ABSTRACT
An implicit aspect of the metaphor of dissonance, and of quarrels more generally, is some sort of resolution or at least ending, whether harmonious or not; and this chapter considers a final phase of the controversy, running roughly from 1778 to 1781. The Opera self-consciously oriented itself, via the quarrel, in a new direction with respect to the role previously assigned to it. The opera Armide gave rise to two further fictions: L'Eneide, opera francais, pour etre represente quand il sera en etat, and the accompanying heroide Armide a son tailleur, both appeared in 1778. The chapter begins with a brief narrative account of the events taking place between 1778 to 1781 and the variable reception of Gluck's and Piccinni's works in the years preceding Gluck's departure. By the spring of 1779, the quarrel had been re-launched, with the installation of Houdon's bust of Gluck in the Opera, and the premiere of Iphigenie en Tauride.
