page_title: French theatre of the late 18th century
section_title: Pieces de circonstances
hierarchical_section_title: French theatre of the late 18th century / Pieces de circonstances
caption_attribution_description: Vigée-Lebrun attended the premiere of Paisello's opera Nina o la pazza d'amore at the San Carlo Opera House in Naples in 1791. He is pictured here with the score of his opera on the clavichord.
context_page_description: The French theatre of the late 18th century functioned as a forum for political expression and debate; during this period, society and art became highly politicised. The French took great national pride in their theatres. A report commissioned by the Commune of Paris in 1789 declared Paris to be a centre for the "foremost theatres of Europe" that served as an "exemplar for foreigners." An audience's response to the play was important to its success—if a play was received poorly, rather than favourably, the play would not receive royalty payments.
context_section_description: A Parisian citizen during the Enlightenment may have attended the theatre principally for two reasons: firstly, its aesthetic value as an awe-inspiring spectacle and secondly, because of its political suggestiveness. When drama lacked this latter aspect, it was criticised for distracting audiences from the pressing public political issues of the time. For example, a petition was sent to the National Assembly regarding Paisiello's flashy opera Nina, osia la pazza d’amore, because it lacked political and educational meaning. This resulted in the opera's closure in 1792 and the National Assembly banned theatre that did not incorporate the events of the Revolution.
  French theatre became full of "pieces de circonstance," or "works of social circumstances," particularly where the events of the military were concerned. For example, in December 1793, a member of the Committee for Public Safety, Bertrand Barère, demanded that playwrights create work about the French capture of Toulon. Seven new plays were subsequently written about the battle, including La prise de Toulon, which made direct references to political leaders and philosophers. Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison claimed that "tragedy should teach great political truths and public virtues. If they want to express a powerful idea, tragic authors are therefore obliged to torment their genius, to cloak their idea with a veil of allegory" 
  While French theatre was praised for its ability to engage in the political debates of its time, it was also criticised by members of the aristocracy for corrupting the public sphere. A notable proponent of this notion was Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, in his Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles, argued that theatre could not improve the morality of the audience and instead could only re-inforce their existing beliefs. He was enraged by Molière's Le Misanthrope for the way it praised the hypocritical character Philinte at the expense of Alcest, the honest character in the play.
caption: Paisello Vigee Le Brun
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