Popular Opera in Eighteenth-Century France

‘Ultimately, Popular Opera is a towering intellectual achievement that stands to significantly reorient contemporary accounts of eighteenth-century French opera. Charlton paves the way for a history of this repertoire in which previously discounted genres like fairground comedy and operatic parody take their place alongside the tragédie en musique. In this monograph, popular opera truly receives the limelight it has long deserved.’ Callum Blackmore, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

‘Charlton’s erudite scholarship makes Popular opera an essential reference work for musicologists, performers and scholars of 18th-century theatre. Moreover, Charlton’s lucid descriptions of the often complex plots in many of these works highlight various news stories and themes relevant to the cultural and political historian. This much needed volume not only fulfils Charlton’s initial observation that ‘Popular opera deserves a history’ (p.1) but amply demonstrates that this hitherto neglected repertory is sophisticated enough to rival even the tragédie en musique.’ Adrian Powney, Early Music Journal

‘… an extremely important monograph for any historian of opera and music theatre, which should be considered a towering achievement.’ Erin Helyard, Musicology Australia

‘Ultimately, David Charlton's study calls for a reassessment of the impact of popular genres on the history of music more widely. This is its greatest contribution: 'Popular Opera' opens up new research perspectives by bringing together genres that are often neglected, or sometimes considered less important - such as fairground comedy, vaudevilles and operatic parody - with more widely studied and accepted genres such as the opéra-comique or the tragédie lyrique.’ Maxime Margollé, Eighteenth-Century Music