Michel-Jean Sedaine (1719-1797): Theatre, Opera and Art

These essays originate in a conference held in 1997 at Royal Holloway. Authors sought to define Sedaine's importance: as a creator of modern opéra-comique; as a dramatist; as a friend of artists like Gabriel de Saint-Aubin and Jacques-Louis David; as Secretary to the Académie Royale d'Architecture.
Part I is entitled 'Genre and Representation', with chapters by Mark Ledbury ('Sedaine and the Question of Genre'), Sophia Rosenfeld ('Words, Gestures and Other Signs in the Era of Sedaine') and John Dunkley (The Representation of the Female in the Dramas of Sedaine'). Part II is enitled 'Transformations', with chapters by Manuel Couvreur (on 'Aline, Reine de Golconde'), Michel Noiray (on 'Le Roi et le Fermier') and Raphaëlle Legrand ('L'opéra-comique de Sedaine et Monsigny'). Part III is entitled 'The Public Image' with chapters by Martine de Rougemont ('Sedaine et les images'), Patrick Taiëb ('Un jugement de François Benoîit Hoffman sur Sedaine en 1812') and David Charlton (see separate entry); Part IV is entitled 'Sources', including a comprehensive bibliography of Sedaine's publications and criticism of his oeuvre; and an essay on the iconography of Sedaine and his works by Mark Ledbury.