to impediments preventing marriage and happiness; resistance to the institution itself; and resistance to societal constraints which impede expectations of happiness. The influence of English drama is accounted for. A brief final section on ‘Abduction’ operas develops the wider implications of Jama Stilwell’s research on Letellier’s Arlequin Sultane favorite.

Chapter 5 offers an account of how vaudevilles were introduced on the Fair theatre stage, and how they were developed as an operatic medium. ‘Raw Materials’ provides contexts for understanding what vaudevilles were and how they were transmitted. ‘Vaudevilles on stage’ uses official reports to build a history of process: how musical dialogue in vaudevilles evolved from 1709. ‘Lyric pantomime’ formed an intermediate stage. Contemporary reactions to Italian recitative are used as a deductive basis for imagining vaudevilles in sound; the enquiry is extended in ‘Accompaniment’ and ‘Continuity’ by historical evidence and through scrutiny of Le Théâtre de la Foire, but also by the author’s report made of a 1991 performance. Historical evidence suggests that performance in Paris was regularly dialogic and spontaneous, not tied to fixed keys or accompaniment, but also sometimes lyrical. Highly expressive vaudevilles were sometimes grouped to form either narrative or sentimental scenes in operas by Lesage and d’Orneval, some works having affinity with common tropes in contemporary novels. ‘La Chercheuse d’esprit’ is an account of Favart’s famous vaudeville opera, here interpreted through unique performative information deduced from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque municipale, Versailles, hitherto unknown to scholarship.