The Opéra-National () was a Parisian opera company that the French composer Adolphe Adam founded in 1847 to provide an alternative to the two primary French opera companies in Paris, the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique. The goals of the new company were to "foster new compositional talent,"Ellis 2009, p. 49. revive opéras comiques from an earlier period, and produce opera at a lower ticket price for a wider public.Charlton 1992, p. 871.
The company first performed in the relatively large Cirque Olympique 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. It was revived under a new director, Edmond Seveste, in 1851, when it moved to the Théâtre Historique, a short distance away on the Boulevard du Temple. In 1852 the company was renamed Théâtre Lyrique and operated under that name until 1872.
Background
In 1791, during the French Revolution, many restrictions on theatres were removed. New laws allowed essentially anyone to open a theatre.Charlton 1992, p. 865. Developers founded many new theatres, and it became increasingly difficult for any, including state sponsored theatres, to make money. On 8 June 1806 Napoleon issued a decree that regulated the opening of new theatres. No person could open a theatre without the approval of the emperor, based on a proposal prepared and submitted by the minister of the interior. On 25 April 1807 he enacted a second, more highly developed decree that determined the genres permitted at each theatre. Any theatre wanting to stage a work in the repertory of the state-supported Opéra, the Comédie-Française, or the Opéra-Comique had to pay a fee to the management of the appropriate company. In addition, only the Opéra could perform particular historical and mythological ballets, thus burdening several companies, particularly the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin.Barbier 1995, p. 9.Wild 1989, pp. 13–14.
In spite of these measures, the situation continued to worsen, and on 29 July 1807 Napoleon 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 theatres were the Vaudeville, the Variétés, the Gaité, and the Ambigu-Comique. The other twenty-five or so existing theatres had to close by 15 August.Charlton 1992, p. 865; Barbier 1995, pp. 9–11. Venues for the performance of French-language opera were reduced to two: the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique.Charlton 1992, p. 865; Walsh 1981, p. 1.
After Napoleon's downfall, licenses for new theatres began to increase, and the enforcement of restrictions on genre began to relax. Official censors were more concerned with content rather than genre.Levin 2009, p. 380. Opéra comique was given at the Théâtre du Gymnase as early as 1820. From 1824 to 1829 operas, such as Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, were produced at the Théâtre Lyrique de l'Odéon. From 1827 to 1831 opéra-comique and French adaptations of Rossini and Mozart were presented at the Théâtre des Nouveautés. After the July Revolution of 1830, restrictions loosened even more, and beginning in 1838 opéras-comiques and operas, including the premiere of Donizetti's Lucie de Lammermoor (the French adaptation of his Lucia di Lammermoor), were presented at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. None at these theatres presented operas exclusively, however. In fact, opera represented a very small part of their repertory. Moreover, all of these endeavours were short-lived attempts. The latter theatre failed in mid-1841.Walsh 1981, p. 1; Levin 2009, pp. 394–395.
As early as 14 May 1842, several composers, including Hector Berlioz, Ambroise Thomas, and Adolphe Adam, petitioned administrative authorities to create a permanent third opera house in Paris. A commission was established, and by August plans for a new theatre were announced. However, on 28 October the petition was rejected. In September 1844 a second petition was submitted by winners of the Prix de Rome, requesting the establishment of a new lyric theatre dedicated to works of younger, lesser known composers and librettists. This petition was also rejected. Finally in 1847, on the third attempt, one composer, Adolphe Adam, succeeded.Walsh 1981, pp. 1–2.
At the Cirque Olympique under Adolphe Adam (1847–1848)
In 1847 Adolphe Adam, with the help of his friend François Louis Crosnier—a former director of the Opéra-Comique and current manager of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin—obtained a license to open the Opéra-National. The license allowed Adam to perform many of his works that 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 first intended to use Crosnier's theatre at the Porte Saint-Martin, but Crosnier found it more financially rewarding to rent that theatre to others.Walsh 1981, pp. 2–3.
Adam had to find another venue. With his license in hand and a partnership with Achille Mirecour, he acquired the Cirque Olympique (66 Boulevard du Temple) for 1,400,000 francs. The theatre had been designed as an indoor equestrian circus (founded by the British impresario Philip Astley). At a cost of 200,000 francs, it was 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.
The theatre opened on 15 November 1847 with a musical prologue (Les premiers pas ou Les deux génies) and the premiere of a 3-act opera Gastibelza. The opera had 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 new railway from Paris to Tours (a technical wonder of the time) and the Boulevard du Crime (nickname of the Boulevard du Temple, for the numerous melodramas about sensational crimes performed in many of the theatres located there).
Subsequent early productions included:Walsh 1981, p. 359; Wild and Charlton 2005. 16 November 1847 – a revival of the 3-act opéra-comique Aline, reine de Goconde by Henri Montan Berton, first performed at the Salle Feydeau on 3 September 1803, and re-orchestrated by Adam for the revival 23 November 1847 – a revival of the 1-act opéra-comique Une bonne fortune by Adam, first performed by the Opéra-Comique on 23 January 1834 at the Salle de la Bourse 22 December 1847 – a revival of the 3-act opéra-comique Félix, ou L'enfant trouvé by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny with a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine, 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; re-orchestrated by Adam for the revival 22 January 1848 – a revival of the 3-act opéra-comique Le brasseur de Preston by Adam, first performed at the Salle de la Bourse on 31 October 1838 30 January 1848 – a revival of the 1-act opéra-comique La tête de Méduse by Scard with a libretto by Louis-Émile Vanderburch and Philippe-August Deforges
The company had financial difficulties from the very beginning, and its artistic 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."Quoted by Walsh 1981, p. 3.
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. A condition of reopening was the donation of initial receipts for the care of the wounded. On 6 March Adam's company premiered the 1-act Les Barricades de 1848 (libretto by Édouard Brisebarre and Saint-Yves; music by Pilati and Eugène Gautier). 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",Quoted in Traubner 2003, p. 20. audiences were sparse. Adam soon exhausted his sources of money. With massive debts he closed the theatre on 28 March 1848 and retired from his position of opera director.Walsh 1981, p. 4.
At the Théâtre Historique under Edmond Seveste (1851–1852)
In 1851, the Opéra-National was revived, and on 1 May Edmond Seveste was appointed director.Levin 2009, p. 397. By the end of July he had taken a lease on the Théâtre Historique (72 Boulevard du Temple).Walsh 1981, p. 10. Built by the dramatist Alexandre Dumas, the theatre had opened on 20 February 1847, closed on 20 December 1850, and remained unused. The entrance to the theatre was 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.Walsh 1981, pp. 5, 7. It had an audience capacity of 1500–1700 and was thought to have excellent acoustics for opera.
The theatre required minimal renovations for its new purpose: new paint of white and gold, some furnishings, and a drop curtain painted by Auguste Rubé. Four candelabra were fastened to the columns of the stage boxes and the busts of Corneille and Molière were replaced with ones of Gluck and Lully. A grand piano surmounted with a bust of Weber was installed in the foyer. Structural alterations were made to some ancillary spaces, including the conversion of stables used for horses in Dumas's historical dramas, into the musicians' green room.Walsh 1981, pp. 10–12.
While work on the theatre was in progress, rehearsals were held at the Salle Ventadour. Alphonse Varney, who had conducted 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.Walsh 1981, pp. 10, 14.
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, 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). Preference was to be given to Prix de Rome winners up to two years after the award. 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 had the right to revive any works it had already produced, to encourage the company to establish its own repertory.Ellis 2009, pp. 53–54. As the company did not receive any state subsidy before 1864, revivals of popular, established works were critical to its financial survival.
Opening and first season