There was constant festivity about the queen and her companions, but no etiquette; there was no household, only friends—­the Polignacs, Mme. Elisabeth, Monsieur, the Comte d’Artois, and, occasionally, the king.  To be sure, the amusements were innocent—­open-air balls, rides, lawn fetes, all made particularly attractive by the affability of the young queen, who showed each guest some particular attention; all departed enchanted with the place and its delights and, especially, with the graciousness of the royal hostess.  There all artists and authors of France were encouraged and patronized—­with the exception of Voltaire; the queen refused to patronize a man whose view upon morality had caused so much trouble.

Music and the drama received especial protection from her.  The triumph of Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide, in 1774, was the first victory of Marie Antoinette over the former mistress and the Piccini party.  This was the second musical quarrel in France, the first having occurred in 1754, between the lovers of French and Italian music, with Mme. de Pompadour as protectress.  After Gluck had monopolized the French opera for eight years, the Italian, Piccini, was brought from Italy in 1776.  Quinault’s Roland was arranged for him by Marmontel and was presented in 1778, unsuccessfully; Gluck presented his Iphigenie en Aulide, and no opera ever received such general approbation.  “The scene was all uproar and confusion, demoniacal enthusiasm; women threw their gloves, fans, lace kerchiefs, at the actors; men stamped and yelled; the enthusiasm of the public reached actual frenzy.  All did honor to the composer and to the queen.”

Marie Antoinette, however, also gave Piccini her protection.  Gluck, armed with German theories and supporting French music, maintained for dramatic interest, the subordination of music to poetry, the union or close relation of song and recitative; whereas, the Italian opera represented by Piccini had no dramatic unity, no great ensembles, nothing but short airs, detached, without connection—­no substance, but mere ornamentation.  Gluck proved, also, that tragedy could be introduced in opera, while Piccini maintained that opera could embrace only the fable—­the marvellous and fairylike.  This musical quarrel became a veritable national issue, every salon, the Academy, and all clubs being partisans of one or the other theory; it did much to mould the later French and German music, and much credit is due the queen for the support given and the intelligence displayed in so important an issue.