 All three would play a leading role over the next half-century or so.At the Opéra, Gaspare Spontini upheld the serious Gluckian tradition with "La Vestale" (1807) and "Fernand Cortez" (1809).Nevertheless, the lighter new "opéra-comiques" of Boieldieu and Isouard were a bigger hit with French audiences, who also flocked to the Théâtre-Italien to see traditional "opera buffa" and works in the newly fashionable bel canto style, especially those by Rossini, whose fame was sweeping across Europe.