Paris at this time was curiously
isolated from the world of music, and it is strange to find how little
the development of Italian opera affected the French school. Marais
(1650-1718) was more alive to Southern influences than most of his
contemporaries, and in his treatment of the aria there is a perceptible
approach to Italian methods; but Rameau (1683-1764) brought back French
opera once more to its distinctive national style. Though he followed
the general lines of Lulli's school, he brought to bear upon it a richer
sense of beauty and a completer musical organisation than Lulli ever
possessed. In his treatment of declamation pure and simple, he was
perhaps Lulli's inferior, but in all other respects he showed a decided
advance upon his predecessor. He infused new life into the monotonous
harmony and well-worn modulations which had done duty for so many years.
His rhythms were novel and suggestive, and the originality and resource
of his orchestration opened the eyes of Frenchmen to new worlds of
beauty and expression. Not the least important part of Rameau's work lay
in the influence which his music exerted upon the genius of the man to
whom the regeneration of opera is mainly due. Christoph Willibald Gluck
(1714-1787) was the son of a forester. Such musical education as he
received he acquired in Italy, and his earlier works are written in the
Italian style which was fashionable at the time.
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