Before opera was introduced to france and even before it came into being in its native italy a new genre mixing dance and singing appeared at the french court in the 1580s and flourished for about a century1 deriving in part from the lavish entertainments held at the burgundy and valois courts beginning in the late middle ages it was also a product of the renaissances ambition to achieve a fusion of the arts of a kind practiced according to a largely idealized conception in . French opera is second only to italian opera in the length breadth and diversity of its history yet most people if asked to come up with titles could mention only a handful carmen faust pelleas et melisande samson et dalila a small list for an operatic tradition that began in the seventeenth century and is still very much alive this book provides a full single volume account of opera in france from its origins to the present day it looks at the leading composers from lully to . About french opera is second only to italian opera in the length breadth and diversity of its history yet most people if asked to come up with titles could mention only a handful of titles carmen faust pelleas et melisande samson et dalila a small list for an operatic tradition that began in the seventeenth century and is still very much alive