The Éden-Théâtre was a large theatre (4,000 seats) in the rue Boudreau, Paris, built at the beginning of the 1880s by the architects William Klein and Albert Duclos (1842–1896) in a style influenced by

orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

. It was demolished in 1895.

History

Éden-Théâtre

Inspired by

Moghol The Moghols (also Mogul, Mongul) are Mongolic peoples, Mongolic people as descendants of the Mongol Empire's soldiers in Afghanistan. They live in the Kundur and Karez-i-Mulla villages of Herat Province, Herat province and used to speak the Mogh ...

architecture, it was inaugurated on 7 January 1883 with the ballet ''Excelsior!'' with music by

Romualdo Marenco Romualdo Marenco (March 1, 1841 – October 9, 1907) was an Italian composer primarily noted for ballet music. Marenco started his musical career as a violinist in the Doria Theater in Genoa. His first composition was the ballet ''Garibaldi ...

, and this was followed in subsequent years by other spectacular ballets. The theatre witnessed the single performance of the first Paris production of Wagner's '' Lohengrin'', on 3 May 1887 (in French) with Ernest van Dyck and Fidès Devriès, conducted by Charles Lamoureux, which aroused enormous opposition among the Parisian public. This was followed in 1888 by '' La fille de Madame Angot'' with Anna Judic and Jeanne Granier and ''

Le petit duc ''Le petit duc'' (''The little duke'') is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Lecocq. The French language, French libretto was by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Performance history The opera was first presented at the Théâtre de la R ...

'' with José Dupuis and Granier. The four-act version of '' Orphée aux enfers'' with

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and Granier, a revival of ''Excelsior!'', and the Paris premiere of Charles Lecocq's ''

Ali-Baba ''Ali-Baba'' is an opéra comique in three acts, first produced in 1887, with music by Charles Lecocq. The French libretto based on the familiar tale from the Arabian Nights was by Albert Vanloo and William Busnach. After some initial success the ...

'' were presented in 1889.

Théâtre Lyrique

After a ballet and a grand revue, the theatre was renamed Théâtre Lyrique in October 1890, and the first Paris performance of '' Samson et Dalila'' with Talazac and

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor journal ...

and '' La jolie fille de Perth'' with

Émile Engel Émile Engel (5 April 1889 – 14 September 1914) was a French professional road bicycle racer. In the 1914 Tour de France he won stage 3, and was disqualified after stage 8 when he was involved in a fight with a race official.Christopher S. Thom ...

and Cécile Mézeray were presented, but the theatre closed before the end of the year due to lack of funds.

Grand Théâtre

Éden-Théâtre auditorium - Andia 1998 p142

On 12 November 1892 the theatre became the Grand Théâtre, opening with Daudet's play '' Sapho'' (with incidental music by

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

, Delibes and Massenet), followed by a production of '' Le Malade imaginaire'' with

Charpentier Charpentier () is the French language, French word for "carpenter", and it is also a French surname; a variant spelling is Carpentier. In English, the equivalent word and name is "Carpenter (surname), Carpenter"; in German, "Zimmermann (disambigua ...

's music arranged by Saint-Saëns. The year 1893 saw a production of '' L'Arlésienne'' (music director Gabriel Marie), ''Pêcheur d'Islande'' by Loti with

Guitry Guitry () is a former commune in the Eure department in northern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Vexin-sur-Epte.Ropartz, and in November that year the Société des Grand Concerts of Colonne gave '' Marie-Magdeleine'' (with Gabrielle Krauss) and '' La damnation de Faust'' (with Engel).Noel & Stoullig, vol. 19 (année 1893)
pp. 335–342

Comédie-Parisienne

In 1893 a foyer of the Grand Théâtre was converted into a much smaller theatre called the Comédie-Parisienne (later renamed Théâtre de l'Athénée). The colossal theatre suffered continual financial difficulties, closed in 1894, and was demolished in May 1895.

References

Sources

* Fauquet, Joël-Marie, editor (2001). ''Dictionnaire de la musique en France au XIX^e siècle''. Paris: Fayard. . * Langham-Smith, Richard (1992). "Paris: 1870–1902" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, . * Noel, Édouard; Stoullig, Edmond (1875–1918). '' Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique'' (41 volumes). Paris
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at

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

. * Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. . * Tydeman, William; Price, Steven (1991). ''Wilde: Salome'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Wild, Nicole (2003) "Éden-Théâtre" in Fauquet 2003, p. 422. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eden-Theatre Former theatres in Paris Buildings and structures in the 9th arrondissement of Paris Theatres completed in 1883 1895 disestablishments in France Buildings and structures demolished in 1895 Demolished buildings and structures in Paris