Dragons, Devils, and Trains: Technology and Hypocrisy on the French Musical Stage

On 21 November 1831, Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable premiered at the Paris Opéra, dazzling audiences with devilish lighting effects, trapdoors leading to hell, and rotating backdrops. The impressive musico-visual spectacle has been often cited as the reason for the work’s success, proof of which can be seen in critical reception and the work’s far-reaching influence. Beyond the opera house, the boulevard theaters adopted technological effects seen in grand operas such as Robert, and developed their own. The works often used the technique of exaggeration—staging devils riding dragons and conjuring trains—to humorously critique the excess of grand opera that Wagner would latter lambast as “effects without causes.”  

 This paper examines the boulevard theaters’ rich tradition of parodying the Opéra, which took on a new form in the mid-nineteenth century. Quoting and alluding to the music and plot of operas such as Robert le Diable, these works—ranging from vaudevilles to new hybrid genres—critiqued the “excessive” technological spectacles of grand opera. Yet, they also drew upon these materials to exploit the audience’s persistent desire for musico-visual spectacle. Grand opera was far from alone in its explorations of technology, and these works both used it and contemplated its position in Parisian life. By exploring the contradictions of critique and influence inherent in this musical repertoire, this paper illuminates the rich—and largely unexplored—interactions between the different theaters, and their shared engagement with technological innovation.