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ROMEY DISSERTATION COMPLETE FINAL.pdf (92.83 MB)

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Popular Song, Opera Parody, and the Construction of Parisian Spectacle, 1648–1713

Romey, John Andrew, III
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1237-300X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1521213146521338

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Music History.
This dissertation examines the interplay between popular and elite song traditions in early modern Paris. Individuals participating in these separate but interrelated traditions composed new texts to popular songs, known in France as vaudevilles, and parodied airs from contemporary spectacles, especially from the Opera. By interrogating the daily lives of early modern Parisians through the lens of song production and performance, I trace a cultural phenomenon in which individuals recycled and reused bits of culture to form something new, whether as a projection of their identity, as a means to satirically critique society, as a demonstration of their wit, or as part of complex social ceremonies. I first reconstruct the rich musical and theatrical traditions that evolved in the public spaces of the Pont-Neuf and Place Dauphine. I then turn to the theaters to demonstrate that in the late seventeenth century playwrights increasingly began to integrate street tunes into their productions and to compose in the style of vaudevilles. Tunes from the theaters were sometimes absorbed into the repertory of street performers and became vaudevilles and Fairground plays drew from all currently fashionable melodies. After establishing how popular tunes functioned in the public sphere, I turn to song production at the court and salons, where fashionable elites developed their own tradition of parody. Just as street singers composed new satirical texts to tunes from contemporary operas, participants at salons composed witty texts to the most a la mode airs. In the final two chapters, I reappraise the tradition of opera parody that emerged at the Comedie-Francaise, Comedie-Italienne, and the theatres de la foire. Armed with a more holistic understanding of the concept of parody in the popular and elite song traditions, I argue that the playwrights working at the Comedie-Francaise depicted and mocked the parodic tradition from the salons, while also allowing servant characters to connect the world on stage to the popular parody and song traditions. In contrast, the Comedie-Italienne and theatres de la foire, as popular public theaters, based their parody on the more politicized satire fostered by ephemeral street performances.
Georgia Cowart (Advisor)
Susan McClary (Committee Member)
Peter Bennett (Committee Member)
Ross Duffin (Committee Member)
Gillian Weiss (Committee Member)
500 p.
European History; History; Music; Theater History
popular song; Louis XIV; Jean-Baptiste Lully; street song; early modern France; popular culture; French theater; Opera; Comedie-Francaise; Comedie-Italienne; Fairground theaters; theatres de la foire; mazarinades; street singing; popular theater; commedia

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Romey, III, J. A. (2018). Popular Song, Opera Parody, and the Construction of Parisian Spectacle, 1648–1713 [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1521213146521338

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Romey, III, John. Popular Song, Opera Parody, and the Construction of Parisian Spectacle, 1648–1713 . 2018. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1521213146521338.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Romey, III, John. "Popular Song, Opera Parody, and the Construction of Parisian Spectacle, 1648–1713 ." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1521213146521338

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1521213146521338
51
© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.