The chorus in French Baroque opera

Any study of the chorus in Baroque opera would gravitate to France because French opera was, in literal truth, choral opera. Between 1671 and 1750, French composers reserved an important place for the chorus in all of their dramatic music. No other operatic movement during the Baroque, nor indeed in all of music history, rivaled this choral tradition. Chapter I introduces the problem and defines French Baroque opera as a drama whose plot is developed throughout all of its acts; and whose element of spectacle, dance and musical divertissement remained subservient to the dramatic action. This definition is necessary to contradistinguish the opera from other common dramatic forms of this period such as the opera-ballet, ballet herolque, comedie-ballet, opera-comique, ballet bouffon, acte de ballet, and fete. The works chosen for detailed analysis are the fourteen completed operas of Lully: Cadmus et Hermione, Alcest£, Thesee, Aty, Isis, Psyche, Bell􁪽rophon, Proserpine, Persee, Phaeton, Amadis de Gaule, Roland, Armide et Renaus, Acis et Galatee; the seven operas of Rameau: HiE.E,olyte et Aricie, Castor et Pollux, Dardanus, Platee, Zais, Nais, Zoroastre; and the opera Tancrede, by Campra. Chapter II considers the antecedents of Lully's tragedies lyriques: the ballet de cour, pastorale, and the Italian aesthetic. Chapters III through VI contain a detailed stylistic analysis of the choruses in Lully's operas. This analysis considers Lully's dramatic employment of the chorus; the chorus's relationship to other music in the opera; voice parts and the French predilection for a chorus with one female and three male voices; formal structure of the chorus; harmony; counterpoint; orchestral accompaniments; and Lully's utilization of agrements within his chorus. Chapter VII considers the activity during the interim years from the last opera of Lully (1687) to the first opera of Rameau (1733). The following composers are discussed biographically and according to their stylistic contributions to the final form bequeathed to Rameau: Louis de Lully; Jean-Louis de Lully; Colasse; Charpentier; Desmarets; Matho; Marais; Campra; Monteclair; Destouches; Mouret; Rebel; Francoeur; Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre; Bertin; Blamont; Gatti; Gervais; Lacoste. This chapter also includes a detailed analysis of Andre Campra's Tancrede, the most artistic opera produced during the period. Chapters VIII through XI present analyses of the choruses of Rameau as well as a comparison of Rameau's· choral approach with that of Lully. There are two appendixes. The first, a chorister list of the successive performances of Hippolyte et Aricie in 1733, 1742, 1757, and 1767, verifies the movement away from a male dominated chorus to a balanced ensemble of men and women as the century progressed. The second appendix traces the modulatory design which Rameau used for his choral compositions. The purpose of this dissertation is to illuminate an important portion of our musical literature that has been undeservedly neglected. Some of these choruses figure among the finest musical examples of the Baroque period. They account for the very best moments in French opera, and their quality is often on the same level as the better known German masterpieces of this same period. It is both astonishing and unfortunate that these compositions do not appear in choral concerts of today.