Popular Opera in Eighteenth-Century France

"Popular opera deserves a history, if only to reveal the origins of today's flourishing musical theatre. Operas with spoken dialogue originated in Paris as well as London, some years before The Beggar's Opera. In both countries a tradition of social critique was inscribed from the first. The vaudeville tradition has changed, but its roots are not actually remote: Marie-Justine Favart, the legendary singer, writer and actress discussed in Chapter 10, created the role of Roxelane in Soliman II, a musical play by Charles-Simon Favart: 'The last Roxelane on stage was Madeleine Renaud (1900-94) [...] also one of the first performers in plays by Samuel Beckett (1906-89) and Marguerite Duras (1914-96).'"--