ABSTRACT
French opera repertoire stems from a handful of composers. They share certain compositional traits and stylistic considerations while at the same time retaining different specific points about each composer. Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Massenet, Bizet, Saint-Säens, Offenbach, Poulenc, Charpentier, and Debussy all share certain ways of writing for voices and even notational peculiarities. Of that group, only Debussy and Poulenc are stylistically different enough to treat in a separate way.
