The paths of music in Brittany in 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century

The dissemination of music in Brittany in the 18th and early 19th centuries followed four specific kinds of circuits: political, professionnal, private and administrative. The Breton nobility, despite its rebellious spirit, transmitted the royal ideology, buying scores and libretti of classical French operas. Local representatives of the royal power often appeared as models, or imposed their ideas. Though large and involving some brilliant italian violinists, the community of musicians active in Breton musical institutions is not easily followed in wider contexts (exchanges between regions, and with foreign countries). The letters of Madame de Pompery give a vivid image of the social networks, both simple and complex, through which information and goods circulated in southern Finistere, despite the poor state of commercial infrastructures. To be sure, the theaters' organisation established in 1806 by Napoleon changed the general conditions of their functioning, but the reference, reinforced by the constant demand for novelty, remained the Parisian model. This phenomenon even grew worse after the arrival of Grand opera in the provinces, and played an important part in the difficulties of theaters' management in Brittany, as in other provinces.