L' emploi d’onomatopées par les compositeurs lyriques italiens, français et allemands entre 1815 et 1848

une « mécanique musicale » pour produire du rire

Abstract

The theory of the philosopher Henri Bergson, according to which laughter is produced by “a mechanical element superimposed on a living being”, allows to partly account for the comical aspect in Rossini’s opere buffe. The comical effect is obtained by various methods, among which the repetition of words or onomatopoeias, the recurrence of stereotypical harmonical cadences, the crescendo of the orchestra and the employment of brief and symmetrical cues at a fast tempo. The repetition of onomatopoeias –whether it be laughter, exclamations, interjections, imitations of musical instruments, of human bodily sounds, of animal noises, of objects rattling, etc.– is a traditional comical strategy in the opera buffa, often associated with the use of the basso buffo, which the composers of opéras-comiques and komische Opern adapt to fit their own works between 1815 and 1848. The repetition of onomatopoeias asserts itself as a constant in the European repertoire of comic.