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Parisian
Salons
~Background
~Salons of
Enlightenment
~Madame de Stäel
~Salons
of the Restoration
~The Salons
of Victor Hugo
Influence
of Printed Materials
~Pre-Revolutionary
Timeline
~Post-Revolutionary Timeline
~Memoires
Defining
the Parisians
~Parisians
Viewed by Foreigners
~Parisians Viewed by
Themselves
~Paris Fashion
Bibliography
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Image 2.5 Performance of The
Marriage of Figaro
Not only were Beaumarchais' memoires a huge
success, with over 10,000 copies sold in the streets of Paris,
he then transposed the classic story of the 'little man against
his superiors' to his play The Marriage of Figaro, which
is best known as Mozart's italian opera. Figaro was initially
called "bold," "scandalous," and "detestable!" (Maza,
120) King Louis XVI believed that the play would jeopardize
the foundations of European social structure. It seems his fears
were quite realistic, as Figaro has been historically viewed
as the opening act of the French Revolution. The play and the
memoires both tell the story of a lovable, witty character stifled
by the crooked legal procedures of aristocracy. They became
symbols of the misuse of authority in a society frustrated with
class oppression. Along with similar memoires, they transformed
the public sphere of involvement by removing the aspect
of secrecy from the already unpopular judicial system. Although
no one but the judges themselves could determine the verdict,
memoires helped to create a strong popular opinion. In
essence, these writings "established the rights of a citizen by
explaining them to the judge and the public" (Maza,
116).
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