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620 The Musical Quarterly

the composer's aims has led one scholar to discern a discrepancy
between Le Sueur's avowed theoretical belief in the priority of ex-
pression in music and the particular depiction of the noises and din
of nature in a storm scene.'0
If storm scenes in two operas are compared, however, subtle
differences even in the treatment of descriptive tableaux can be de-
tected. In TIldmaque dans l'isle de Calypso, Act I, the music is an
important element in the whole theatrical spectacle. The storm
causes a shipwreck which is depicted according to Le Sueur's stage
directions." The orchestral passage-work consists primarily of se-
quential scale patterns and syncopated figures. In Paul et Virginie
the storm scene occurs in the finale of Act III, scenes 5, 6, and 7,12
during which lightning sets a ship aflame. During the stage trans-
formation that depicts the natural catastrophe and its effects, a final
resolution of the dramatic events takes place. The storm is ines-
capably linked to the thoughts and actions of the characters, since it
affords the opportunity for the rescue of Virginia from the cruel
Captain. Although both settings show conventional orchestral figu-
ration, the scene in Padl et Virginie is more sophisticated in its in-
tertwining of an artistically recreated representational image with
a five-part ensemble. Each of the principals expresses his varied re-
actions to the storm and its related events in different texts; the sea
storm is depicted as the outward manifestation in nature of human
feelings.
The role of the orchestra attains particular significance - both
in Le Sueur's stage aesthetics and in his pedagogical philosophy -
through the concept he called "simultaneity of action."13 The idea
stems from a desire to integrate effectively all elements of the op-
eratic production: music, dance, action, gesture. Indeed it springs
from the fundamental urge to recapture in contemporary terms the
idealized artistic congruity of purpose and effect in Greek musical
practice. The Greek ideal, if variously misinterpreted, is character-
istically the inspirational source for recurrent theories of the syn-
thesis of the arts throughout the history of opera. Le Sueur's musico-

10 Filippo Galli, "Giovanni Francesco Le Sueur," Rivista musicale italiana, XLI/1
(1937), 33.
11 Le Sueur, Tlemnaque dans l'isle de Calypso, ou le triomphe de la sagesse (libretto
by Palat Dercy), first performed in revised version on May 11, 1796, pp. 111-15.
12 Le Sueur, Paul et Virginie, ou le triomphe de la vertu (libretto by A. du
Cong6 Dubreuil), first performed on January 13, 1794, pp. 315-46.
13 Le Sueur, Lettre en rdponse a' Guillard, p. 65.

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