The French Musical Theater: Maintaining Control in Caribbean Colonies in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

In seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, musicians, poets, philosophers, and patrons of arts were extremely fascinated with exotic--that huge realm of ideas and events that thrived on sense of Other. In Americas, displaced Amerindians and enslaved Africans, deprived of equality and freedom, were rendered in racist terms as qualitatively different. This idea of essential difference promoted concept of exotic and became a counter in making of modern European identity (Yolton et al. 1992). Thus, by first decade of seventeenth century, values of European colonial powers with regard to New World explorations were firmly entrenched in ethnocentrism. The notion that Amerindians and African slaves were inferior was unquestionably accepted by French, who meticulously recorded their first impressions of inhabitants of New World (see, for example, Bougainville [1772] 1967; Du Tertre 1667, 355-537; Labat 1722). Modern scholars writing on concept of Other have argued that the best candidates for role of exotic ideal are peoples and cultures that are most remote from us and least known to us, [and] exotic preference is almost always accompanied by an attraction for certain contents at expense of others (Todorov 1993, 265). To underscore this notion of inferiority, French Bourbon monarchy, beginning with Louis XIII in early seventeenth century, continuously waged cultural political campaign in which elected officials and other persons of authority focused on social value of performing arts as one of primary means of maintaining control over their colonial subjects. The recurring theme in these productions was glorification of religious, military, and political powers of France. Each of these categories of power had its own musical repertoire that focused on three goals: to maintain peace, to ensure absolute respect for social hierarchy, and to promote French music. The present study examines various ways in which category of political power contributed to three goals in theatrical performances on islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint-Domingue.(1) Manifestations of political power were seen primarily in official ceremonies commemorating births, marriages, weddings, and other accomplishments of king and his family. These were grandiose, spectacular events--festivals, public balls, plays, ballets, and operas, all lavishly produced and modeled on those performed in Paris. Small, private theater productions emerged in colonies in early eighteenth century; and in latter half of century larger theaters were built. Artistic centers sprang up; singers, actors, dance masters, and other artists were imported from France.(2) The musical theater was thriving enterprise in colonies by mid-eighteenth century and became one of prime vehicles through which colonialism was not only tolerated but promoted and glorified. Thanks to great efforts of Haitian historian Jean Fouchard, we have much information on theatrical activity on his native island. There seem to have been at least eight theaters in Saint-Domingue, located in Port-au-Prince, Cap Francais, Saint-Marc, Leogane, Cayes, Jeremie, Petit-Goave, and Jacmel, of which Cap Francais and Port-au-Prince facilities were most successful (Fouchard 1995b, 1-115). As early as 1740, colonists in Cap Francais and small groups of local amateurs were engaged in organizing small plays, concerts, and other musical activities; some years later, in 1766, new theater with seating capacity of approximately 1,500 was opened. Port-au-Prince opened its first theater in 1762, and two decades later, its last theater of century; with seating capacity of 750, was completed. By early 1780s, Guadeloupe had two theaters, one in Pointe-a-Pitre, on northern coast, and other in Basse Terre, in southern part of island (Isert 1793, 326; Rosemain 1986, 42-49). …