Salle Ventadour
Encyclopedia
The Salle Ventadour, a former Parisian theatre in the rue Neuve-Ventadour, now the rue Méhul (Paris IIe
), was built between 1826 and 1829 for the Opéra-Comique
, to designs by Jacques-Marie Huvé
, a prominent architect. The original theatre had a capacity of 1,106, but was subsequently taken over by the Théâtre-Italien and expanded to a capacity of 1,295 in 1841, thereafter becoming perhaps most noteworthy as the theatre in which the majority of the operas of the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi
were first performed in France. When the Théâtre-Italien company went out of business in 1878, the theatre was converted to offices.
, the overture to Étienne Méhul
's opera Le jeune Henri
, and the three-act opera La fiancée with music by Daniel Auber
and a libretto by Eugène Scribe
. The Opéra-Comique presented 32 premieres during its time at the Salle Ventadour, including one of François-Adrien Boieldieu
's last operas Les deux nuits on 20 May 1829, Auber's Fra Diavolo
(as L'hôtellerie de Terracine) on 28 January 1830, and Ferdinand Hérold's Zampa
on 3 May 1831. After 22 March 1832 the Opéra-Comique left the Salle Ventadour and moved to the Salle de la Bourse, where it opened on 24 September 1832.
-pantomime
Les ondines, which was based on Fouqué
's novella Undine
, about a water sprite who marries a knight in order to save her soul, and used music from E. T. A. Hoffmann's opera of the same name
; a full-length ballet William Tell with music by the German composer Jacques Strunz; a one-act ballet Le nouveau Robinson which also utilized the water; and a chinoiserie
entitled Chao-Kang. These were interspersed with choruses by Carl Maria von Weber
and others, sung by the members of a German company that was being formed in Paris at that time. The entr'acte
was the overture to Weber's opera Oberon
. The reviews were not good, and the size of the audience decreased over time.
Harriet Smithson
, the Irish actress who had married the French composer Hector Berlioz
on 3 October 1833, appeared with the Théâtre Nautique, opening on 22 November 1834 in a one-act pantomime put together by the resident choreographer Louis Henry. He called the concoction La derniére heure d'un condamné, and it used music by Cesare Pugni
. The scenario took advantage of her talent for mad scenes: she had previously performed Ophelia in an English-language production of Shakespeare's Hamlet
at the Théâtre de l'Odéon to great acclaim in 1827. The new piece was a pantomime, since Smithson's French was far from perfect (and remained so for the rest of her life). Unfortunately, this new performance was not as favorably received. Jules Janin, writing in the Journal des débats
described it as consisting of "the two or three dozen contortions that are known as the art of mime" and complained that "they have cut Miss Smithson's tongue out". Berlioz anonymously wrote a positive review that appeared in the Gazette musicale but spent half of its time describing her previous appearance as Ophelia and the important influence it had had on the French style of acting. Not all the reviews were entirely negative: the English-language Galignani's Messenger
praised Smithson, saying that the "single feature worth naming of this piece is the performance of Madame Berlioz, as the wife of the condamné, in which the agony and despair of such a situation is depicted with the fidelity and painful truth only within the reach of a perfect artiste." But apparently her performances were not enough to rescue the enterprise, and the Théâtre Nautique closed in 1835.
. The company moved to the Odéon for three years before returning to the Salle Ventadour in 1841.
and Alexandre Dumas, remodeled the theatre and renamed it the Théâtre de la Renaissance
. Their aim was to bring together in one theatre the elitist and popular audiences of Paris. The new company opened on 8 November 1838 with the premiere of Hugo's drama Ruy Blas
with Frédérick Lemaître
in the title role. It ran for 48 performances. Two new plays by Dumas were also presented, Bathilde (14 January 1839) and L'alchimiste (10 April 1839), although these were less successful. The repertoire of the company was not limited to plays: Joly also mounted three new operas by Friedrich von Flotow
, including Lady Melvil on 15 November 1838 (with some music also written by Albert Grisar
and Sophie Anne Thillon as Lady Melvil), L'eau merveilleuse on 30 January 1839, and Le naufrage de la Méduse on 31 May 1839; and on 6 August 1839 the premiere of Donizetti's Lucie de Lammermoor, a French version of his Lucia di Lammermoor
, with Thillon as Lucia and Achille Ricciardi as Edgardo. Joly's venture was short-lived however, closing on 16 May 1841.
(3 January 1843) and the Paris premieres of 15 of Verdi's operas, including Nabucco
(1845), Ernani
(1846, as Il Proscritto), Il trovatore
(23 December 1854), La traviata
(6 December 1856), Rigoletto
(19 January 1857), Un ballo in maschera
(13 January 1861), and Aida
(22 April 1876) with Verdi conducting. Among the important singers appearing in Verdi's operas were Giorgio Ronconi
, Adelaide Borghi-Mamo
, and Gaetano Fraschini
. Verdi is reported to have referred to the Salle Ventadour as his favorite opera house in Paris.
Besides opera, the Salle Ventadour was also sometimes used for concerts. Giaocchino Rossini's Stabat Mater
received its premiere there on 7 January 1842. Richard Wagner
conducted three concerts devoted to his own music, including extracts from The Flying Dutchman
, Tannhäuser
, Tristan und Isolde
, and Lohengrin
, on 25 January, 1 and 8 February 1860. Verdi conducted the Paris premiere of his Requiem
on 30 May 1876.
The Théâtre-Italien shared the theater briefly, from 26 June to 4 July 1853, with the Opéra-Comique; with a second company reviving the name of the Théâtre de la Renaissance
, directed by Léon Carvalho
, from 16 March 1868 to 5 May 1868; and with the Paris Opéra
from 19 January to December 1874 (in the period after the Opéra's Salle Le Peletier burned down on 28 October 1873 and before the opening of the Opéra's new Palais Garnier
on 5 January 1875). Companies sharing the theatre usually performed on alternate nights.
At the instigation of the French tenor Victor Capoul
the first professional public performance of the opera Les amants de Vérone with text and music by the marquis d'Ivry was mounted at the Salle Ventadour on 12 October 1878. The libretto follows Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
more closely than that of the opera by Gounod
, but Richard d'Ivry's opera suffered in comparison. Capoul sang Romeo, and the Belgian soprano Marie Heilbronn sang Juliet. The same singers later appeared in a production at Covent Garden
which was performed three times beginning on 24 May 1879. The text was considered "coarse", and the music received a lukewarm response.
After the Théâtre-Italien company went out of business in 1878, the Salle Ventadour was sold on 20 January 1879 and transformed into offices. The building has been primarily occupied by the Banque de France
since 1893. Gustave Chouquet, writing in the 1900 edition of George Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, described the renovated building as follows: "its pediment, still decorated with statues of the Muses, now bears the words 'Banque d'escompte de Paris,' a truly exasperating sight".
IIe arrondissement
The 2nd arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the right bank of the River Seine, the 2nd arrondissement, together with the adjacent 8th and 9th arrondissements, hosts an important business district, centred on the Paris Opéra, which houses...
), was built between 1826 and 1829 for the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
, to designs by Jacques-Marie Huvé
Jacques-Marie Huvé
Jacques-Marie Huvé was a French architect who practiced in Paris, working in a neoclassical manner that he refined working in the atelier of Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon's chief architects....
, a prominent architect. The original theatre had a capacity of 1,106, but was subsequently taken over by the Théâtre-Italien and expanded to a capacity of 1,295 in 1841, thereafter becoming perhaps most noteworthy as the theatre in which the majority of the operas of the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
were first performed in France. When the Théâtre-Italien company went out of business in 1878, the theatre was converted to offices.
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique first performed at the Salle Ventadour on 20 April 1829. The opening night audience was a distinguished one and found the new theatre luxurious and comfortable. The program included the one-act opera Les deux mousquetaires by Henri Montan BertonHenri Montan Berton
Henri Montan Berton was a French composer, teacher, and writer, and the son of Pierre Montan Berton.-Career:...
, the overture to Étienne Méhul
Étienne Méhul
Etienne Nicolas Méhul was a French composer, "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution." He was also the first composer to be called a "Romantic".-Life:...
's opera Le jeune Henri
Le jeune Henri
Le jeune Henri is an opera by the French composer Étienne Méhul. It takes the form of a comédie mêlée de musique in two acts. The libretto, by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, is based on an episode from the life of King Henri IV of France. It was first performed on 1 May 1797 at the Théâtre Favart, Paris...
, and the three-act opera La fiancée with music by Daniel Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
and a libretto by Eugène Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...
. The Opéra-Comique presented 32 premieres during its time at the Salle Ventadour, including one of François-Adrien Boieldieu
François-Adrien Boïeldieu
François-Adrien Boieldieu was a French composer, mainly of operas, often called "the French Mozart".-Biography:...
's last operas Les deux nuits on 20 May 1829, Auber's Fra Diavolo
Fra Diavolo (opera)
Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe...
(as L'hôtellerie de Terracine) on 28 January 1830, and Ferdinand Hérold's Zampa
Zampa
Zampa, ou La fiancée de marbre is an opéra comique in three acts by French composer Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold...
on 3 May 1831. After 22 March 1832 the Opéra-Comique left the Salle Ventadour and moved to the Salle de la Bourse, where it opened on 24 September 1832.
Théâtre Nautique
The Salle Ventadour was reopened on 10 June 1834 as the Théâtre Nautique — "nautique" since some of the main attractions were works performed in a basin of water on the stage. The programs included the balletBallet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
-pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
Les ondines, which was based on Fouqué
Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué was a German writer of the romantic style.-Biography:He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in his family name...
's novella Undine
Undine (novella)
Undine is a novel by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué in which Undine, a water spirit, marries a knight named Huldebrand in order to gain a soul. It is an early German romance, which has been translated into English and other languages...
, about a water sprite who marries a knight in order to save her soul, and used music from E. T. A. Hoffmann's opera of the same name
Undine (Hoffmann)
Undine is an opera in three acts by the German composer and author E.T.A. Hoffmann. The libretto, by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, is based on his own story Undine. It received its premiere at the Königliches Schauspielhaus, Berlin on 3 August, 1816. Undine was Hoffmann's greatest operatic success...
; a full-length ballet William Tell with music by the German composer Jacques Strunz; a one-act ballet Le nouveau Robinson which also utilized the water; and a chinoiserie
Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie, a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", and pronounced ) refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences...
entitled Chao-Kang. These were interspersed with choruses by Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
and others, sung by the members of a German company that was being formed in Paris at that time. The entr'acte
Entr'acte
' is French for "between the acts" . It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission, but it more often indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production...
was the overture to Weber's opera Oberon
Oberon (opera)
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a 3-act romantic opera in English with spoken dialogue and music by Carl Maria von Weber. The libretto by James Robinson Planche was based on a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the epic romance Huon de Bordeaux, a French...
. The reviews were not good, and the size of the audience decreased over time.
Harriet Smithson
Harriet Smithson
Henrietta Constance Smithson was an Anglo-Irish actress, the first wife of Hector Berlioz, and the inspiration for his Symphonie Fantastique....
, the Irish actress who had married the French composer Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
on 3 October 1833, appeared with the Théâtre Nautique, opening on 22 November 1834 in a one-act pantomime put together by the resident choreographer Louis Henry. He called the concoction La derniére heure d'un condamné, and it used music by Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orchestral music. Pugni is most noted for the ballets he composed while serving as Composer of the Ballet Music to Her Majesty's Theatre...
. The scenario took advantage of her talent for mad scenes: she had previously performed Ophelia in an English-language production of Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
at the Théâtre de l'Odéon to great acclaim in 1827. The new piece was a pantomime, since Smithson's French was far from perfect (and remained so for the rest of her life). Unfortunately, this new performance was not as favorably received. Jules Janin, writing in the Journal des débats
Journal des Débats
The Journal des débats was a French newspaper, published between 1789 and 1944 that changed title several times...
described it as consisting of "the two or three dozen contortions that are known as the art of mime" and complained that "they have cut Miss Smithson's tongue out". Berlioz anonymously wrote a positive review that appeared in the Gazette musicale but spent half of its time describing her previous appearance as Ophelia and the important influence it had had on the French style of acting. Not all the reviews were entirely negative: the English-language Galignani's Messenger
Giovanni Antonio Galignani
Giovanni Antonio Galignani was an Italian newspaper publisher born at Brescia.After living some time in London, he went to Paris, where he started in 1800 an English library, and in 1808 a monthly publication, the Repertory of English Literature...
praised Smithson, saying that the "single feature worth naming of this piece is the performance of Madame Berlioz, as the wife of the condamné, in which the agony and despair of such a situation is depicted with the fidelity and painful truth only within the reach of a perfect artiste." But apparently her performances were not enough to rescue the enterprise, and the Théâtre Nautique closed in 1835.
A short visit by the Théâtre-Italien
The Salle Ventadour was used for a brief time by the Théâtre-Italien (30 January 1838 to 31 March 1838) after the destruction of the company's previous home, the Salle Favart, by fire on 15 January 1838. Only one opera new to Paris was presented, Gaetano Donizetti's ParisinaParisina (opera)
Parisina is an opera , in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Byron's 1816 poem Parisina...
. The company moved to the Odéon for three years before returning to the Salle Ventadour in 1841.
Théâtre de la Renaissance
While the Théâtre-Italien company was at the Odéon, the Salle Ventadour was rented by Anténor Joly, who with the encouragement of the two great French romantic dramatists Victor HugoVictor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
and Alexandre Dumas, remodeled the theatre and renamed it the Théâtre de la Renaissance
Théâtre de la Renaissance
The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on the Rue Méhul in the 2nd arrondissement.The current...
. Their aim was to bring together in one theatre the elitist and popular audiences of Paris. The new company opened on 8 November 1838 with the premiere of Hugo's drama Ruy Blas
Ruy Blas
Ruy Blas is a tragic drama by Victor Hugo. It was the first play presented at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and opened on November 8, 1838. Though considered by many to be Hugo’s best drama, the play initially met with only average success....
with Frédérick Lemaître
Frédérick Lemaître
Frédérick Lemaître — birth name Antoine Louis Prosper Lemaître — was a French actor and playwright, one of the most famous players on the celebrated Boulevard du Crime.-Biography:...
in the title role. It ran for 48 performances. Two new plays by Dumas were also presented, Bathilde (14 January 1839) and L'alchimiste (10 April 1839), although these were less successful. The repertoire of the company was not limited to plays: Joly also mounted three new operas by Friedrich von Flotow
Friedrich von Flotow
Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand, Freiherr von Flotow was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera Martha, which was popular in the 19th century....
, including Lady Melvil on 15 November 1838 (with some music also written by Albert Grisar
Albert Grisar
Albert Grisar was a Belgian composer.Grisar studied in Antwerp, in Paris , and, in the mid-1840s, in Naples with Saverio Mercadante. He was a successful comic opera composer, first winning success in Brussels in 1833 and in Paris later in the decade...
and Sophie Anne Thillon as Lady Melvil), L'eau merveilleuse on 30 January 1839, and Le naufrage de la Méduse on 31 May 1839; and on 6 August 1839 the premiere of Donizetti's Lucie de Lammermoor, a French version of his Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, with Thillon as Lucia and Achille Ricciardi as Edgardo. Joly's venture was short-lived however, closing on 16 May 1841.
The Théâtre-Italien settles in
After the Théâtre de la Renaissance closed in 1841 the theater was expanded to a capacity of 1,294 and was again used by the Théâtre-Italien company from 2 October 1841 to 28 June 1878. During this time the company presented the premiere of Donizetti's Don PasqualeDon Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
(3 January 1843) and the Paris premieres of 15 of Verdi's operas, including Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
(1845), Ernani
Ernani
Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. The first production took place at La Fenice Theatre, Venice on 9 March 1844...
(1846, as Il Proscritto), Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
(23 December 1854), La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(6 December 1856), Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
(19 January 1857), Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
(13 January 1861), and Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
(22 April 1876) with Verdi conducting. Among the important singers appearing in Verdi's operas were Giorgio Ronconi
Giorgio Ronconi
Giorgio Ronconi was an Italian operatic baritone celebrated for his brilliant acting and compelling stage presence. In 1842, he created the title-role in Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco at La Scala, Milan.-Career:...
, Adelaide Borghi-Mamo
Adelaide Borghi-Mamo
Adelaide Borghi-Mamo was an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international career from the 1840s through the 1880s...
, and Gaetano Fraschini
Gaetano Fraschini
Gaetano Fraschini was an Italian tenor. He created many roles in 19th century operas, including five composed by Giuseppe Verdi. His voice was "heroic ... with a baritonal quality, .....
. Verdi is reported to have referred to the Salle Ventadour as his favorite opera house in Paris.
Besides opera, the Salle Ventadour was also sometimes used for concerts. Giaocchino Rossini's Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater (Rossini)
Rossini composed his Stabat Mater late in his career after retiring from the composition of opera. He began the work in 1831 but did not complete it until 1841.-Composition:...
received its premiere there on 7 January 1842. Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
conducted three concerts devoted to his own music, including extracts from The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
, Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
, Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, and Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
, on 25 January, 1 and 8 February 1860. Verdi conducted the Paris premiere of his Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
on 30 May 1876.
The Théâtre-Italien shared the theater briefly, from 26 June to 4 July 1853, with the Opéra-Comique; with a second company reviving the name of the Théâtre de la Renaissance
Théâtre de la Renaissance
The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on the Rue Méhul in the 2nd arrondissement.The current...
, directed by Léon Carvalho
Léon Carvalho
Léon Carvalho was a French impresario and stage director.-Biography:Born Léon Carvaille in Port-Louis, Mauritius, he came to France at an early age...
, from 16 March 1868 to 5 May 1868; and with the Paris Opéra
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
from 19 January to December 1874 (in the period after the Opéra's Salle Le Peletier burned down on 28 October 1873 and before the opening of the Opéra's new Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
on 5 January 1875). Companies sharing the theatre usually performed on alternate nights.
At the instigation of the French tenor Victor Capoul
Victor Capoul
Joseph Victor Amédée Capoul, born in Toulouse on 27 February 1839 and died in Pujaudran on 18 February 1924, was a French operatic tenor with a lyric voice and a graceful singing style.-Career:Victor Capoul began his studies in Toulouse...
the first professional public performance of the opera Les amants de Vérone with text and music by the marquis d'Ivry was mounted at the Salle Ventadour on 12 October 1878. The libretto follows Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
more closely than that of the opera by Gounod
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
, but Richard d'Ivry's opera suffered in comparison. Capoul sang Romeo, and the Belgian soprano Marie Heilbronn sang Juliet. The same singers later appeared in a production at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
which was performed three times beginning on 24 May 1879. The text was considered "coarse", and the music received a lukewarm response.
After the Théâtre-Italien company went out of business in 1878, the Salle Ventadour was sold on 20 January 1879 and transformed into offices. The building has been primarily occupied by the Banque de France
Banque de France
The Banque de France is the central bank of France; it is linked to the European Central Bank . Its main charge is to implement the interest rate policy of the European System of Central Banks...
since 1893. Gustave Chouquet, writing in the 1900 edition of George Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, described the renovated building as follows: "its pediment, still decorated with statues of the Muses, now bears the words 'Banque d'escompte de Paris,' a truly exasperating sight".
External links
- Facade of the former Salle Ventadour (Google mapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
street view at the intersection of the rue Méhul with the rue Marsollier and the rue Dalayrac).