The Urbanization of Opera: Music Theater in Paris in the Nineteenth Century

Grand opera--the genre that flourished in Paris during the mid 19th century--has had a bad reputation for most of its history. Wagner dismissed it as "effects without causes." Characterized by gargantuan choral numbers, schlocky exoticism, and plenty of blood, it represents much of what we perceive as 19th-century opera without the depth of the period's best work. It is rarely performed today.

Anselm Gerhard, a Swiss musicology professor, engages in a rich study of grand opera and, without exactly discovering a trove of neglected masterpieces, places it in context. He demonstrates what there is to admire in a genre that led from tragédie lyrique to the achievements of Verdi and Wagner. Closely examining scores by Rossini, Meyerbeer, Auber, and Verdi himself, Gerhard also explores the form's genesis. He suggests that grand opera's emphasis on violent historical events derived from the turbulent history of France after 1789. A "heroic interpretation of history yielded to a disillusioned view," and the 18th century's happy endings gave way to "horrifying" ones. Influenced by melodrama and the waning of an aristocratic audience, librettos lost their exalted literary status.

Gerhard's links between grand opera and city life are sometimes more imaginative than convincing ("urbanized perceptions" account for the exaggerated depiction of characters, since their outward appearance, as hard to read as that of "anonymous passers-by in the streets of Paris," was no longer useful as a guide). But he doesn't oversell these operas; he assesses their virtues and their considerable limitations. He persuasively defends the accomplishments of the much-derided Meyerbeer. And though this book is intended for readers with some grounding in the subject, he helpfully includes synopses of these less-than-canonical works. --David Olivenbaum