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Scofield: This music also is very characteristic of what in French music is called “le grand opéra”, This is a sample inline audio player which Verdi also composed himself and Don Carlo is one of those grand opéras; Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, and Rossini with Guillaume Tell, these were all in that tradition of le grand opéra. Can you tell us, what is your feeling about this period of French opera, Hervé?

Niquet: Le grand opéra is older than this period. Don't forget that it is Lully who invented tragédie lyrique; it is Lully who invented Broadway and Hollywood, the musical. This is a sample inline audio player Because he observes that to do a good show, you need a good story, a good designer, a good dancer, choreographer, you need good light, you need effect with painting and so on, good singers, good dancers, and you do a show with many surprises and a big conclusion. And in France, we like this big show from the 17th century, so American people catch it at the end of the 19th century and now we have musical, we have Broadway and so on. But it is an idea for the French composer and the audience in France like it from the 17th century, so it is a tradition. Meyerbeer, Halévy do the same thing at The Académie royale de musique de Paris, Opéra de Paris, with big choirs, big ballet, many big paintings, nice costumes, the number of the artists on stage is huge from the 17th century. So far in French, it's normal.