1st Edition

Michel-Jean Sedaine (1719-1797) Theatre, Opera and Art

Edited By David Charlton, Mark Ledbury Copyright 2000
    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    Originally published in 2000, this book highlights the interst Sedaine's life and work is now, belatedly, provoking in many scholarly disciplines. If Sedaine speaks today to literary history, theatre history and opera studies, it is because he possessed a multivalent vision, one which accounts for both his past neglect and is present rediscovery. Like many others, he believed that the established, 'official' genres needed to be reformed; unlike many, he made it his business to transform the actual language and operation of the theatre arts he practised. Until late eighteenth-century opera and drama in France become better understood, Sedaine's immense importance for the development of Romantic opera and theatre risks remaining generally concealed; to reveal something of this importance is one main reason for publishing the present volume.

    This book includes chapters on Sedaine and the question of genre, the representation of the female in the dramas of Sedaine, and the words, gestures and other signs in the era of Sedaine.

    Introduction: Researching Sedaine, Mark Ledbury and David Charlton.  Part I: Genre and Representation.  1. Sedaine and the Question of Genre, Mark Ledbury.  2. Les Philosophes and Le Savoir: Words, Gestres and Other Signs in the Era of Sedaine, Sophia Rosenfeld.  3. The Representation of the Female in the Dramas of Sedaine, John Dunkley.  Part II: Transformations.  4. Aline, reine de Golconde: une bergere d'opéra-comique a l'Académie Royale de Musiqe, Manuel Couvreur.  5. Quatre Rois a la Chasse: Dodsley, Collé, Sedaine, Goldoni, Michel Noiray.  6. 'Risquer un Genre Nouveau en Musique': l'opéra-comique de Sedaine et Monsigny.  Part III: The Public Image.  7. Sedaine et les Images, Martine de Rougemont.  8. Un Jugement de Francois Benoit Hoffman sur Sedaine en 1812, Patrick Taieb.  9. Sedaine's Prefaces: Pretexts for a New Musical Drama, David Charlton.  Part IV: Sources.  10. An Iconography of Sedaine and his Works, Mark Ledbury.  11. A Sedaine Bibliography, David Charlton and Mark Ledbury.