A total work of art? The visual element in Robert le Diable

In our imagination, the total work of art is the invention of Wagner. Indeed, we frequently use the German term Gesamtkunstwerk when we talk about it. And it is quite true that the concept was first theorised in the Germanspeaking world. Yet, in Paris, too, it was discussed as early as the 1830s, and Robert le Diable might well be considered its first successful manifestation on the operatic stage. At any rate, that is how contemporaries of the work understood it, insisting in most unusual fashion on the visual dimension of the production, even in its most incidental aspects.