ABSTRACT
Ideas about artistic genius and democratic appeal were set against concerns over threats to national identity, morality and taste. With his adaptations of Shakespeare's dramas for the Theatre-Francais in the 1770s and 80s, Jean-Francois Ducis endeavoured to make the English dramatist more palatable to the French. This chapter demonstrates how the sleepwalking scene in spite of the fact that Lady Macbeth's words are sung rather than spoken has clear roots in the traditions of melodrama. The 'melodrama model' is discussed in the Introduction to the chapter. Rather, he approached the task with the aim of refreshing tragedie lyrique, taking inspiration from spoken theatre's focus on action rather than narration. In Benda's work, the orchestra 'visualizes' the action, drawing us into Medea's psyche, while the occasional words root it in the 'real' world and orientate the audience.
