Abstract
Opera is a musical form of art in which the text is often sung. The singers enact the drama on stage, with costumes and other visual elements like dancing or a play of lights. Though it is often considered that opera was born in Italy around 1600, but even if Mazarin tried to import it to France at the end of the 1660's, it was only with the arrival of Jean-Baptiste Lully that opera began to take real importance in the country. It must first be highlighted that the opera was often considered, by many composers, as a good political way of expression since it is the most complete art form to show human passions, because of its various aspects: scenery, costumes, dancing, singing etc. Since the French revolution the opera was a good instrument of propaganda and vector of politics. The French opera was also a political anticipator and a "producer" of general trends. While the composers had to deal with censorship and other types of control, the messages delivered were sometimes more than just state propaganda. The "political opera" is nowadays a recognized type of opera, in which criticisms can be made.
