"Théâtres à recettes et spectacles non payants. Circulations, Créations, Transversalité (1661-1791)", dir. Emanuele De Luca et Barbara Nestola, Littératures Classiques, numéro 113, 2024.
The articles collected in this volume reflect the richness of the ThéPARis research program. Following an earlier publication devoted to commercial Parisian theatres during the Ancien Régime (Revue d’Histoire du Théâtre, n° 289, T1, 2021), this one widens its scope to include non-commercial theatres both in Paris and in the provinces, including plays given in homes, schools, religious institutions, and courts. Three of the articles are of particular interest to seventeenth-century studies.
A common theme in the three articles is the existence of different tastes in various places and contexts. Barbara Nestola compares the “connaisseurs” of the first Parisian opera company, that of Pierre Perrin, to that of Lully. The former, familiar with the court and Parisian salons, created what could be called a “théâtre intime”, with particular importance given to airs and other vocal music. Lully, on the other hand, like his librettist Quinault, was familiar with this refined society but also with the theatre. Their works are more dramatic, with more elaborate stage effects, and they had a better understanding of commercial practices.
Benoît Dratwicki studies Lully’s two troupes, that of the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris and that of the court, which Louis XIV insisted on keeping separate. Roles were thus sung by different singers in the two places, even if productions were taking place at about the same time. Dratwicki’s article and appendices provide numerous examples, and he concludes by suggesting that this separation could have produced styles of interpretation specific to each troupe.
Bénédicte Louvat concentrates on theatre in the French provinces, both plays from the Parisian repertoire and endogenous productions, in French or in regional languages. Permanent troupes in the provinces were rare, and productions most often took place in conjunction with the religious calendar (Carnival, for example) or with local political events. There is evidence of interactions between local and traveling companies, but more research is needed.
review by Buford Norman
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