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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 - - 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
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19th-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
- ther…” (Duke of Persigny)
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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.
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“Operetta! Flowing champagne, ceaseless waltzing, risqué couplets…uniforms and glittering ballgowns, romancing and dancing! Gaiety and lightheartedness, sentiment and Schmalz…” (Richard Traubner, 1983)
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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….
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“They have killed off respect!” “Classical Olympia has been thrown into disarray, and the authors have demolished the old schoolroom material
- f heroics and tragedy”
“A profanation”
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