The haute-contre was the primary French operatic tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera, from the middle of the seventeenth century until the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Jélyotte in the title-role of Rameau's Platée, by Charles-Antoine Coypel c.1745
French opera is both the art of opera in France and opera in the French language. It is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Messiaen. Many foreign-born composers have played a part in the French tradition, including Lully, Gluck, Salieri, Cherubini, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Offenbach.
The Salle Le Peletier, home of the Paris Opera during the middle of the 19th century
Jean-Baptiste Lully, the "Father of French Opera"
A performance of Lully's opera Armide at the Palais-Royal in 1761
Jean-Philippe Rameau, the eighteenth-century innovator