Paris Opera

The Paris Opera (French: Opéra national de Paris) is a French musical institution, successor to the one founded in Paris by Louis XIV in 1669 under the name of Académie royale de musique. It is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in Europe.

Originally it had the performance hall in the Theater du Palais-Royal, although it has changed venues over time on more than a dozen occasions. It currently occupies two sites:

• the palace of the Opera, opened on January 5, 1875 and also known as "Palais Garnier" (Palacio Garnier) or "Opera Garnier", in honor of the architect who designed it, Charles Garnier;
• the Palace of the Opera of the Bastille, opened on July 13, 1989, coinciding with the events of the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

History of the National Opera of Paris

The Paris Opera in 1875. Record extracted from Charles Nuitter, Le nouvel Opéra (Paris, 1875).

Details of the facade of the Opera of Paris.

Initially known as the "Opera Academy", the "Royal Academy of Music" was founded in 1669 at the behest of Colbert and in response to the Royal Academy of Dance. With the mission of spreading the French opera to the public, not only in Paris but also in other cities of the kingdom, one takes the practice of simply calling it "The Opera". Having as its financial resources only the tickets of the spectators (and not, as for the Comédie-Française or the Théâtre Italien, a real subsidy), the Opera obtains the privilege of representing music with the prohibition for whoever does such a thing without having obtained permission from the creators. The first to benefit from the privileges were Pierre Perrin and Robert Cambert. Imprisoned for debts, the latter is forced to surrender his privilege to Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1672, with the success that is known. Lully and his successors also negotiated the transfer of the privilege bitterly, in whole or in part, with contractors from the province: Pierre Gautier bought in 1684 the authorization to open a music academy in Marseille; then the cities of Lyon, Rouen, Lille and Bordeaux do some in the following years.

The Royal Academy of Music changed performance locations thirteen times during the 18th century, until its transformation, with the Revolution, in the "Theater of the Arts", which is called to this day the "National Opera of Paris". The Paris Opera was often in debt. In 1875, the institution moved to the Opera Garnier, and then, since 1990, it also occupies the Opera Bastille.

The fifteen rooms of the Paris Opera

Tradition preserves fifteen different rooms used by the Paris Opera for its shows. This list does not include more than ordinary theater rooms, without mentioning those that may have been used for performances abroad.

	Image	Name of the room	Dates	Emplacement	History
1		Room d'Issy	1659	Issy-les-Moulineaux	Delay
2		Bouteille Chamber	1671-1672	Rue Mazarine	Delay
3		Bel-Air Room	1672-1673	Rue de Vaugirard	Delay
4		Palais-Royal Theatre (first room)	1673-1764	Palais-Royal	Destroyed by a fire in 1763
5		Tuileries Room	1764-1770	Palais des Tuileries	Built in 1662 but remodeled several times. Delayed with the palace in 1873
6		Second Palais-Royal Room	1770-1781	Palais-Royal	Destroyed by a fire on 8 June 1781
7		Menus-Plaisirs Room	1781	Rue Bergère	Delay
8		Porte-Saint-Martin Room	1781-1794	Boulevard Saint-Martin	Built in 1781. Destroyed by a fire in 1871 (Paris Commune) and rebuilt in the same place
9		Rue Room of Richelieu	1794-1820	Rue de Richelieu (up to 1815, rue de la Loi). Square Louvois emplacement	Built in 1781. Destroyed by order of the authorities
10		Rue Louvois Hall	1820	Rue Louvois	Built in 1791. Closed in 1825, demolished in 1827
11		Favart Hall	1820-1821	Plaza Boieldieu	Built in 1783. Destroyed in 1839 by a fire and rebuilt in the same place
12		Rue Le Peletier Hall	1821-1873	Rue Le Peletier and rue Grange-Batelière Approximate location of the Drouot hotel.	Built in 1820-1821. Destroyed by a fire in 1873
13		Sala Ventadour	1874-1875	Rue Méhul	Built from 1826 to 1829. Closed in 1879 and transformed into a bank
14		Opera Garnier	From 1875	Plaza de la Ópera
15		Opera of the Bastille	Since 1990	Plaza de la Bastilla

Ballet directors and maîtres