A little-known contribution to the Lulliste-Ramiste dispute. Jean Galli de Bibiena’s Mémoires et aventures de monsieur de *** (1735)

Disputes concerning opera, even more so than literary polemics, have a special importance for the historiographer in illustrating how a given piece was perceived by contemporary audiences. As Paul-Marie Masson puts it, ‘By the way a work is attacked or defended, authors understand better what the author wished to achieve and what the public expected of him’. The Lullistes’ attacks, which were directed as much at Rameau’s person as at his music, came in many different guises. In addition to open letters to the press, they included derogatory poems, among them Jean-Baptiste Rousseau’s much-quoted ‘Distillateurs des accords baroques’ and the satire Marsias allégorie, which, though anonymous, was widely believed to be the work of the poet and librettist Pierre-Charles Roy, ringleader of the Lullistes.