Being a musician and composer himself and
teacher of music in his young adulthood years, though with no formal training in composition,
Rousseau left several marks of influence in opera. Some influence was negative, like the uproar
caused in the French music Acad©mie des Sciences against his new system of
musical notation, which he thought would bring him fame and wealth. Some influence led to
develops in musical genres, like the (1) development of the French op©ra
comique spurred by the success of his Italianate interm¨de
"petit opera"--itself influenced by Italian intermezzos--Le devin du
village (1752, Fontainebleau) and like the (2) growth of the new genre ""
spurred by his Pygmalion (1770, Lyons), which was spoken with musical
interludes and not sung. While his early operas were failures, these works did leave a lasting
influence as did his philosophy of music. He stated that music must express and inspire deep
feeling, not great ideas nor moral principles, and that this feeling might only be expressed
through the words of language and not through music alone; hence the combination of words and
music in Pygmalion.
Gale Encyclopedia of
Biography: Jean Jacques Rousseau
Oxford Grove Music
Encyclopedia:
Oxford Grove Art: Jacques
Rousseau
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