- Robinson, Philip E. J. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Doctrine of the Arts. Bern:
P. Lang, 1984. iv, 520p. ISBN 3-2610-3379-7. PQ2056 .A38 R6.
Music is the primary partner in opera. Mixtures of speech and music, as in the
opéra-comique,are ridiculous. But then recitative, which avoids the speech
element, tends to be boring. Rousseau overcame his early distaste for Italian
music but admired the French composers as well: he praised all in his Diction-
naire de musique. It may have been personal animosity toward Rameau that
influenced Rousseau’s eventual turn against the French. Robinson’s review is
complemented by a strong bibliography of some 150 entries, but it lacks an
index.
Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1705–1755)
Zaide is in FO,v.45.
Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894)
There is no substantive literature except in Russian. A valuable bibliography, with
worklist, by Richard Taruskin is in NGDO4, 80–84.
Antonio Sacchini (1730–1786)
Oedipe à Colonneis in FO,v.69.
- Thierstein, E. A. “Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini and His French Operas.”
Ph.D. diss., U. of Cincinnati, 1974. 209p. - Schlitzer, Franco. Antonio Sacchini: Schede e appunti per una sua storia
teatrale.Siena: [Ticci], 1955. 77p. ML410 .S1 S34.
Life and works, with letters. Worklist gives performance details and writings
about each opera. No index. - Tozzi, Lorenzo. “Il Renauddi Antonio Sacchini: Genesi di una metamorfosi.”
Chigiana32–12 (1975): 225–263.
Genesis, with emphasis on the novelty of Renaudcompared to earlier operas
by Sacchini. This was no longer a simple gathering of arias but a dramatic
work, a true tragédie-lyrique. Long musical examples, with technical com-
ments.
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1739–1799)
L’amant anonymeis in FO,v.66.
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Samson et Dalilais in ASO15 (1978).
- Locke, Ralph P. “Constructing the Oriental ‘Other’: Saint-Saëns’ Samson et
Dalila.” COJ3-1 (March 1991): 261–302.
The European image of the Oriental woman was as an odalisque or concubine:
she was voluptuous and vulnerable but potentially dangerous. European
women could not be portrayed that way on stage, but “Eastern” women were
304 Opera