An account of the origin and development of the French _opéra comique_ as a purely national form of dramatic musical entertainment has already been given in the chapter dealing with Gluck’s operatic reform. Here we will briefly show its development during the period of which he have spoken.
François-Adrien Boieldieu[72] may be considered (together with Niccolò Isouard) the last composer of the older type of _opéra comique_, to which his operas _Jean de Paris_ and _La dame blanche_ gave a new and lasting distinction. As Pougin says: ‘It is positive that comic opera, as Boieldieu understood it, was an art-work, delicate in type, with genuine flavor and an essentially varied color.’ Boieldieu was especially successful in utilizing the rhythmic life of French folk song, and _La dame blanche_ has those same qualities of solid merit and real musical invention found in the serious _opéra comique_ of Cherubini and Méhul. In fact, it was these three composers who gave the _genre_ a new trend. In Scudo’s words, Boieldieu’s work is ‘the happy transition from Grétry to Hérold and, together with Méhul and Cherubini, the highest musical expression in the comic opera field. After Boieldieu’s time the influence of Rossini became so strong that _opéra comique_ began to lose its character as a distinct national operatic form.’
The influence of Rossini was especially noticeable in the work of the group of _opéra comique_ composers, including Auber, Hérold, Halévy, Adam, Victor Massé, Maillard, who were to prepare the way for the lyric drama of Thomas and Gounod. The contributions of Auber, Hérold and Halévy to the ‘historical’ or grand opera repertory have already been mentioned in the review of operatic development in Italy and France. Here we will only consider their work as a factor in transforming the French comic opera of Méhul and Boieldieu into the more sentimental and fanciful type of which the modern romantic French opera was to be born. One fact which furthered the transition from _opéra comique_ to _drame lyrique_ was the frequent absence of the element of farce, with the consequent encouragement of a more poetic and romantic musical development.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) uninterruptedly busy from 1840 to 1871,[73] and his name identified with many of the greatest successes of the comic opera stage of his time, has been somewhat unjustly termed ‘a superficial Rossini.’ Auber undoubtedly borrowed from Rossini in his musical treatment of the comic, and he had little idea of powerful ensemble effects or of polyphonic writing; but grace, sweetness, and brilliancy of instrumentation cannot be denied him. ‘The child of Voltaire and Rossini,’ from about 1822 on he wrote operas in conjunction with the librettist Scribe. _Fra Diavolo_ (1830) shows Auber at his best in comic opera. ‘The music is gay and tuneful, without dropping into commonplace; the rhythms are brilliant and varied, and the orchestration neat and appropriate.’ Incidentally, it might be remarked that Auber has written an opera on a subject which since his time has appealed both to Massenet and Puccini, _Manon Lescaut_ (1856), which in places foreshadows Verdi’s ardently dramatic art.