opéra-ballet

…reflected in the success of opéra-ballets, of which the most celebrated were André Campra’s L’Europe galante (1697; “Gallant Europe”) and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes galantes (1735; “The Gallant Indies”). These works combined singing, dancing, and orchestral music into numbers that were unified by a loose theme.

Another influence was the opéra ballet, with its grand display of fleeting images embodied by the dance, the singing, the costumes, and the decorations. Watteau belonged to a period of reaction against the classicism of the preceding era, in which division of the arts and of the separation of…

…secular works, and his first opéra-ballet, L’Europe galante, was performed in 1697 under the name of his brother, Joseph Campra. In 1700 he gave up his church appointment and for 40 years enjoyed a wide reputation for his stage works.

…which led to a new genre, the opera-ballet, initiated by the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, which combined vocal scenes with danced interludes. Following the developments in Italian opera, composers made new demands on singers, who had to study for years in order to be able to meet them successfully. After the…