Opéra comique facts for kids
Opéra comique (pronounced "oh-peh-RAH koh-MEEK") is a type of French opera that mixes spoken talking parts with singing parts called arias. It started from popular shows at the Paris Fair Theatres, which used well-known tunes with new words and spoken scenes.
Even though it has "comique" in its name, opéra comique isn't always funny. In fact, some of the most famous ones, like Carmen, are actually sad stories or tragedies. This type of opera is connected to a theatre in Paris called the Opéra-Comique.
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What is Opéra Comique?
The name opéra comique can be a bit confusing. It doesn't just mean "funny opera." It's more about the style of the show and where it was performed.
This kind of opera began in the early 1700s. At first, it was humorous plays at Paris fairs that included songs. These songs often used popular tunes of the day, but with new lyrics. People called these early shows opéra comique en vaudevilles.
Later, composers started writing completely new music for these operas instead of just using old tunes. This was partly because they were inspired by lighter Italian operas. By the 1800s, opéra comique mostly meant any opera that had spoken dialogue and was performed at the Opéra-Comique theatre. This was different from other operas that used recitative (a singing style that sounds like talking) instead of spoken words.
So, even though Carmen by Georges Bizet is a very famous opéra comique, it tells a tragic story, not a funny one.
How Opéra Comique Began
Early Days at the Fairs
Opéra comique started in the early 1700s at two big annual fairs in Paris: the Foire Saint Germain and the Foire Saint Laurent. Plays at these fairs began to add musical numbers. These songs were called vaudevilles. They took popular tunes that everyone knew and put new words to them.
These plays were often funny and sometimes made fun of the official theatres in Paris. In 1715, the two fair theatres came together under one group called the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique. Even with strong competition from other theatres, this new type of show became very popular. Famous writers like Alain-René Lesage and Alexis Piron wrote works for this new style.
New Music and Italian Influence
A big change for opéra comique happened in the mid-1700s. There was a big debate in Paris about French versus Italian music. Some people, like the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, liked the simple and natural style of Italian comic opera. They thought it was better than the serious French operas of the time.
In 1752, Rousseau wrote a short opera called Le Devin du village. It was influenced by the Italian style and was very successful. This made the fair theatres interested. The next year, a director named Jean Monnet asked composer Antoine Dauvergne to create a French opera in the Italian style.
Dauvergne's opera, Les troqueurs, had a simple story and everyday characters. It used Italian-like melodies. This opera was a huge hit and started a trend. Composers began writing new music for opéra comique instead of just using old tunes.
The new, catchy songs were called ariettes. Many opéras comiques in the late 1700s were known as comédies mêlées d'ariettes (comedies mixed with ariettes). Writers like Michel-Jean Sedaine and Charles Simon Favart created the stories for these operas.
Important composers of this time included Egidio Duni, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, and François-André Danican Philidor. Monsigny worked with Sedaine on operas that mixed comedy with serious ideas. For example, Le roi et le fermier (1762) talked about freedom and equality. Their biggest success, Le déserteur (1769), was about a soldier sentenced to death.
The most popular composer of opéra comique in the late 1700s was André Grétry. He was great at combining Italian melodies with the French language. Grétry wrote many different types of opéra comique, from fairy tales like Zémire et Azor (1772) to comedies like L'amant jaloux (1778). His most famous work was Richard Coeur-de-lion (1784), which became popular all over the world.
Changes in the 19th Century
The French Revolution (starting in 1789) brought many changes to music in Paris. In 1793, the Opéra-Comique theatre got its new name, but it no longer had the only right to perform operas with spoken dialogue. Other theatres, like the Théâtre Feydeau, also started producing opéra comique style works.
During this time, opéra comique often became more serious and dramatic. It started to show the influence of Romanticism, a style that focused on strong emotions. Composers like Étienne Méhul and Luigi Cherubini wrote operas that were more complex and sometimes dealt with serious subjects. They tried to use less spoken dialogue and connect the music more, sometimes using recurring musical themes for characters or ideas.
In 1801, the Opéra-Comique and the Feydeau theatres merged. As the political situation became more stable under Napoleon, comedy started to return to opéra comique. Lighter works by composers like Boieldieu (such as Le calife de Bagdad, 1800) and Isouard (Cendrillon, 1810) were very successful.
French audiences also loved Italian opera, especially the works of Rossini. His style began to influence French opéra comique. You can hear this in Boieldieu's big hit, La dame blanche (1825), and later works by Auber (Fra Diavolo, 1830) and Adolphe Adam (Le postillon de Lonjumeau, 1836).
See also
In Spanish: Opéra-comique para niños
