Orpheus In The Underworld 19 th -century France Since 1789 and the - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Orpheus In The Underworld

19 th -century France Since 1789 and the start of the • French Revolution France had been in flux. In 1851 Louis-Napoleon • Bonaparte, President of the Republic, staged a coup. Dissolved National Assembly and • held a referendum establishing himself as Emperor. “We shall rule this country with a • purse in one hand a whip in the other…” (Duke of Persigny)

Second Empire (1852-1870) Napoleon III’s Second Empire • gave France respite from war at home, and was a period (at least seemingly) of peace and prosperity. Paris redesigned by Baron • Haussmann – a symbol for a new France. Censorship and increased police • powers silenced opposition and doubt. France knew only what Napoleon III showed them. Napoleon established his Paris • court as centre of social/cultural life, offering glittering distractions & rewards to courtiers.

“ Operetta! Flowing champagne, ceaseless waltzing, risqué couplets…uniforms and glittering ballgowns, romancing and dancing! Gaiety and lightheartedness, sentiment and Schmalz …” (Richard Traubner, 1983)

Orpheus in the Underworld Offenbach was the “Mozart of the • Champs- Elysees”. 21 October, 1858, Orpheus in the • Underworld premiered at Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens – the first true “opera bouffe” in Paris. The opera takes a new approach • to the classic myth of Orpheus & Euridice. The reaction was extreme…. •

“They have killed off respect!” “Classical Olympia has been thrown into disarray, and the authors have demolished the old schoolroom material of heroics and tragedy” “A profanation”

“I shall never forget the dazzling evening Orphee aux Enfers enabled me to spend at the theatre…” (Napoleon III, 1860)