La Querelle des Bouffons is a musical scandal that rattled Paris in the mid-18th century. 
 
The dispute (literally “the quarrel of the comic actors”) pitted the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau against philosopher-musician Jean-Jacques Rousseau. What began as an argument over the merits of French opera versus the lighter, more playful Italian comic style quickly grew into a cultural flashpoint. 
 
Writers, politicians and salon circles took sides. Pamphlets flew. Newspapers fanned the flames, caricatures like the famous Italian Cats engraving teased the uproar. Yet after two feverish years the quarrel fizzled, and the Italian style emerged triumphant, reshaping French taste and paving the way for a new era of comic opera.