Teacher's Guide Cambridge Pre-U MUSIC Available for teaching ...

(a) France
Cherubini, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Gounod, Offenbach,
Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Massenet
Cambridge Pre-U Teacher Guide
During the nineteenth century, operatic activity in France was almost exclusively centred on Paris.
There were several opera companies, each of which presented a different kind of repertoire. The most
significant companies were the following:
(i) The Paris Opéra
Founded by Louis XIV in 1669 as the Académie Royale de Musique, from 1821 until 1873 it
occupied a huge theatre in the rue Le Peletier. This theatre was destroyed by fire and was
replaced by the Palais Garnier in the Place de l’Opéra, which still bears the title Académie
Nationale de Musique in large gilded letter across its main façade. This remained its home
from 1875 until 1989 when it moved to a new purpose-built theatre in the Place de la Bastille.
The theatres were usually known as the Théâtre de l’Opéra, or simply as the Opéra, but this has
changed in recent years: the new theatre is called the Opéra de la Bastille to distinguish it from
the Palais Garnier, which is a prominent and iconic enough building to be still colloquially known
simply as the Opéra.
Works produced at the Opéra were usually large in scale and serious in character. They were
required to use recitative rather than spoken dialogue and invariably included significant ballet
episodes (a reminder of the close relationship between dance and singing that had been an
integral part of staged entertainment at the court of Louis XIV).
(ii) The Opéra Comique
Founded in 1715 as the successor to an earlier company called the Théâtres de la Foire, it
occupied a succession of theatres on the same site in the Place Boieldieu, known as the Salle
Favart. The repertoire had less strict requirements than those demanded by the Opéra, and often
involved spoken dialogue rather than recitative. Thus the term opéra-comique also refers to a
genre of opera with spoken dialogue. Such operas might be light or humorous in character, but
(paradoxically) are very often serious.
(iii) The Théâtre Lyrique
An independent company founded in 1851, it occupied a theatre on the site of what is now the
Place de la République before moving in 1862, to a new theatre in the Place du Châtelet. Its
original intention was to take a less cautious attitude to its repertoire than either of the other
opera companies, especially with regard to the staging of works by young or less well-known
composers. After 1856, under the direction of Léon Carvalho, it presented the premières of
operas by several important French composers, including Berlioz, Gounod and Bizet, before being
destroyed by fire during the Commune of 1871.
Paris was one of the most significant operatic centres in nineteenth-century Europe. Even in the
highly charged political climate of the Revolution, theatres had continued to thrive and operas had
been written and performed regularly. In deference to the republican spirit of the time, classical
subjects were abandoned in favour of more spectacular stories involving acts of heroism, dramatic
climaxes and last-minute rescues. The first significant composer to compose operas of this kind was
Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842), an Italian who had settled in Paris in 1787. Among his most successful
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