The Versailles Opéra Nancy R. Rivers
Before the middle of the eighteenth century innovations opera house design in Western Europe. Yet most architectural in the realm of opera house design in France had been rela- historians today are only vaguely familiar with the innovative tively modest. Voltaire first decried the inadequacy of French components that Gabriel integrated within its interior design. theater design in 1749.1 In his L’Architecture françoise of 1752 Distinguished scholars have laid a historical foundation Jacques-François Blondel also disparagingly compared the that enables one to understand the socio-political context in designs of theaters and opera houses in France to those of which the Versailles Opéra was created.3 There is currently, Italy, calling for striking reforms in theater architecture however, no scholarly publication that adequately conveys the throughout France.2 Several architects responded to his call, significance of Gabriel’s final design for the Opéra, leaving inaugurating significant innovations in French opera house readers with an incomplete understanding of his accomplish- design between the years 1753 and 1790. One of these was ments there. Missing are an explanation of Gabriel’s choice Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698-1782), who constructed the Opéra for the truncated oval plan and a consideration of the indi- at Versailles (Figure 1). Born into one of the leading architec- vidual elements incorporated into the interior design that had tural dynasties in France, Gabriel was a descendant of the an impact upon the structure as a whole. Gabriel’s inclusion renowned seventeenth-century French classical architect of these elements demonstrates his knowledge of Italian the- François Mansart. Upon the death of his father Jacques V ater design and also reveals a number of important sources Gabriel in April 1742, Ange-Jacques was chosen to succeed and theoretical treatises, not fully explored by scholars, that him as Premier Architecte to the King and Director of the may have influenced him. Also missing is a treatment of the Academy. At the time of its completion in 1770 the Versailles Versailles Opéra that would compare it in functional terms Opéra represented the culmination of eighteenth-century court with other European opera houses, or a discussion that would
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Robert Neuman, who amidst a crowd of young men who leave scarcely ten feet of acting space directed my Masters Thesis from which this paper was derived. His encour- for the actors?” agement, counsel, and knowledge were a constant source of inspiration. I would also like to express my profound appreciation to Dr. Jack Freiberg 2 Jacques-Francois Blondel, L’Architecture françoise, vol. 2 (Paris: C.A. and Dr. Patricia Rose for generously sharing their extensive knowledge Jombert, 1752-56) 14-36. See also Howarth, French Theatre in the Neo- and for providing guidance and support throughout my graduate studies classical Era 462. Blondel states, “What history tells us about the size and and during the preparation of my Thesis. magnificence of the theatres of the Ancients, the remains still existing of several of these monuments and the theatres which have since been built in 1 William D. Howarth, ed., French Theatre in the Neoclassical Era, 1550- Italy […]—to say nothing of those built in England, Germany and else- 1789 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997) 461. Howarth cites Voltaire from where—all this ought by rights to spare us having describe any of our the- “Dissertation sur la tragédie ancienne et moderne,” Preface to Sémiramis atres here in France, since it is well known that it is not thanks to this kind in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, ed. Moland, vol. IV (Paris: Garnier frères: of building that French architecture merits recognition …” 1877-85) 499-500. Howarth presents a synopsis of Voltaire’s message, “I shall never cease to be astonished or to complain at the lack of concern 3 For a comprehensive account of the state of the literature pertaining to the taken in France for making the theatres worthy of the excellent works that Versailles Opéra, see Nancy Rivers, “The Versailles Opéra” (Master’s The- are staged in them and of the nation that so delights in them. [Pierre sis, Florida State University, 2002). André Japy, the architect who restored Corneille’s] Cinna and [Racine’s] Athalie deserve to be played somewhere the Versailles Opéra, produced a beautifully illustrated book on the Opéra’s better than in a tennis court, at one end of which a few tasteless items of restoration. See André Japy, L’Opéra royal de Versailles (Comité national scenery have been set up, and where the spectators are accommodated, con- pour la sauvegarde du château de Versailles, 1958). trary to all notions of order and reason, some standing on the stage itself, For monographs on Ange-Jacques Gabriel see Christopher Tadgell, others standing in what is called the parterre, where they are uncomfort- Ange-Jacques Gabriel (London: Zwemmer, 1978); and Michel Gallet and ably and indecently packed together and where sometimes they rush riot- Yves Bottineau, eds., Les Gabriel (Paris: Picard, 1982). ously upon one another as if in some popular uprising. In the far north of Three scholars have each examined Gabriel’s work in the broader Europe French plays are staged in auditoria infinitely more magnificent, context of eighteenth-century French architecture: Allan Braham, The Ar- better designed and with a good deal more decency. […] A stage that is chitecture of the French Enlightenment (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Cali- properly and correctly designed should be enormous: it must be able to fornia UP, 1980); Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos, Histoire de represent at once part of a town square, the peristyle of a palace and the l’architecture française (Paris: Mengès, 1989); Wend von Kalnein, Ar- entrance to a temple. It must be arranged in such a way that, should occa- chitecture in France in the Eighteenth Century (New Haven: Yale UP, sion require, a character may be seen by the audience and yet remain un- 1995). Due to the methodology of their work, the section in their respective seen by other characters.[…] It must be capable of staging great display books devoted to the Versailles Opéra is more general in nature. There are and ceremony. Wherever they are placed, all the spectators must be able to several statements in these works pertaining to historic theater design that see and hear equally well. And how is this possible on a narrow stage, leave the reader with misconceptions concerning Gabriel’s accomplishments. ATHANOR XX NANCY R. RIVERS
illustrate Gabriel’s influence upon subsequent European ar- the construction of the court theater next to the chapel, at the chitects. In terms of acoustics and visual clarity for the specta- extreme end of the North Wing of the château. Hardouin- tors, the design of Gabriel’s final plan and its components not Mansart and Carlo Vigarani designed several plans for a per- only surpassed the oval theater designs of Jacques-Germain manent court theater for the North Wing between the years Soufflot at the Grand Théâtre at Lyon (1754) and Pierre-Louis 1685-88.6 Christopher Tadgell states that work on the Opéra Moreau-Desproux at the Palais Royal in Paris (1763-70), two had begun based upon a plan designed by Vigarani, who con- buildings that modern scholars have over-emphasized at structed the Salles des Machines theater within the Tuileries Gabriel’s expense, but ultimately functioned better than sev- in Paris in 1662.7 Plans for the Opéra came to an abrupt halt, eral pre-eminent opera houses erected in the modern age. My however, with the onset of the War of the League of Augsburg. goal is to reinterpret Gabriel’s work at the Versailles Opéra in By the end of the reign of Louis XIV, little more than a plat- an effort to accord it a more significant place in the field of form above the foundation of the Opéra had been completed.8 architectural history. I believe that Gabriel’s final design for Ange-Jacques Gabriel began working on the Versailles the Opéra not only influenced subsequent European architects, Opéra project in the early 1740s. Over the course of a thirty- but also redirected the course of French opera house design year period he was confronted with two major obstacles that toward a grander scale. delayed the completion of his work there until 1770. The first was the lack of available money, since a series of dynastic Early History of the Versailles Opéra wars had drained the King’s coffers. The second was a lack of Versailles had been in dire need of a permanent court adequate space in which to house the Opéra. Although plans opera house long before the time of Gabriel. During the sev- indicate that the Opéra was to be contained within the North enty-two year reign of Louis XIV, over six hundred musical Wing of the château, the garden side of the wing was occu- and dramatical performances were given at court, none of pied by private appartements. Louis XV finally ordered the which was presented within a permanent facility.4 These pro- clearing of these in 1765, freeing up the necessary space to ductions were performed in provisionary settings in various enable Gabriel to complete his plans.9 The Versailles Opéra locations such as the Marble Courtyard, the gardens, the Grand was officially inaugurated on 16 May 1770, serving first as a Stables, or within the château. Everything had to be dismantled banquet hall and later as an Opéra house. The wedding fes- after every performance. tivities of the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and Marie A plan located in Stockholm reveals that Louis Le Vau Antoinette were celebrated there. It functioned for the next first conceived of a design for a large, freestanding royal Opéra twenty years as the site of elaborate musical performances and house at Versailles in 1669-70, to be constructed south of the social events.10 château.5 The allocation of such a generous amount of privi- leged space on the palace grounds and the sheer magnitude of The Plan of the Versailles Opéra the building’s size indicate that the performing arts of music, In his monograph Ange-Jacques Gabriel Christopher ballet, opera, and drama were to play a prominent role in the Tadgell published a series of ground plans pertaining to the lives of Louis XIV and his court. Versailles Opéra project that Gabriel developed over a thirty- Jules Hardouin-Mansart began working on the vast ex- year period.11 These plans illustrate numerous modifications pansion of the North and South Wings of Versailles in 1678, made by Gabriel to the design of the Opéra, demonstrating and he included a large Salle des Ballets in the original de- his assimilation of important concepts of Italian and French sign of the South Wing. In 1685, however, Louis XIV ordered opera house design that had developed over the course of the
4 Barbara Coeyman, “Sites of Indoor Musical and Theatrical Productions at the first plan for the Versailles Opéra as Gaspare Vigarani. He states that Versailles,” Eighteenth-Century Life 17.2 (1993): 55. See also James Eu- the plan is dated 17 January 1685. Gaspare Vigarani died in 1663. The gene Farmer, Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV (New York: Cen- plan should be credited to Carlo Vigarani, Gaspare’s son, who worked for tury, 1905); Alfred Marie, “Les théâtres du château de Versailles,” Revue the French Court following the death of his father. de l’histoire d4 théâtre (1951): 133-52; J. Feray, “Les théâtres successifs See also Danielle Gallet-Guerne with Christian Baulez, Versailles: du château de Versailles,” Monuments historiques de la France 3.1 (1957): Dessins d’architecture de la direction générale des Bâtiments du roi, 3-18; Pierre Verlet, “L’Opéra de Versailles,” Revue d’histoire du théâtre 9 vol. 1, Le château, les jardins, le parc, Trianon (Paris: Archives nationales, (1957): 133-54; and Gerold Weber, “Theaterarchitektur am Hofe von Louis 1983) 541 and 597. The same plan for the Versailles Opéra is also errone- XIV,” Bollettino del centro internazionale di studi di architettura An- ously credited to Gaspare Vigarani instead of CarloVigarani in this publi- drea Palladio 17 (1975): 259-81. cation.
5 Guy Walton, Louis XIV’s Versailles (New York: Viking, 1986) 74. 8 Blondel, L’Architecture françoise 4:131.
6 Marie, “Les théâtres du château de Versailles,” 133-52. 9 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel 121.
7 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel 119. There is considerable confusion in 10 For an excellent account of how the Versailles Opéra functioned over the the scholarly writing concerning the first plan of the Versailles Opéra. Marie, years, see Rose-Marie Langlois, L’Opéra de Versailles (Paris: Pierre Horay, Feray, Verlet, and Tadgell all identify the first plan for the Versailles Opéra 1958). as by the hand of “Vigarani, who constructed the theater at the Tuileries.” In his entry in the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, vol. 2 (New 11 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel plates 45-68. York: Free Press, 1982) 140, Tadgell erroneously identifies the architect of 54 THE VERSAILLES OPÉRA
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.12 Gabriel’s ground plans application of the truncated oval plan and his integration of clearly reveal that he was not reluctant to explore various the- other significant elements produced a court opera house en- ater designs to determine which plans had superior sight lines dowed not only with excellent acoustical qualities but also and acoustical qualities. In the early 1740s through the mid- with superior sight lines, which provided spectators with a 1760s Gabriel experimented with the French V-shaped plan clearer view of the stage. and with the Italianate bell and oval-shaped plans, drawing Scholars who have written surveys of eighteenth-century inspiration from theaters designed by Gaspare and Carlo French architecture have considered only three possible sources Vigarani, Carlo Fontana, Filippo Juvarra and Benedetto for Gabriel’s truncated oval plan for the Versailles Opéra: the Alfieri.13 In April 1765 Gabriel designed a circular plan for court theater designed by Benedetto Alfieri at Turin in 1740; the Versailles Opéra based in part upon his study of the court Soufflot’s Grand Théâtre at Lyon, constructed in 1754; and theater built at Caserta by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1752-59.14 Tadgell Moreau-Desproux’s Palais Royale theater built in Paris in states that at one point, Gabriel also explored the possibility 1764-70 (Figures 3-5). Furthermore, these scholars have also of employing elliptical wall surfaces.15 assumed that Gabriel’s decision to construct an oval-shaped For the final plan Gabriel chose the Italianate truncated opera house was influenced not by his own ideas but by the oval design, the sides of which flattened as they approached Italian sojourn of Soufflot, Charles-Nicolas Cochin, and the the proscenium (Figure 2).16 Although scholars have specu- Marquis de Marigny in 1750, remarking that Soufflot sent lated that Gabriel chose the oval plan for acoustical reasons, Gabriel a copy of the truncated oval plan for the Teatro Regio they have not adequately addressed the history of this particu- in Turin.17 Gabriel, however, was well aware of the oval the- lar design or investigated the reasons why he deliberately ater design long before this time. Tadgell published a prelimi- employed it over other known opera house designs. Gabriel’s nary drawing from the early 1740s that demonstrated Gabriel’s
12 For a more comprehensive discussion of concepts of historic Italian and intruded beyond the proscenium opening, Gabriel’s final oval plan for the French theater design that developed over the course of the seventeenth and Versailles Opéra was truncated almost at its center. He further reveals that eighteenth centuries that Gabriel assimilated and a detailed examination of the end result of this experimentation was to be an opera house based on a Gabriel’s ground plans see Rivers, “ The Versailles Opéra.” Italian Renais- circular plan. I believe that Gabriel’s experimentation may have influenced sance architects designed court theaters based upon the semi-circular and later French architects to employ the circular theater plan, including Victor semi-elliptical plans of the Ancients, and their central focus was the seat of Louis who constructed the Grand Théâtre at Bordeaux and Charles Garnier, the court Prince. Not only was the stage raised to accord with the eye level who erected the Paris Opéra. of the Prince, but the one-point linear perspective scenery employed was designed so that the ideal view was seen from his chair. Italian Baroque 15 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel 120. architects began to transform these semi-circular and semi-elliptical plans into theaters with a U-shaped design, as this specific plan accommodated a 16 There is much disparity among scholars in their use of the terms “oval” and large audience and provided ample space for spectacular performances held “elliptical” with respect to the interior shape of the Versailles Opéra. Some in the center of the auditorium. By the 1630-40s, the utilization of elabo- scholars call it a truncated ellipse, whereas other scholars call it a truncated rate scenic design in operatic productions became a vital part of courtly oval. Gabriel described his own plan for the Versailles Opéra as a truncated entertainment. Baroque theater architects, many of whom were also scenic oval in the Mercure de France in August 1770. Thus, I have chosen to designers, began to shift the focus of their scenic displays away from a apply the term “oval” throughout, in reference to the Versailles Opéra. point in the center of the auditorium to the area behind the proscenium See also Briant Hamor Lee, European Post-Baroque Neoclassical frame. After opera’s initial debut in the leading Italian courts, it was next Theatre Architecture (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996) 110. Lee dis- introduced to the public audience in the city of Venice. In order to accom- cusses Patte’s application of the term ellipse in his treatise, Essai sur modate an increasingly larger number of paying patrons, architects began l’architecture théâtralè (1782) with regard to theater design, which was to exploit the wall space of the standard U-shaped auditorium more fully published a decade after Gabriel completed the Versailles Opéra. Although by integrating tiers of vertically rising boxes. Architects concerned with Patte defines the differences between the oval and the ellipse in his treatise, spectator visibility and the acoustical qualities of opera houses began to I do not believe that this distinction was clearly discernible to architects transform the U-shaped box theater plan into other variations, including the who employed the oval design for their opera houses before 1782, when the bell, horseshoe and the oval-shaped plans. By the eighteenth century, many terms “oval” and “ellipse” were being used interchangeably in terms of French architects and theorists believed that spectator visibility and the theater design. acoustical qualities of an opera house could be significantly improved by the specific shape an architect selected for the auditorium and by the type of 17 Braham, The Architecture of the French Enlightenment 43. See also building materials utilized within its interior construction. Many favored Pérouse de Montclos, Histoire de l’architecture française 409. These two the elliptical or oval-shaped opera house design for its acoustical proper- scholars believe that Gabriel’s plan for the Versailles Opéra was indebted ties. (In many ways, however, the precise determination of the quality of an in great part to ideas sent back to him by Soufflot, Marigny and Cochin on auditorium’s acoustics is still today an inexact science.) Another important their tour of Italy in 1750. Although Gabriel was most likely influenced by aspect of eighteenth century Italian and French opera house design was the the plan of the Teatro Regio in Turin, he knew of other oval theater plans consideration of the audience’s need “to see and be seen” long before the tour taken by these individuals in the year 1750. See also Kalnein, Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century 13 For a discussion of specific plans by the Vigaranis, Fontana, and Juvarra 156-57. With regard to the Versailles Opéra, Kalnein states that, “The pro- that influenced Gabriel, see Rivers, “The Versailles Opéra.” totype, in general terms, was Benedetto Alfieri’s new court theatre in Turin, which was regarded as the most modern in Europe.” Kalnein does, how- 14 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel plate 57. The plan for the court theater at ever, credit Gabriel for his intellectual approach to the Versailles Opéra Caserta (1752) can be found in Donald C. Mullin, The Development of project, stating that “Numerous, often mutually contradictory plans and the Playhouse (Berkeley: California UP, 1970) 90. The theater at the Pal- sketches bear witness to Gabriel’s intensive concentration on this issue and ace at Caserta was designed as a truncated circular plan. Mullin states that to his constantly changing ideas of the shape of the auditorium.” unlike Moreau-Desproux’s truncated oval plan for the Palais Royal, which Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel 120, states that Soufflot measured
55 ATHANOR XX NANCY R. RIVERS
knowledge of the oval theater plan years before Marigny’s lowing Vigarani’s example, Gabriel included a large area for voyage to Italy (Figure 6).18 This drawing also predates the the king’s orchestra and he framed the proscenium with co- oval opera houses constructed by Soufflot and Moreau- lossal Corinthian columns. Both architects also dedicated a Desproux. Although the oval theater plans utilized by Soufflot generous amount of space for the stage and numerous sets of and Moreau-Desproux may have influenced Gabriel in some scenic wings to display opera’s spectacular visual effects. ways, his final oval plan for the Versailles Opéra was more Gabriel’s final truncated oval plan may also have been severely truncated at the center, bringing the audience closer influenced by Carlo Fontana’s preliminary oval designs for to the sights and the sounds of the stage. Gabriel’s design the Teatro Tor di Nona in Rome (1671-95). Fontana experi- represented a vast improvement in terms of acoustics and spec- mented with the theater’s original U-shaped plan of 1671 in tator visibility over each of these earlier opera houses. an effort to transform this public, multi-tiered box theater into I believe that there were other sources, not addressed by a semi-court theater for former Queen Christina of Sweden, earlier scholars, that influenced Gabriel’s use of the truncated who was living in Rome. One of Fontana’s undated prepara- oval plan. First, new parallels can be drawn between the work tory drawings illustrates his design for a new oval-shaped plan of Gabriel and Carlo Vigarani, who submitted a truncated oval that allocated a generous amount of space at the rear of the plan for a Salle des Ballets for Versailles in 1685 (Figure 7). parterre for the Queen and her entourage (Figure 8).20 Fontana In my view Carlo Vigarani’s plan significantly influenced not further modified his design for the Teatro Tor di Nona at a only Gabriel’s fourth project of his first series of plans from later date (Figure 9).21 He also intended to employ his oval the 1740s, but also his final plan for the Versailles Opéra.19 plan for another new theater to be built on the site of the via Second, no one has connected Gabriel’s final truncated oval Margutta and the via Alibert in Rome, although limitations of plan to the preliminary oval plans of the Teatro Tor di Nona the site prevented its construcion.22 In each of his preliminary in Rome designed by Carlo Fontana in 1671-1695 (Figures 8- oval theater designs Fontana also employed receding tiers of 9). boxes, arranged the side boxes of the house to follow the same Gabriel’s final plan for the Versailles Opéra and Vigarani’s line as the diminishing perspective of the stage scenery, and 1685 plan for a Salle des Ballets both employed an oval de- angled the box divisions toward the stage in order to provide sign, truncated sharply at its center, and also incorporated re- spectators with a clearer view of the action taking place there. ceding tiers of galleries in lieu of theater boxes to seat courtly I believe that Gabriel appropriated Fontana’s oval plan and its spectators (Figures 2 and 7). Vigarani integrated a series of various components for the Versailles Opéra through knowl- Corinthian columns to brace the upper tiers of galleries. Gabriel edge of Italian theater design that was being disseminated expanded upon this idea by employing a magnificent Ionic throughout France in a variety of ways.23 Gabriel defended his colonnade to support the cornice. In lieu of Vigarani’s haut choice of the oval plan for the Versailles Opéra, writing to the dais Gabriel substituted a grilled royal box for the King. Fol- Mercure de France in August 1770 that the truncated oval
the theatre built in the royal palace of Turin, and sent the plan back to cause the boxes opened onto the public corridors. To provide some sem- Gabriel at Versailles. See also Louis Hautecoeur, Histoire de l’architecture blance of privacy for the Queen’s guests, Fontana separated them from the classique en France, vol. 4 (Paris: Picard, 1943-50) 3 and 437. public audience by placing the Queen’s section three steps higher than the rest of the parterre. The actual seats for Christina and her guests were 18 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel 36, and plate 45. raised an additional four steps higher on a platform.
19 Tadgell, Ange Jacques Gabriel 36, footnote 14. Tadgell states that of the 21 For a more comprehensive study of the Teatro Tor di Nona, see Alberto plans contemporary with the earliest elevation for the Versailles Opéra, Cametti, Il teatro di Tordinona poi di Apollo, 2 vols. (Tivoli: 1938). See Gabriel’s plan for the ‘quatrième projet’ derives from Vigarani’s 1685 un- also Sergio Rotondi, Il Teatro Tordinona, storia, progetti, architettura executed truncated auditorium plan for a Salle des Ballets for Versailles. (Rome: Edizioni Kappa, 1987). Carlo Vigarani’s plan, Hardouin-Mansart’s plan, and several anonymous plans for the Versailles Opéra are preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale 22 Rotondi, Il Teatro Tordinona 21 and 66, note 48. See also Nikolaus Pevsner, (Cabinet Estampes, Va 351). Thomas E. Lawrenson published Vigarani’s A History of Building Types (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1976), 71-73; Mullin, 1685 plan in The French Stage and Playhouse in the Seventeenth Cen- The Development of the Playhouse 48; Fontana’s new oval theater plan tury: A Study in the Advent of the Italian Order, 2nd ed. (New York: AMS marked the transition of the Renaissance and Baroque theater to that of the Press, 1986) 249-50 and fig. 114. Vigarani divided the ground floor into modern age. Oval and horseshoe-shaped opera house designs swept away four parts, including a stage, an orchestra area, an open parterre, and a the earlier U-shaped plan and became the standard for those that followed. curved amphitheatre. A haut dais for the King and the royal family was raised above the orchestra area, and the seating situated there sloped slightly 23 Gabriel would have known Fontana’s preliminary oval designs for the Teatro downward toward the stage. Vigarani skillfully rendered the King’s sight Tor di Nona and principles of Italian theater design from at least three lines on his plan, emphasizing the fact that Louis XIV would be provided sources: Jacques V Gabriel, Nicolas-Marie Potain, and Filippo Juvarra. with the most privileged view of the stage. Above the amphitheatre, Vigarani Gabriel’s father, Jacques V Gabriel toured Italy with Robert de Cotte in planned to integrate a Corinthian colonnade that would support two undi- 1689-90, recording details and making drawings of various types of build- vided galleries. He also flanked the proscenium with colossal columns. ings, including opera houses. See Correspondance des Directeurs de l’Académie de France à Rome avec les Surintendants des Bâtiments, 20 Per Bjurström, Feast and Theatre in Queen Christina’s Rome (Stockholm: vol. 2 (Paris: Charavay Frères, 1887) 204, 313. Letters written from La Nationalmuseum, 1966) 106-110. In the original U-shaped Teatro Tor di Teulière, Director of the French Academy in Rome to Villacerf, the Nona (1671), Queen Christina had at her disposal five boxes centrally lo- Surintendent des Bâtiments from 20 March 1696 to 12 June 1696 ex- cated at the rear of the auditorium. Their location, however, made it almost pressed keen interest in Carlo Fontana’s new plan for the Teatro Tor di impossible to arrange for a private foyer for the Queen and her guests be- Nona. These letters further reveal that Jacques V Gabriel returned to Rome 56 THE VERSAILLES OPÉRA
was the preferable shape for an opera house because it permit- cessed tiers of galleries within their respective theaters, nei- ted the best views of the stage and involved the fewest angles ther had angled their gallery partitions toward the stage, mak- and corners, which are considered the worst traps for voices.24 ing it extremely difficult for spectators to see.25 Furthermore, Thomas E. Lawrenson points out that at the Grand Théâtre at Recessed Tiers of Galleries Lyon Soufflot also pierced a series of small openings in the Gabriel divided the final plan for the Versailles Opéra in back of the first recessed gallery to allow late-arriving specta- the manner of a court theater. The Opéra’s first level con- tors an opportunity to witness the performance from the corri- tained space allocated for an orchestra and an open parterre, dors running behind the exterior of the galleries without dis- which allowed the royal patrons an unobstructed view of the turbing the seated guests. The effect of these pierced open- stage (Figure 10). He placed a balustraded amphitheatre di- ings, however, vastly deteriorated the acoustical qualities of rectly behind the parterre, which provided seating for courtly the opera house.26 Likewise, Moreau-Desproux placed private guests. Gabriel intended for the King to have the most privi- boxes near the forestage at the Palais Royal, which also un- leged view of the stage; therefore the precise placement of the dermined the acoustical effects of the auditorium there.27 King’s box in the center of the second gallery played a signifi- I believe that Gabriel’s decision to integrate receding tiers cant role in the design. of galleries was influenced not only by Carlo Fontana’s em- Although earlier scholars discuss how the auditorium ployment of a similar feature at the Teatro Tor di Nona, but space was laid out, they do not reveal the measures Gabriel also by the theaters designed by the Vigarani family. Hélène took to improve spectator visibility. Gabriel deliberately chose LeClerc points out that the Vigaranis had developed tiers of to go against the custom of the day, which called for boxes receding gallery seating in conjunction with several theaters rising vertically over one another. He integrated three reced- they constructed, including the Teatro della Speltà in Modena ing tiers of galleries above the amphitheatre, and he angled and the Salle des Machines in the Tuileries Palace in Paris.28 the gallery partitions toward the stage in order to improve significantly the sight lines of the spectators. Gabriel’s use of Wood these components demonstrates a vast improvement over the In order to aid the hall’s acoustical qualities Gabriel lined designs of two of his earlier predecessors, Soufflot at the Grand the interior of the Versailles Opéra with thin wood paneling Théâtre at Lyon and Moreau-Desproux at the theater within painted to resemble marble. During the eighteenth century the Palais Royal. Although these architects had employed re- many believed that wood served as a sound-absorptive mate-
in June 1697, where he may have seen the Teatro Tor di Nona before it was York: Praeger Publishers, 1973) 78-79; T. E. Lawrenson “The Shape of demolished by order of Pope Innocent XII in August 1697, and he may the Eighteenth-Century French Theatre and the Drawing Board Renais- have made copies of Fontana’s preliminary oval designs for the theater at sance,” Theatre Research 7.1 (1965): 14-15; Kalnein, Architecture in that time. France in the Eighteenth Century, 167. Cosimo Lotti was the first person Gabriel enlisted French pensionnaire Nicolas-Marie Potain to make to implement the arrangement of partitions or low box divisions angled drawings of plans of the most eminent theaters in Italy before he completed toward the stage to aid spectator sight-lines in his design of the theater built his study at the French Academy in Rome in 1738. See Helmut Hager, in El Buen Retiro Palace in 1632 for King Philip IV. Lotti, a Florentine, “The Accademia di San Luca in Rome and the Académie Royale had been an associate of Giulio Parigi (1571-1635), who redesigned the d’Architecture in Paris: A Preliminary Investigation,” in Projects and Teatro Mediceo in the Uffizi Palace in Florence. Monuments in the Period of the Roman Baroque (Papers in Art History Kalnein states that at Soufflot’s Grand Théâtre at Lyon, “…all seats from Pennsylvania State University, 1984): 129-66. French pensionnaires commanded a clear view of the stage.” Mullin and Lawrenson point out, were given direct access to numerous drawings preserved as instructional however, that Soufflot did not angle the partitions of his interior galleries material in the Accademia di San Luca, many prepared by the principe toward the stage, thus the spectators did not have a clear view of the activi- himself. Carlo Fontana served as principe in 1686 and in 1693, holding ties being performed there. this position until 1699. Another likely source for the dissemination of Fontana’s oval plan 26 Lawrenson, “The Shape of the Eighteenth-Century French Theatre,” 14- was Filippo Juvarra, who had studied under the direction of Fontana while 15. living in Rome from 1704-1714. See Andrea Barghini, Juvarra a Roma: Disegni dall’atelier di Carlo Fontana (Turin: Rosenberg and Sellier: 1994) 27 Howarth, French Theatre in the Neoclassical Era 478. Grimm’s review 11 and Figure 93r. Barghini published a plan believed to be by Juvarra that of Moreau-Desproux’s new theater in the Palais Royal mentioned that those immediately recalls Fontana’s preliminary oval design for the Teatro Tor seated in the parterre could not see well, and he suggested that the parterre di Nona. See also Henry A. Millon, “Filippo Juvarra and the Accademia di be lowered or the stage raised. He also revealed that many patrons com- San Luca in Rome in the Early Eighteenth Century,” Projects and Monu- plained about the visibility from the boxes located within the columns sup- ments in the Period of the Roman Baroque (Papers in Art History from porting the proscenium. He also stated that some individuals also could not Pennsylvania State University, 1984) 13. Juvarra likely shared Fontana’s hear well from several boxes located at the rear of the house. oval theater design with his student Benedetto Alfieri while working in Turin as court architect to Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy in 1714. Millon 28 Hélène LeClerc, “La scène d’illusion et l’hégémonie du théâtre à l’italienne,” reveals that Juvarra later traveled to Paris in 1718-19 and in 1721, where in Histoire des spectacles (Paris: Gallimard, 1965) 613. See also the entry he was asked to execute a design for an oval theater that was to be con- on “Teatro” in Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, vol. 9 (Rome: Le Maschere, structed at a later date on the site of the Hôtel de Soissons. 1954-62) 762-65. See also Janet Southorn, Power and Display in the Sev- enteenth Century: The Arts and Their Patrons in Modena and Ferrara 24 Langlois, L’Opéra de Versailles 22. (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988) 56-58 and 163-64, note 134. Gaspare’s experimentation in gallery seating was first applied in several ecclesiastical 25 See Mullin, The Development of the Playhouse, 26, 90 and 96. See also structures he built, including S. Agostino and S. Girolamo constructed in Simon Tidworth, Theatres: An Architectural and Cultural History (New Reggio, and S. Giorgio constructed in Modena, which he began in the later 57 ATHANOR XX NANCY R. RIVERS
rial, playing a vital role in the enhancement of acoustics.29 Gaspare Vigarani had also worked near Parma, constructing Fabrizio Carini Motta’s treatise (1676) recommended the use several opera houses of his own entirely in wood at Carpi of wood for an opera house, as did the treatise written by Count (1640) and in Modena (1656).34 Gabriel also knew the acous- Francesco Algarotti (1755), which stated that whereas the tical problems associated with the stone materials employed outside fabric of an opera house could be made of brick or for the interior of the Salle des Machines in Paris (1659-62) stone as a safeguard against fire, the interior auditorium should because he and Soufflot had worked together to remodel this be constructed of wood for acoustical reasons.30 theater in 1763-64.35 Thus Gabriel deliberately chose to em- Gabriel chose to employ wood within the Opéra at a time ploy wood in lieu of masonry or iron in order to endow the when many other theater architects were experimenting with Versailles Opéra with superior acoustical qualities. more durable materials. Antonio Galli-Bibiena constructed the Teatro Communale in Bologna in 1756 entirely of stone and The Ceiling brick, and although these materials made the auditorium fire- Earlier scholars have not drawn attention to Gabriel’s resistant, the opera house was a conspicuous failure acousti- design for the ceiling of the Versailles Opéra. Gabriel incor- cally.31 As a sound-reflective material, stone distorted music porated a wooden trussed roof structure from which he hung a in unnatural ways. Soufflot constructed the interior periph- lath-and-plaster coved ceiling in order to further enhance the eral galleries at the Grand Théâtre at Lyon in stone as a fire- acoustics of the Opéra.36 Motta’s treatise may have played an preventative measure, yet the employment of stone dramati- influential role in Gabriel’s design.37 Motta recommended that cally deteriorated the hall’s acoustical qualities, a fact which the ceilings of opera houses should be made of wood, flat- was duly noted and criticized.32 Likewise, when fire destroyed tened and segmented in order to achieve better acoustical re- the theater within the Palais Royal in Paris in 1763, Moreau- sults. Desproux integrated iron into the structural framework of the Soufflot had integrated a stone-vaulted ceiling at the Grand new theater, even though that material also proved to be highly Théâtre at Lyon as a fire-preventative measure, but he was detrimental to the acoustics.33 sharply criticized for the resultant poor acoustical effects.38 I believe that Gabriel’s employment of wood was influ- Likewise, Moreau-Desproux incorporated iron into the roof enced in part by Carlo Fontana, who integrated wood through- for the new theater at the Palais Royal, a material that also out the interior of the Teatro Tor di Nona in Rome. Having proved to be highly detrimental to acoustics.39 Gabriel improved studied the designs of earlier Italian theaters constructed in upon a ceiling design suggested by Gabriel Pierre Martin numerous cities including Venice and Florence, Fontana likely Dumont, professor of architecture and member of the Académie knew of the Teatro Farnese in Parma (1618-28), a theater re- Royale d’Architecture and the Academies of Rome, Florence, nowned for the sonority of its acoustics due to the application and Bologna. In his treatise Dumont had recommended a of thin wood paneling throughout the entire auditorium. wooden truss system employed in conjunction with a domed
1640s. Southorn states that Vigarani’s ecclesiastical balconies were said to also Richard and Helene Leacroft, Theatre and Playhouse: An Illustrated be an early experiment in the diagonal perspective settings, or scena per Survey of Theatre Building from Ancient Greece to the Present Day (Lon- angolo, later widely adopted in Italian theaters and utilized extensively by don: Methuen, 1984) 88-89. Leacroft reveals that the walls surrounding the Galli-Bibiena family working in Italy and throughout Western Europe. the stage of the Grand Théâtre at Lyon were also constructed of stone.
29 Howarth, French Theatre in the Neoclassical Era 481. Gabriel not only 33 Hautecoeur, Histoire de l’architecture classique en France, 4: 449. lined the interior of the Versailles Opéra with thin wood paneling, but also incorporated wood in the Opéra’s floor, the colonnade, the entablature, and 34 Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, 3: 95. See also the section on “Vigarani” in the ceiling. See also Japy, L’Opéra Royal de Versailles 18. the same source, 10:1680-84.
30 For a more extensive study of Motta’s treatise, see Orville K. Larson, The 35 Tadgell, Ange-Jacques Gabriel 203; Gabriel Rouchès, Inventaire des let- Theatrical Writings of Fabrizio Carini Motta (Carbondale: Southern Illi- ters et papiers manuscripts de Gaspare, Carlo et Lodovico Vigarani nois UP, 1987). See also Tidworth, Theatres 97. Algarotti, an Italian scien- (Paris: H. Champion, 1913) 18. See also Hautecoeur Histoire de tist, published his treatise Saggio sopra l’Opera in 1755. l’architecture classique en France, 2: 235.
31 Mullin, The Development of the Playhouse 88; Tidworth, Theatres 81- 36 George C. Izenour, Theater Design, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale UP, 1996) 82; Michael Forsyth, Buildings for Music: The Architect, the Musician, 59. and the Listener from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day (Cam- bridge: M.I.T. Press, 1985) 95. 37 See Larson, The Theatrical Writings of Fabrizio Carini Motta for a full See also Hautecoeur, Histoire de l’architecture classique en France, discussion of Motta’s recommendations. See also Edward Craig, Baroque 4: 449. Hautecoeur reveals that masonry materials were also employed at Theatre Construction: A Study of the Earliest Treatise on the Structure the Teatro Pergola in Florence, and its resulting poor acoustical qualities of Theatres by Fabrizio Carini Motta Architect and Scene Designer at were known to many architects working in France. See also the section the Court of Mantua 1676 (Great Britain: Bledlow Press, 1982). entitled “Theatre,” by Graham F. Barlow in The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, vol. 30 (New York: Grove Dictionaries, 1996) 667. 38 Richard and Helene Leacroft, Theatre and Playhouse 89. See also Braham, The Architecture of the French Enlightenment 30. 32 Howarth, French Theatre in the Neoclassical Era 470-72. Soufflot also installed a metal fire curtain that could be lowered over the forestage, com- 39 Pevsner, A History of Building Types 302, note 90. See also Hautecoeur, pletely closing off the auditorium from the stage in the event of fire. See Histoire de l’architecture classique en France, 4: 449.
58 THE VERSAILLES OPÉRA
ceiling in his design for a Salle de Concert project, but the lowed it to be elevated to the level of the stage, a feature that dome itself would have been disastrous from an acoustical effectively converted the Opéra into a ceremonial banquet hall standpoint.40 or ballroom when desired. Earlier Italian architects had uti- I believe that Gabriel’s choice of ceilings was influenced lized similar equipment that allowed their theaters to be con- in great part by the recommendations of Gaspare and Carlo verted into a multi-functional space, including Giacomo Torelli Vigarani. The Vigaranis believed that the ceiling design was at the Palais Royal in Paris (1646-47) and Ferdinando Tacca one of the most integral elements of an opera house. Gabriel at the Teatro Pergola in Florence (1656).42 Gabriel may also Rouchès reveals that there were vast differences of opinion have been influenced by Dumont, who had illustrated a de- between the Vigaranis, Louis Le Vau, and the local French sign for a moveable floor for theaters in his theoretical carpenters concerning the design of the roof at the Salle des writings.43 Gabriel and Arnoult installed twelve sets of wings Machines.41 For acoustical reasons, the Vigaranis wanted to and backshutters mounted on chariots on the raked floor of construct an expansive, thin, wooden trussed ceiling comprised the stage, and added four sub-stage levels underneath the au- of a light-weight wood. Their particular ceiling design, how- ditorium in order to allow room for specialized operatic ma- ever, was not chosen. The roof employed was low, dense, and chinery.44 heavily coffered, and was made from a sturdier, more robust The second feature of the Versailles Opéra’s floor that type of wood. This design contributed in large part to the has not been discussed by historians is Gabriel’s placement of theater’s poor acoustical qualities. Gabriel’s avoidance of the a large orchestra pit directly over a semi-cylindrical rever- types of roof structures employed by Soufflot and Moreau- beration chamber in order to further enhance the auditorium’s Desproux and his knowledge of the faulty roof design of the acoustics (Figure 11). It is probable that Gabriel was influ- Salle des Machines allowed him to circumvent the acoustical enced by the designs of earlier Italian theaters; records indi- problems inherent in these earlier theaters. cate that architects were experimenting with various forms of musical troughs at the Teatro Nuova in Parma, the Teatro Reverberating Chamber and Pivoting Floor Argentina in Rome, and the Teatro Regio in Turin.45 Most scholars acknowledge that Gabriel collaborated with renowned Italian stage engineer Blaise-Henri Arnoult in de- The Colonnade signing the floor of the Versailles Opéra, although they dis- Gabriel lined the third gallery with a magnificent Ionic cuss only one aspect of their joint endeavor. Gabriel and colonnade, becoming the first architect in eighteenth-century Arnoult installed equipment in the auditorium floor that al- France to evoke the grandeur of ancient theaters.46 Gabriel’s
40 Izenour, Theater Design 54-59 and 155, note 27. Dumont’s treatise, pub- 44 Mullin, The Development of the Playhouse 95. lished in 1763, was entitled Parallèle des plans des plus belles salles de spectacles d’Italie et de France, avec des details de machines théâtrales. 45 Mullin, The Development of the Playhouse 57-58. See also Forsyth, Build- ings for Music 95. The Teatro Argentina constructed in Rome in 1732 41 Rouchès, Inventaire xvi-xvii; and 12, note 5. Rouchès states that the de- contained a brick channel dug underneath the auditorium floor that ran sign of the roof was a divisive issue between the French and the Italian from the stage to the back of the theater. Filled with water, this channel was architects. See also Barbara Coeyman, “Opera and Ballet in Seventeenth- believed to serve as an effective sound reflector. Music was carried to the Century French Theaters: Case Studies of the Salle des Machines and the back of the auditorium through grilles, which were installed in the floor. At Palais Royal Theater,” Opera in Context, ed. Mark Radice (Portland: the Teatro Regio in Turin Alfieri had installed a semi-cylindrical masonry Amadeus Press, 1998) 310, note 38. See also Lee, European Post-Ba- trough below the wooden floor of the orchestra pit. Two tubes connected roque Neoclassical Theatre Architecture 24-25. In discussing the ideas of the ends of the trough with the stage. It was believed at the time that the Italian theorist Paolo Landriani and French theorist Pierre Patte Lee states shape and the hard surface of the trough would serve as an acoustical re- that both men believed that the ceiling of an opera house was of primary flector, echoing the resilient sound of the orchestra. Forsyth reveals that importance acoustically. Landriani argued that the shape of the ceiling theorists Pierre Patte and George Saunders both recorded that various forms needed to be more like that of the sounding board of a harpsichord, flat- of musical troughs were common to many Italian theaters. tened and made of wood, rather than curved and made of plaster. The argu- See also Lee, European Post-Baroque Neoclassical Theatre Archi- ment is the distinction between the ceiling as a reflecting surface and as a tecture 19. Patte’s treatise recommended a sounding vault be inserted un- reverberating medium, i.e., plaster versus wood panels. der the orchestra floor that would function as a resonating chamber. De- vices were to be connected to each end of the chamber in order to direct the 42 Coeyman, Opera in Context 63. See also Per Bjurström, “Giacomo Torelli sound toward the hall. Patte believed that the resonating chamber would and Baroque Stage Design,” Figura ns. 2 (1961): 125. See also Tidworth, serve to strengthen the orchestra’s sound. Music composed during this pe- Theatres 71. riod relied extensively upon the use of strings and woodwinds, instruments that needed further augmentation in order to be heard. Lee states that with 43 See Izenour, Theater Design 54, for a more comprehensive discussion on the increased use of brass instruments in pit orchestras, emphasis was redi- Dumont’s theories. In Parallèle des plans des plus belles Salles des Spec- rected toward preventing the sound of the orchestra from overpowering the tacles d’Italie et de France Dumont illustrated two designs, one for a Salle voices onstage. The need to muffle the sound of the orchestra led Wagner to de Concert and one for a Salle de Spectacle, based on the traditional Italian enlarge the pit area at Bayreuth Festspielhaus. plan and section. Dumont proposed two schemes: one with a fixed floor, and one with a pivoting floor. His pivoting floor may have been of particu- 46 Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. Morris Hicky Morgan lar interest to Gabriel. It was designed as a wooden truss system, one that (New York: Dover Publications, 1960) 148. The motif of a colonnade was contained a counter-weighted pivoting level that when covered and raised first introduced by Vitruvius, who asserted that the topmost passageway at to the level of the orchestra pit, connected the parterre to the stage. Dumont the rear of ancient auditoriums was to be colonnaded, arched, or vaulted, proposed his idea as a means for converting the auditorium into a ballroom and should be equal in height to the roof inserted over the stage. He be- or banquet hall. lieved that a colonnade would vastly improve the acoustics of an audito- 59 ATHANOR XX ;\ANCY R. RIVERS
colonnade served as an archi1cctonic clement. supponing the Gabriel also studied the archi1cc1uml plans ofRoben de Cotte. cornice of the Versailles Opera." On 1lle walls of the gallery who employed a colonnade for his firs! (unexcc111ed) design localed behind the colonnade Gabriel inscned mirrors that for a semi-elliptical theater within the Sclileissheim Palace rc0cctcd light gliucring from the candles of founccn elegant for the Electors of Bawria." chandeliers suspended from the ceiling.'8 The mirrors ftmc tioncd to multiply the space of the gallery. allo"iug courtiers Gabriel s J11jlue11ce a chance 10 "sec and be seen." Gabriel thus enhanced not only Gabriel's Versailles Opera exerted greater influence on the interior grandeur of the Opera. but also the opulence of all i11e work of subsequent European architects than earlier schol 1hosc affiliaicd with the court. A coffered half-dome was in• ars would have one believe. Claude-Nicolas LedolL, utilized scr1ed clircc1ly over the central box designed for the King.'• Gabriel's ideas for several of his earliest works that ignited Recessed around the King's box, the colonnade defined the his own career. Ledo1cx integrated a miniature replica of 1hc area where coun c1iquc11c forbade seating if 1he Kiug was Versailles Opera \\ilhin the pavilion he constructed in 1770- utilizing his private box below (Figure 10). 1772 for Mademoiselle Marie-Madeleine Guimard. the cel By introducing the colonnade. Gabriel ignored the ad ebrated first dancer at the Comedie-Fran9aisc and the vice of 1hcoris1 Coun1 Algaroni. who urged the moderate use Opera.'' Before the death of Louis XV in 1774 Ledoux also ofornament in theaters to the extem of avoiding the orders on designed a vast 1own house for Madame du Barry situated in the grounds that these could 1101 be given their proper Paris between the me d'Anois and the chaussee d'Antin: in dignily.' 0 Gabricl's colonnade dcmons1ra1ed otherwise, serv one of the hotel's side pavilions he incorporated an oval tl1c ing as an inspirntion for later Western European architects." ater 1ha1 replicated the design of the Versa il les n,c majority of scholars cite Pall11dio's Tcauo Olimpico Opera." Furthermore, Braham believes that Ledoux 's at Vicen1..a ( 1585) as a source for Gabriel's colonnade. There Besan9on 1hc.11cr (1778) owes lilt.le 10 his immediate prede were other sources that inspired Gabriel. including the colon cessors. yet Ledoux's work is not dissimilar to Gabriel's nades incorporated at the Tcatro dclla Spella and the Salle des Opera.•• Although the theater constructed at Besan~on was Machines. both constrncted by the Vigaranis. and i11c 1685 larger and was planned with a more conscious func1ionalism. plan for a Salle des Ballets for Versailles by Carlo Vig;uani.'' LedotLx abolished llteater boxes and employed Gabriel ·s tiers
rium because lhc roofove r lhc si;i.gc would projcel lhc voice to the higher Playhouse 89. J)e C0¢te ·s proposal for the Auen Retiro influenced the ar sc~1Lroux chite<.1ural designs of Luigi Van\'itelli. ,,1K> co1lStme1eJ the royal pa.la« emplo)'ed a colonn:uJe "itbin their resp«eh-e Opel'.a houses. and iis ~lerat C~~a for lhe Doulbon kings ofNaples( 1752). Vanviu.·Ui cftOCtivelydiminatcd lhe system oftheater boxes supported by po_..:t,;, erect Braham., fJre Arrlmecture oft/re Froncl, P'.nt,gJttenment. 43. ing an audi torium \\b06t ce-iliug and seali11g "assuppoi1ed by :i gi:101 Com• " posite onler th.11 simuhaneously endo"cd tht the:iter with a sense of gran 48 Ian OunJo1,. r'trsa:tle.r (New Yo&.: Taplingcr Publishing Co .. 1970) 162. deur. ~tullin pointsoul that some scholars have cm,ncouslycrcditcd Victor Dunlop poinls out thnl c~1ch chandelier was five fcc1 in height :md eon Louis with initia1i1)g this design element :it the Grand ThClltrc al Dorde:1ux. lained ninety-six ct)'Sl3I pend:mlS. TI,e l:irgest chandelier ,,·aS instrled di although il ,,as first introduced by Vanvitelli. rectly over the king's box. which was eighl-lbel in hcigh1 corilaining three hundred p,,mdanl 60 fHE VERSAILLES OPF.RA of receding gallery seating, and he cro"ned 1hc audilorium crcaled a renowned place of performance that was fur supe ";111 a Doric colonnade (Figure 12).'' rior in 1cnns of acoustics and visual clarity of Ilic spectator Gabriersfinal design for the Versailles Opera sen,cd as a than thcTeatro Farnese in Panna (1617-28). IJ1e GrandThe<'llre source of archi1ecrural inspiration for olhcr cighlccnth- and at Lyon (175.f). and the Palais Royal in Paris (1763). The nine1ccnli1-cent111y Wes1en1 European archilects. For example, Versailles Opera co,~d 1101 be surpassed even by lhc --crown Erik Palms1cd endowed a sense of grandeur to the interior of jewel .. of all opera houses. the world-renowned La Scala in 1hc courl opera house at the Swedish casllc of Gripsholm for Milan (1778). Rcccm research by George C. lzenour hasdcm King Gustavus Ill in 1781 by employing Gabriel's colonnade ons1ra1ed that 1hc Versailles Opera ultimately functioned bet and minor panels al the rear of the theater (Figure 13). II ter 1han several opera houses erected in 1hc modern age." would seem that Gabriel's Versailles Opera in0ucnccd sev Thus I believe Gabriel's work al IJ1e Versailles Opera de eral prominenl archilects whose work has been affiliated wilh serves 10 be accorded a more significam place in lhe field of the age ofGrand Opera ( 1780 to 1880), including Vic1or Louis, architccnrral bisto1y. The Vers.~illes Opera stands today not who constmctcd the Grand Theii1Te al Bordeaux (1773-80) only as an example of 1he unappreciated archi1ec111ral genius and Charles Gamier. who erected the Paris Opera (1874)." of Ange-Jacques Gabriel, but as an exemplary momuncnl of By combining the rruncated oval plan 1ogc1hcr with Ilic opera house design for all ages. individual components in1egra1ed imo lhis design. Gabriel Florida Slate Univcrsil)' Tidwonh. Theatres I 10. protot)'P¢ fortbe f:unous gmnd stairc.a.-.c integroted at the Paris~ by Charles Gamier. K:dncin poims ou1. h(mever. that l..ouis may have been Gabricl·s c:-;p,:rimt:ntaLion ,\i1h the tn.i~ted circular the.lier plan in April strougly influenced by a monumental st:i.irease Gabriel designed for the " 1765 may h.wc influenced Victor Loui.s and Charles Gamier to later em l.oum:in 1754. ploy similar circul:\I' plans for their respective theaters in DonJe.'l.u:< ;uid 1>am. At Bordeaux Louis also intey.i1ed:,. giant order of Corinthian col• lzenour, Tlwater De.ngn. 272-79. lzcnour oond~1cied :i seri~ ofteehno umns to ll-Uppor1 his S3llcrics. "'hich lent a similar sense of:mc ietu gran " logical c::q>eriments "1Ucl, determined thnt onlythirt01..>n peroent ofth e~t deur 10 the lhe-a1er that Gabriel had previous!)• uchie\'e 61 ATHANOR XX NANCY R. RIVERS Figure 1. Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Interior View, The Versailles Opéra, 1770. Courtesy of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, New York. Figure 2. Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Executed Plan, premières loges, The Versailles Opéra, 1770. Document conserved at the Centre historique des Archives nationales à Paris (O1 1788.71, 32). 62 THE VERSAILLES OPÉRA I I 1 I I ~- I I I I I I I I I ea:- [upper left] Figure 3. Benedetto Alfieri, Plan of the Teatro Regio, Turin, Italy, 1740. The Architectural Plates from the Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot. Courtesy of Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1995. [upper right] Figure 4. Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Plan of the Grand Théâtre at Lyon, France, 1754. The Architectural Plates from the Encyclopédie, edited by Denis Diderot. Courtesy of Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1995. [lower right] Figure 5. Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux, Plan of the Palais Royal Theater, Paris, France, 1763-1770. The Architectural Plates from the Encyclopédie, edited by Denis Diderot. Courtesy of Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1995. 63 ATHANOR XX NANCY R. RIVERS [left] Figure 6. Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Plan, Fourth Project of the early 1740s, premières loges, The Versailles Opéra. Document conserved at the Centre historique ' des Archives nationales à Paris l 1 r - (O 1786.8). [right] Figure 7. Carlo Vigarani, Project, Plan of the Salle des Ballets at Versailles, 1685. Pho- tographic reproduction by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Est. BN, Va 361, VII). [below left] Figure 8. Carlo ' .. . " Fontana, Preliminary Plan for the ';. :.. Teatro Tor di Nona, Rome, Italy, c. 1670s. Drawing by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz after Carlo Fontana. Courtesy of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. [below right] Figure 9. Carlo Fontana, Preliminary Plan for the Teatro Tor di Nona, Rome, Italy, c. 1695. Courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum ·• . . I (Vol. 117/33d). Ir.Illa ...... . L.. r- 1-,-...... ,. --<-...- . :.._...... ~-----~·- • ...., ·-,~ ~, . ~ t · .i.- _;-b. ◄ .. -: -: . -- I I -. • = I 64 THE VERSAIU..ES OPERA , • t'igurc I 0. Angc-J.icqueiOabriel. lnh:ri(l(\'iewofthc Versailles 0 1>Cra. Figur,,:: l l. .<\nge-Jacques Gibrid. Com1>osite Pfan and Longitudinal Pc:rspccli\.-e 1770. Court~)•ofRCUniondcs .\ ·tus&:s Ntalion.aux f Art Resour1."e<. New Section of the Versailles Opera. 1770. Cour1esy or the George C. lzcoour York. An;hiw: i1 Pennsylv,nia State Unin~n.ily. Figure 13. f..rik Palmstccl Interior View. Co,111 The:uer at Gripsh<>l.m, Sweden. 1781. Couttcsyofthc Nalionalmu.<;cum. Stockholm. Sweden. figure 12. Claudc-Ni<:olaS Ledoux. lrt1erior View ofI h e ThcatcrofAcsanyon, Fm.nee. 1778. Photograph b)' .Marocl Bovis: Courtesyofll>e Ministi:tt de fa Culture r·rancc. 65