Les troqueurs, with its simple plot, everyday characters and Italianate melodies, had a great influence on the relatively new genre of French opéra comique. Up to that point, opéras comiques had been spoken plays with songs whose words were new but whose music was not original. Dauvergne set the fashion for composing the music to these pieces afresh. Unlike opéras comiques, however, Les troqueurs utilizes sung (recitatives) rather than spoken dialogue. In this, Dauvergne was following the example of Pergolesi's La serva padrona.
