La partition d’ouverture

Not enough attention has been paid to the following declaration by Zola: “My works are built like great musical symphonies”. It should, however, serve as a foundation to any study of his art of composition. La Fortune des Rougon offers the first model of what Auguste Dezalay has called “the opera of the Rougon-Macquart”. To assure ourselves of this, we need only examine the opening chapter and its orchestration of movements, roles and decors, duets and choirs, tones, harmonies, and rhythms.