Comedians of the King

Lyric theaterinancienrégimeFrance was an eminently political art, tied to the demands of court spectacle. This was true not only of tragic opera (tragédielyrique) but also its comic counterpart,opéracomique, a form tracing its roots to the seasonal trade fairs of Paris. While historians have long privileged the genre's popular origins,opéracomiquewas brought under the protection of the French crown in 1762, thus consolidating a new venue wherenationalmusicmight bedebated and defined. InTheComedians of the King, Julia Doe traces the impact of Bourbon patronage on the development ofopéracomiquein the turbulent prerevolutionary years.Drawing on both musical and archival evidence, thebook presents the history ofthisunderstudied genre andunpacks the material structures that supported its rapid evolution at the royally sponsoredComédie-Italienne. Doe demonstrates how comic theater was exploited in, and worked against, themonarchy'scarefully cultivated public image-a negotiationthat became especiallyfraughtafter the accession of the music-lovingqueen,Marie Antoinette.The Comedians of the Kingexamines the aesthetic and political tensions that arose when a genre with popularfoundationswas folded into the Bourbon propaganda machine, and when agroupof actors trained at the Parisian fairs became official representatives of the sovereign, orcomédiensordinaires duroi.