Opéra-National

Opéra-National
The Cirque Olympique on the Boulevard du Temple, the first theatre of the Opéra-National

The Opéra-National was a Parisian opera company founded by the French composer Adolphe Adam in 1847 in order to provide an alternative to the two primary companies performing French opera in Paris, the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique. The aims of the new company were to provide a performance venue for young French composers who were unlikely to have new works produced by those more established theatres, to revive opéras comiques from an earlier period, and to bring opera with a lower ticket price to a wider public.[1] The company first performed in the relatively large Cirque Olympique located on the Boulevard du Temple in a working class district of Paris. Financial difficulties and the turmoil of the 1848 Revolution caused the company to close in March of that year, but it was subsequently revived under a new director, Edmond Seveste, in 1851, when it moved to the Théâtre Historique, only a short distance away on the Boulevard du Temple. In 1852 the company was renamed Théâtre Lyrique and would continue to operate under that name until 1872.

Contents

Background

In 1791 during the French Revolution the many restrictions on non-state theaters were removed, and laws were passed which allowed essentially anyone to open a theatre. The number of theatres proliferated, and it became increasingly difficult for any of them to make money, including those which were state sponsored. In June of 1806 Napoleon I issued a decree requiring anyone who desired to open a new theatre to persuade the minister of the interior to make a proposal, and then obtain the authorization of the emperor. In addition, any theatre wishing to stage a work normally performed by the Opéra, the Comédie-Française, or the Opéra-Comique would be required to pay a fee to the management of the affected institution. The decree also stated that only the Opéra could perform particular ballets of a historical or mythological nature. The situation, however, continued to deteriorate, and on 8 August 1807 he decided that only eight theatres (four primary and four secondary) could continue to operate. The primary theatres were the Opéra, the Comédie-Française, the Opéra-Comique, and the Théâtre de l'Impératrice (Théâtre-Italien). The four secondary theaters were the Vaudeville, the Variétés, the Gaité, and the Ambigu-Comique. The other twenty-five or so theaters were required to cease operations by 15 August.[1][2]

Thus the number of theatres where French music might be performed was reduced to just two: the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique. Even in those theatres dedicated to the performance of music, operas were never the only type of presentation, in fact operatic productions were in the minority. After Napoleon's downfall, and particularly after the July Revolution of 1830, there were numerous attempts to circumvent that limitation and enlarge the number of "music theatres" in Paris. And so, opéra comique was performed at Théâtre du Gymnase (in 1820), then at the Théâtre Lyrique de l'Odéon (1824-1829), the Théâtre des Nouveautés (1827-1831), and finally at the Théâtre de la Renaissance beginning in 1838, where shows fluctuated between comic and serious works. All of them were short lived attempts, and the latter failed in the middle of 1841.[3][4]

As early as 1842 a number of composers and dramatists (Hector Berlioz, Adolphe Adam, Ambroise Thomas among others) petitioned administrative authorities to create a permanent third opera house in Paris, dedicated particularly to staging works of lesser known, younger composers, operas which they would perhaps have no chance of having produced in the other two, more prestigious institutions. That first attempt failed, however, as well as their second attempt, in 1844, which was also rejected. Finally one individual attempt succeeded.[5]

At the Cirque Olympique under Adolphe Adam (1847–1848)

Adolphe Adam

In 1847 Adolphe Adam, with the help of his friend François Louis Crosnier, a former director of the Opéra-Comique and at that time the manager of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, succeeded in obtaining a license to open the Opéra-National. The license also allowed Adam to perform many of his works which had previously been in the repertory of the Opéra-Comique. The stated aims of the new company were to bring French opera to a wider public and provide a performance venue for younger, less well-established French composers. Adam's first plan had been to use Crosnier's theatre at the Porte Saint-Martin, but Crosnier had in the interval learned that it was more financially rewarding to rent that theatre to others. Adam was therefore obliged to search for another, and with his license in hand and a partnership with Achille Mirecour, he was able to acquire the Cirque Olympique (66 Boulevard du Temple) for 1,400,000 francs. At a further cost of 200,000 francs, the theatre, which had been designed for an indoor equestrian circus (originally founded by Philip Astley), was significantly renovated and altered for use as an opera house by the architect Louis Charles Théodore Charpentier. Having a capacity of 2400, it was unusually large, so the acoustics were less than ideal, but the stage projected into the auditorium, which was a help to the singers.[1][6]

Aimé Maillart's Gastibelza at the Opéra-National (1847)

The theatre opened on 15 November 1847 with a program consisting of a musical prologue (Les premiers pas ou Les deux génies) and the premiere of a 3-act opera Gastibelza, the latter with a libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon and music by Aimé Maillart. The prologue, a pastiche with music by Adam, Daniel Auber, Fromental Halévy, and Michele Carafa, and a libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, was highly topical, with references to the "Boulevard du Crime" (a nickname the Boulevard du Temple had acquired from the performance there of so many melodramas dealing with sensational crimes), as well as the new railway running from Paris to Tours, one of the technical wonders of the time.[6]

Subsequent productions included a 16 November revival of a 3-act opéra-comique by Berton called Aline, reine de Goconde, first performed at the Salle Feydeau on 3 September 1803, and re-orchestrated by Adam for the revival; a 23 November revival of a 1-act opéra-comique by Adam called Une bonne fortune, first performed by the Opéra-Comique on 23 January 1834 at the Salle de la Bourse; a 22 December revival of Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's 3-act Félix, ou L'enfant trouvé with a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine and first performed at Fontainebleau on 10 November 1777, repeated at the Hôtel de Bourgogne on 24 November, and revived at the Salle Feydeau on 23 November 1801, and also re-orchestrated by Adam; a 22 January revival of Adam's 3-act Le brasseur de Preston, first performed at the Salle de la Bourse on 31 October 1838; and a revival of Scard's 1-act La tête de Méduse.[7][8]

Financially the company had difficulties from the very beginning, and artistically its achievement was minimal. The Musical World of 22 January 1848 wrote that one performance "obtained but a mediocre success owing to the detestable style in which it was executed", adding that "the singers were frightful, the chorus almost as bad as those at the Italiens, and worse than those at the Opéra Comique; the orchestra weak and coarse."[9] Further troubles came with the outbreak of the 1848 Revolution on 23 February 1848. The turmoil forced the closure of all theatres for several days, and they were only allowed to reopen if they donated their initial receipts for the care of the wounded. On 6 March Adam's company premiered the 1-act Les Barricades de 1848 (libretto by Edouard-Louis Alexandre Brissebarre and Saint-Yves, a pseudonym of Édouard Déaddé; music by Pilati and Eugène Gautier), but all the theatres were presenting similar patriotic occasional pieces, and although the program also included Hervé's 1-act Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança, later described by Reynaldo Hahn as "irresistible buffoonery",[10] the audiences were sparse. Soon thereafter Adam exhausted his funds and on 28 March 1848 retired as director of the company.[11]

At the Théâtre Historique under Edmond Seveste (1851–1852)

Design of the facade of the Théâtre Historique

In 1851 the Opéra-National was revived, and on 1 May Edmond Seveste was appointed director.[12] By the end of July he had taken a lease on the Théâtre Historique (72 Boulevard du Temple). Built by the dramatist Alexandre Dumas, the theatre had opened on 20 February 1847, but had closed on 20 December 1850 and was not in use and available. The entrance to the theatre consisted of a long narrow vestibule squeezed between two other buildings with a facade only eight meters wide. The auditorium, located in the back, was unusually wide (20 meters) and only 16 meters deep,[13] and had a capacity of 1500–1700.[1] It was thought to have excellent acoustics for opera, and the renovations required for its new purpose were minimal: a new paint job of white and gold, some furnishings, a drop curtain painted by Auguste Rubé, four candelabra fastened to the columns of the stage boxes, replacement of busts of Corneille and Molière with ones of Gluck and Lully, installation in the foyer of a grand piano surmounted with a bust of Weber, and structural alterations to some ancillary spaces, including converting stables used for horses in Dumas's historical dramas, into the musicians' green room.[14]

While work on the theatre was in progress, rehearsals were held at the Salle Ventadour. Alphonse Varney, who had been the conductor of the orchestra at Théâtre Historique under Dumas, had been hired as the conductor of the newly revived Opéra-National. Of note among the singers who had been engaged were the baritone Auguste Meillet, his wife, the soprano Marie-Stéphanie Meillet (née Meyer), and the bass Marcel Junca.[15]

Cahier des charges

The company's new cahier des charges (license) was liberal. It called for new French operas with spoken dialogue (opéra comique) or sung recitative and prose or verse librettos and with or without ballets. No single composer could have more than six new acts presented in one season (acts were counted rather than works) and preference was to be given to Prix de Rome winners up to two years after the award was made. In addition, up to two translated foreign works were permitted, as well as French works ten years after their premiere, and any number of public domain works, so long as these did not exceed 33% of the number of new acts presented over a two year period. The company also had the right to revive any number of works which it had already produced, encouraging the company to establish its own repertory.[16] It is important to note that company did not receive any state subsidy before 1864, increasing the importance of revivals of popular, established works to its financial survival.[17]

Opening and first season

The new opera house opened on 27 September 1851 with the premiere of a 3-act opéra-comique with music by Xavier Boisselot called Mosquita la sorcière. The libretto was by Eugène Scribe and Gustave Vaëz. Hector Berlioz, who reviewed the performance, was not particularly taken with the music of Boisselot, but gave the chorus high marks. The orchestra conducted by Varney was praised as young and energetic by the Moniteur Universel. The opera was performed a total of 21 times that year but only 4 times the next. Boisselot's new opera was followed the next night with Le barbier de Séville (a French adaptation by Castil-Blaze of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Ferdinando Paer's Le maître de chapelle, both more reliable money-makers. The company performed the former a total of 126 times, and the latter, 182 times.[18] In fact this was to become the pattern later in the history of the company: occasional new operas among numerous French language revivals of popular foreign works.[19]

Act 3 of Félicien David's La perle du Brésil (1851)

Perhaps the most successful new French work that first season was Felicien David's La perle du Brésil, first performed on 22 November. Although the production was apparently not up to snuff (Berlioz reported that it was "sometimes good, often bad and in all, of little advantage to the composer"),[20] it nevertheless received 17 performances before the end of that year, 47 the next, and a total of 144 by the company.[21]

The year 1852 brought another memorable new work, a one-act opéra-comique by Adolphe Adam called La poupée de Nuremberg which premiered on 21 February with 47 performances that year and 98 total by the company.[22] Its success was somewhat tarnished by the death of Edmond Seveste on 28 February. Seveste's brother Jules became temporary director and was officially appointed to the post on 1 May from a field of 20 applicants that included the tenor Gilbert Duprez. The very next new production was Duprez's 3-act opera Joanita (a revision of his earlier L'abime de la maladetta) which opened on 11 March and starred his daughter, soprano Caroline Duprez, who had already created the lead soprano role of the first version in Brussels on 19 November 1851 and would go on to create the role of Catherine in Meyerbeer's L'étoile du nord at the Opéra-Comique in 1854.

Gilbert Duprez and his daughter Caroline in 1851

On 12 April, during Joanita's short run of 15 performances, the management decided to change the name of the company to Théâtre Lyrique. As attendance was falling rapidly, Joanita was replaced with La pie voleuse, a Castil-Blaze adaptation of Rossini's La gazza ladra, on 23 April, but it only received 7 performances as the season was almost over. The season had run from late September to the end of April, a pattern that was to be repeated in later seasons which usually ran from September or early October to May or sometimes even into the summer. Jules Seveste had sought a state subsidy of 50,000 francs for the following year, but it was too late: the budget had already been finalized.[23] In addition, the conductor Alphonse Varney resigned his position and went to Ghent in order to have more time to devote to composition. He was replaced by his assistant conductor, Auguste Francis Placet, and the violinist Adolphe Deloffre, who had recently returned to Paris from London, was made assistant conductor.[24]

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c d Charlton 1992, p. 871.
  2. ^ Barbier 1995, pp. 9–11.
  3. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 1.
  4. ^ Levin 2009, pp. 394–395.
  5. ^ Walsh 1981, pp. 1–2.
  6. ^ a b Walsh 1981, pp. 2–3.
  7. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 359.
  8. ^ Wild and Charlton 2005.
  9. ^ Quoted by Walsh 1981, p. 3.
  10. ^ Quoted in Traubner 2003, p. 20.
  11. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 4.
  12. ^ Levin 2009, p. 397.
  13. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 5.
  14. ^ Walsh 1981, pp. 10–12.
  15. ^ Walsh 1981, pp. 10, 14.
  16. ^ Ellis 2009, pp. 53–54.
  17. ^ Levin 2009, p. 397.
  18. ^ Walsh 1981, pp. 13–14, 299.
  19. ^ Ellis 2009.
  20. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 17.
  21. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 300.
  22. ^ Walsh 1981, pp. 22, 301.
  23. ^ Walsh 1981, pp. 25–26, 301.
  24. ^ Walsh 1981, p. 28.
Sources
  • Barbier, Patrick; Luoma, Robert, translator (1995). Opera in Paris, 1800–1850: A Lively History. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 9780931340833.
  • Charlton, David (1992). "Paris, §4. 1789–1870" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 865–873.
  • Ellis, Katherine (2009). "Systems Failure in Operatic Paris: The Acid Test of the Théâtre-Lyrique" in Fauser and Everist 2009, pp. 49–71.
  • Fauser, Annegret; Everist, Mark, editors (2009). Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer: Paris, 1830–1914. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226239262.
  • Levin, Alicia (2009). "Appendix: A Documentary Overview of Musical Theaters in Paris, 1830–1900" in Fauser and Everist 2009, pp. 379–402.
  • Sadie, Stanely, editor (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan. ISBN 9781561592289.
  • Soubies, Albert (1899). Histoire du Théâtre Lyrique, 1851-1870 Paris: Fischbacher. View at Google Books.
  • Traubner, Richard (2003). Operetta: A Theatrical History (revised edition). New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415966412.
  • Walsh, T. J. (1981). Second Empire Opera: The Théâtre Lyrique Paris 1851–1870. New York: Riverrun Press. ISBN 9780714536590.
  • Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. ISBN 9782870098981.

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