Piccinni-Gluck quarrel in the seventies emphasized the contrast between the whole body of Italian and French conventions and a new dramatic ideal. Yet, different as these two conflicts were, they were both symptomatic of large differences of opinion.
The elements involved were complex. The total character and tendency of the Italian type of opera seria as represented by the Neapolitans was somewhat opposed by the specially French type as developed by Lully and more recently by Rameau, yet in both the aim was to present subjects removed from the sphere of common life and with many artificialities of dramatic treatment. The Italians ran to an excess of extravagant lyricism, while the French tended to too much mere declamation. Against all this the rising Italian opera buffa was a healthy protest, but its broad and rough hilarity lacked the intellectual wit and the dainty handling of situations that the French genius craved. Hence one of the first products of discussion was the French opéra comique, which was a real contribution to progress. But hardly had this begun its exhilarating course before Gluck appeared with a total renovation of the operatic ideal, which was destined to affect both serious and comic styles. The effect of Gluck's work was not felt in full force during the 18th century, but it came at a time when the reactions between the opera seria and the opera buffa had progressed far enough so that the distinctions between them were breaking down and that a general advance could affect them both. In this general improvement the work of Mozart had great influence.
The chief representatives of the native French opéra comique were Monsigny and Grétry, and of the later period, when extensive amalgamations of contrasted styles took place, Cherubini, Méhul and Le Sueur.
Pierre Montan Berton (d. 1780), an operatic singer at Paris as early as 1744
and from 1748 conductor at Bordeaux, is noteworthy because from 1759 for
over 20 years he was director of the Paris Opéra and a useful agent in the
renovation of the lyric drama in Gluck's time. He himself wrote a few operas
(from 1755).
François André Danican-Philidor (d. 1795), the ablest of a famous family (see sec. 133), was a precocious chess-player of international renown. In 1759 he suddenly stepped into notice as a composer, at first of comic opera. Till about 1790 he was one of the most popular of French writers, excelling in harmony and instrumentation, though not specially strong melodically or dramatically. Of about 25 works, the best were Le maréchal ferrant (1761), Le
