French Opera and the Revolutionary Sublime

When the entire population of Meyerbeer's grand opera _Le Prophète_ (1849) was engulfed by a spectacular exploding palace, following a failed uprising, the tableau was widely received as merging political and aesthetic ideas of 1848 with those of the 1790s, and confirming the end of revolutionary idealism. Such tableaux were a crucial part of the discourse on the unrepresentable nature of revolutionary experience, and were found in operas in the 1790s, the 1820s and the 1850s. This project seeks to establish the nature of the relationship between revolution, cataclysmic operatic tableau and the sublime that emerged in 1790s Paris, and to trace how it evolved during the first half of the nineteenth century at moments of revolutionary crisis. The aesthetic effect of such tableaux and their impact on audiences will be analysed in the context of wider political and cultural experiences, and some of the ways in which these tableaux influenced operatic practices elsewhere in Europe will be identified.

The project brings together three distinct research areas: the relationship between opera and political culture; opera and effect; and exchanges between different operatic traditions. A broadly interdisciplinary approach will be adopted, combining close reading of the music, staging manuals and librettos of individual operas with reception study and precise cultural, scientific and political contextualisation. Exciting scholarship is emerging in the realm of music and science that can help us to understand how such spectacular effects were created, and to theorise the perceptual overload and shock effects that they engendered, which (arguably) triggered the recall of real-life events. Four one-day workshops, in which specific ideas will be analysed from different disciplinary and/or national perspectives, will be integral to the research and dissemination processes: Sensory Perception and Drama; Music and Memory; Opera and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Europe; Travelling Opera.

The principal output will be a monograph, _French Opera and the Revolutionary Sublime_, structured around the tableaux of five key operas by Luigi Cherubini (two), Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Félicien David. It will be the first monograph to examine the impact of the French revolution on the development of nineteenth-century opera, and will situate the case studies a) in the context of France's evolving relationship with the 1789 revolution and its aftermath, and b) in relation to technological innovation and scientific understanding of the senses during the first half of the nineteenth century. Other outputs will include two articles, conference papers, a conference panel (leading to a special issue for the _Cambridge Opera Journal_) and teaching materials. A range of public talks, podcasts, broadcasts and programme notes will disseminate the research findings to a range of audiences via the Royal Opera House, Opera North, the Broadway Cinema (Nottingham), Derby Museum and the BBC, and thus support and inform the increasing interest in staging French grand operas, and in exploring opera's effects and political meanings. A short placement at the Royal Opera House aims to advance the relationship between academic research, creative practice and programming policy.

The project will a) demonstrate the importance and relevance of grand opera to nineteenth-century culture in its broadest sense, and b) encourage interest in modern revivals/performances of this highly entertaining art-form that has until very recently been neglected by modern opera companies and institutions. The pre-performance talks, broadcasts, programme notes and public symposia (often linked to more familiar nineteenth-century repertory that was influenced by grand opera) will communicate to a wider audience a more complete understanding of nineteenth-century opera and culture, influence institutional practice and policy, and thereby contribute to economic health.

Non-academic beneficiaries will include:

1. General public (local, wider)
The general public will benefit through cultural enrichment, specifically the appeal of a) pre-performance talks (Opera North, live link-ups at Broadway Cinema, Royal Opera House Insight Event, podcasts), b) programme notes (essays for ROH programme brochures), c) broadcasts (Radio 3: feature for Music Matters), d) public symposia (Opera North symposium, involving academics, singers, director), e) public talks (Derby Museum), f) article for a non-academic journal (_Musical Times_).

2. Organisations: Opera companies; Museums and galleries
The project will help transform evidence-based policy, influence and inform practitioners, and enhance the research capacity and skills of businesses and organisations. In so doing, it will increase economic performance and the creative output of a range of institutions over the longer term. For example, recent research into grand opera (including my own) has influenced programming decisions at the Royal Opera House and at the Opéra-Comique (Paris), and has been employed to educate the public through broadcasts, programme notes and pre-performance talks that supported these performances. By this means, something of the popular appeal of such works during the nineteenth century is communicated, and interest in staging further examples is stimulated. Moreover, singers with the experience of performing these works encourage (and make possible) their revivals, and productions of new works in the repertory are programmed. The current project will enable me to strengthen and develop existing relationships with individual companies and to forge new ones (see 1 above), to continue this process of education.

In addition, I will take up a two-week placement at the Royal Opera House, focusing on staging (building on the contacts I have established with the organisation, and activities I have been involved in). This has the aim of establishing new relationships, identifying research synergies, and influencing decision-making - from choice of repertory to details of design and staging - in the longer term. My research on theatre technologies (and pyrotechnical history) will be of benefit to those interested in the history of entertainment (including museums such as the Centre National du Costume de Scene, Moulins; the Theatre Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum), London), and I will make contact with these organisations to develop ideas beyond the life of the project.

3. A level exam boards and University curriculum development:
My research has the potential to influence organisational culture and practices. During my (ongoing) involvement with the Edexcel A level board strategy group for music, I have encountered a demand for different types of music, particularly those involving visual media such as opera, and have the opportunity to influence repertorial content of the course and the methodological approaches and skills taught. At my own institution I have been responsible for raising the profile of opera on the UG and PG curricula through research-led teaching and curriculum development, and recruiting and supporting research students.

Full details of the events are detailed in the 'Pathways to Impact' Statement.