Orchestra and Spectacle in the tragédie en musique 1673–1715: Oracle, sommeil and tempête

Abstract

This paper looks at some aspects of the expansion of the role of the orchestra in the early decades of French operatic history, especially after the death of Lully, and in particular at the orchestra's increasing involvement in, and enhancement of, the spectacular and the dramatic. It focuses on three types of scene, in each of which the orchestra plays a key role in the construction of the scene and in supplying its distinctive musical features. The paper is based on part of a thesis which, for reasons' of manageability, set a terminal date of 1715, but I have where appropriate stepped outside diis self-imposed limit