The Arcades Project - Operi

Nisard, Desire (1806-1888).journalist and literary critic. Director of the Ecole Normale
Superieure. Author of Histoire de la litteraturefi"an,aise (1844-1861).
Nodier, Charles (1780-1844). Man of letters associated with the Romantic movement.
Author of Les Vampires (1820). Collaborated with Amedee Pichot on Essai critique sur Ie
gaz Irydrogene et les divers modes d'eclairage artificiel (1823).
NoH,jules (1815-1881). French landscape painter.
Noir, Victor (1848-1870). journalist killed in an altercation with a cousin of Napoleon
III. His funeral was the scene of a mob demonstration against the Empire.
Notre Dame de Lorette. Church in Paris. In its neighborhood, during Second Empire,
many lorettes Garnes of easy virtue) lived in new housing.
Nouveaute. Newness, novelty, innovation; fancy article. The shops in Paris known as
magasins de nOllveautes offered a complete selection of goods in onc or another special­
ized line of business. '"They had many rooms and several stories, with large staffs of
employees. The first such store, Pygmalion, opened in Paris in 1793.
Obennann. Epistolary novel by Etierme Senancour (1804).
Odoievsky, Vladimir (1804-1869). Russian writer influenced by E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Offenbach,Jacques (1819-1880). Musician and composer. Born in Cologne, he became
a nationalized Frenchman. Produced many successful operettas and operas bouffes in
Paris; managed the GalteLyrique there, 1872-1876. His famous Contes d'Hqffinann was
produced after his death.
Ollivier, Ernfle (1825-1913). Politician. Headed the ministry (1870) that plunged France
into the disasters of the FrancoPrussian war.
Olympia. Character in E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "Der Sandmann;' a beautiful automa­
ton.
Orleanists. Supporters of the Orleans branch of the French royal fantily, which was
descended from a younger brother of Louis XIV and which included Louis Philippe.
Orleans, due Ferdinand Philippe Louis (1810-1842). Son of Louis Philippe. Active in
the Revolution of 1830; was made due d'Orleans in 1830. In 1837, married Helene
Elisabedl, daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
Orphic et Eurydice (Orfto ed Em"idice). Opera by Christoph Gluck (1762).
Orsay, comte Alfred d' (1801-1852). French man of fashion, wit, painter in Paris and
London.
Orsini, Felice (1819-1858). Italian revolutionary, active in the revolutions of 1848-1849.
Attempted the assassination of Napoleon III (January 14, 1858). Executed in Paris.
Ourliac, Edouard (1813-1848). French writer; author of a physiology on the schoolboy.
Early associate of Baudelaire.
Owen, Robert (1771-1858). Welsh socialist and philanthropist. Spent his fortune on
social schemes. Founded communities of "Owenites" on the cooperative principle, in
Great Britain and the U.S. (including one at New Harmony, fndiana, 1825-1828), all
unsuccessful. Edited the influentialjoumal The New Moral World (1836-1844). Author
of A New View of Society (1813) and Revolution in Mind and Practice (1849).
Palais-Royal. Refers to the streets and shopping areas surrounding the palace of the
dukes of Orleans in Paris . It was a center of prostitution and ganlbling, especially
during the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
Panizza, Oskar (1853-1921). Controversial Bavarian playwright and poet. Argued in
1896 that the spirit of vaudeville was infusing modern culture.
panoramas. Large circular tableaux, usually displayillg scenes of battles and cities,
painted in trompe l'oeil and designed to be viewed from the center of a rotunda.
Introduced in France in 1799 by the American engineer Robert Fulton.James Thayer