Andrea Fabiano, Histoire de l'opéra italien en France (1752-1815) - Heroes and Heroines of a Theatrical Novel - Theatre and Performance

French Literature Reviews - 2026

Andrea Fabiano, Histoire de l'opéra italien en France (1752-1815) - Heroes and Heroines of a Theatrical Novel
Theatre and Performance

Andrea Fabiano, Histoire de l'opéra italien en France (1752-1815). Héros et héroïnes d'un roman théâtral
Ed. du CNRS, coll. Sciences de la musique, April 2006, 295 p., 28 euros

Andrea Fabiano is Professor of Modern Italian Literature and Civilization at Paris-Sorbonne University and a researcher at the Research Institute on Musical Heritage in France (IRPMF). A specialist in dramaturgical transfers between France and Italy, he has published numerous articles and books on 18th-century opera and theater, including most recently La " Querelle des Bouffons " dans la vie culturelle française du XVIIIe siècle, published in 2005 in the same series.

CONTENTS

  • "Mazarinades"
  • The Arrival of the Bouffons (1752-1754)
  • The Bouffons in Their Own Theater: The "Goldoni Project" at the Comédie-Italienne (1760-1762)
  • Anne-Pierre-Jacques de Vismes and the Return of the Bouffons to the Académie Royale de Musique (1778-1788)
  • The Bouffons at the Barber's: The Revolution of the Théâtre de Monsieur (1789-1792)
  • The Bouffons in the Service of France: The Adventure of the Opéra Buffa (1801-1804)
  • Bouffons for My Empire: Italian Opera in Napoleonic Paris (1804-1815)

This scholarly study examines the vibrant presence of Italian opera in France from the mid-eighteenth century through the Napoleonic era, tracing how musical and theatrical traditions crossed national boundaries. Andrea Fabiano investigates the institutional, artistic, and social dynamics that shaped the reception of Italian works, beginning with the landmark arrival of the Bouffons and following the genre's evolution through the turbulent decades of the French Revolution and the First Empire. By analyzing specific performance venues such as the Comédie-Italienne, the Académie Royale de Musique, and the Théâtre de Monsieur, the book illuminates the complex relationship between foreign musical forms and Parisian theatrical culture.

The volume offers valuable insights for scholars of musicology, eighteenth-century studies, and Franco-Italian cultural relations, connecting broader historical shifts to the specific fortunes of operatic repertoires. Through a careful examination of archival materials and institutional projects, the author highlights the key figures, impresarios, and political contexts that enabled Italian opera to flourish in France. Readers interested in the mechanics of cultural transfer, the history of the lyric stage, and the ideological uses of art under the Ancien Régime, the Revolution, and Napoleon will find this work an essential resource for understanding European musical exchange.