French theater and opera in the '900

What do you mean by non-existent...?

After Debussy... nothingness

I would say the good Messiaen, no?

http://www.pianoconcerto.it/forum/index.php?/topic/1946-messiaen-e-la-lirica/

oh my god, it's not true that nothing came after Debussy. The six wrote a lot for musical theater, and for a long time, and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges is one of the most important works of the 1900s

... I wouldn't want to be a party pooper, but the post-Debussy (if there ever was a post-Debussy) ... is very Debussy.

Shall we make a list of the works I was mentioning before?

"L'enfant et les sortilèges" by Ravel, an opera quite different from Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande

"Les mamelles de Tirésias", "Dialogues des Carmélites" and "La voix humaine" by Poulenc, absolutely different from anything by Debussy;

The Oresteia trilogy, "Les Malheurs d'Orphée", "David", which are just some of Milhaud's works, also quite far from Debussy;

Interesting discussion, I don't have time right now but I want to add a little spice immediately

@Thallo, temporally distant or in terms of notation?

And then, a number of works that can be counted on one's fingers .... in a century ... mmmhm

... not to mention the French contributions to theatrical music....

...I have formed my own idea and I would even go as far as to dwell on Messiaen, about whom there was talk but then I went deeper .... it seemed like a somewhat disappointing work to me for many reasons. Please note, I wrote "disappointing..."

Frank wrote:

@Thallo, distant in time or in writing?

the ones I listened to are distant in writing. We can find influences in everything if we want to, but it makes sense to distinguish their weight and scope: Debussy's music influenced many, but he did not invent the "French style"; "Pelléas et Mélisande" is an opera so complex and unique that it could still be considered an island, an opera without predecessors or heirs, and for this reason too I say that, setting aside generic influences, Debussy's MUSICAL THEATRE had no successor.

And then, a number of works that can be counted on one's fingers .... in a century ... mmmhm

obviously mine was a selection of titles considered "important". If we were to mention Italy, we would have more or less the same situation.

... not to mention the contributions of the French to theatrical music....

quite right, let's remember the ballet, the oratorios (Jean d'Arc au bûcher is one of the few "successful" scenic oratorios of the 1900s), and let's remember how Parisian musical life WAS THE MUSICAL LIFE in the 1900s.

...I have formed my own idea and I would even go so far as to dwell on Messiaen, about whom there was talk but then I went deeper .... it seemed like a somewhat disappointing opera to me for many reasons. Please note, I wrote "disappointing..."

despite having received the DVDs as a gift, I haven't managed to watch it yet... ...

I wanted to make a somewhat detailed speech but unfortunately I don't have much time during this period; meanwhile, I passed a PDF containing an excerpt of the analysis to Thallo. Maybe it can be useful to someone else (actually I also have the 700Mb score... if needed, we can arrange for it).

I am also very busy these days, I also have the analysis of something from Fidelio pending...

thallo wrote:

i am also very busy these days, I also have the analysis of something from Fidelio pending...

A time will come when you will see that the document I sent you has its points of interest