The Querelle Des Bouffons

1870 Words4 Pages

Introduction
The “Querelle des Bouffons” ("Quarrel of the Comic Actors") was a cultural war over the comparative merits of French and Italian opera styles. It was divided into two camps; the supporters of Italian music known as the coin de la reine, and the partisans of French music known as the coin du roi. However the querrelle had political and social implications with supporters of the royal establishment championing French opera, they saw as being forged on the principles of French classicism and absolutist ideology, while proponents of Enlightenment saw in Italian opera a vehicle for subversive attacks on that establishment. It may have started over different issues, but the ancien régime was, like before, at the heart of the conflict …show more content…

They also believed that ‘people felt oppressed by the stubborn fetters and high seriousness of traditional French opera especially after having been exposed to the gaiety of Italian musical comedy’ (Hirschberg in Charlton, 2013, pp. 34). This was congruent with their specific feelings towards the offerings of the Italian ‘‘buffoons’’ whom they perceived as ‘free of constraint, spontaneous and relevant to daily life, in comparison with the convention-bound, staid offerings of the Opera, which reflected an increasingly irrelevant monarchical culture’(Rosow, 2009, pp. …show more content…

The long standoff between the two theatrical camps must therefore be read in parallel with societal change over the two centuries, especially in the waning of the ancien régime and even the path to revolution. Indeed, the proximity of the Querelle to the revolution perhaps explains the increase in overt attacks observed in the pamphlets. Italian theater was no longer just a means to poke fun at the establishment and drum up good business; here it was being used for a serious political purpose, because of its understood associations. As one of the Querelle pamphlets simply put it: “a minuet can become a dangerous thing’ (Cook, 2005, pp. 157).

References
Journal Articles
Charlton, D 2014, ‘New Light on the Bouffons in Paris (1752–1754)’, Eighteenth Century Music, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 31 – 54.

Downing, T A 2006, ‘Rameau's "Platée" Returns: A Case of Double Identity in the "Querelle des bouffons"’, Cambridge Opera Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 1 – 19.

Everett, L 2008, ‘Jacques Lecoq's Bouffons in Australia’, Australasian Drama Studies, vol. 53, pp. 168 -

Open Document