The Salle de la rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Prés was the theatre of the
Comédie-Française from 1689 to 1770.
[Registers Project 2015]
It was built to the designs of the French architect
François d'Orbay
François d'Orbay (1634–1697) was a French draughtsman and architect who worked closely with Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin Mansart.
Early training and career
D'Orbay was born in Paris and likely received his early training as an architect fr ...
on the site of a former indoor tennis court (''
jeu de paume
''Jeu de paume'' (, ; originally spelled ; ), nowadays known as real tennis, (US) court tennis or (in France) ''courte paume'', is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, a ...
''), located at 14 rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Prés, now 14 rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, across from the
Café Procope
The Café Procope in the Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie is a café in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was opened in 1686 by the Sicilian chef Procopio Cutò (also known by his Italian name Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli and his French name Fran ...
in the
6th arrondissement of Paris.
[Wild 2012, p. 387.]
History
Since 1680 the Comédie-Française had been performing in their first theatre, the
Hôtel Guénégaud, but because of its proximity to the newly constructed
Collège des Quatre-Nations, the company was asked by the school's leaders to move further away to minimise the bad influence of the actors on the students of the college.
[ By an act of 8 March 1688 the actors purchased the Jeu de Paume de l'Étoile on the rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Prés. They also acquired two adjacent buildings at 17–19 rue des Mauvais-Garçons (now rue Grégoire-de-Tours).][
Unlike for most French theatres of the period, the architect ]François d'Orbay
François d'Orbay (1634–1697) was a French draughtsman and architect who worked closely with Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin Mansart.
Early training and career
D'Orbay was born in Paris and likely received his early training as an architect fr ...
did not convert the tennis court into a theatre, rather the existing building was demolished and a new building was erected on the site. The total cost of the new theatre was 198,433 ''livres
The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France.
The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...
'', about one third of which (62,614 ''livres'') was for the purchase of the land and the existing structures.
The theatre was inaugurated on 18 April 1689. Its design is known from documents found at the Archives Nationales and the archives of the Comédie-Française, and from architectural plans published by Jean Mariette
Jean Mariette (22 June 1660 – 19 September 1742) was a French engraver and print dealer and publisher. He was the father of Pierre-Jean Mariette.Walsh 1996.
Ancestry and early life
Jean Mariette was born in Paris,Benezit 2006. the son of Pier ...
after the originals and reproduced by Jacques-François Blondel in his ''Architecture françoise'' of 1752.[Loupiac 1998, p. 58; Blondel 1752.] The plans were also re-engraved and published in 1772 in Diderot's ''Encyclopédie''.[
D'Orbay fit the theatre into a constricted site that was an irregular quadrilateral with oblique frontage on the rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Prés. He fit the stage service areas into the ancillary buildings on the irregular terrain to the south.][
The façade of cut stone is shown in an engraving from Blondel's book and in the original plans conserved in the archives of the Comédie-Française. It consisted of 7 ]bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
of 3 storeys and an attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
with a mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
. On the ground floor, in the outer two bays on each side were four doors opening to the interior. The central three bays, topped with a triangular pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
and flanked with rusticated pilasters
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...
, formed a grand ''avant-corps
An ''avant-corps'' ( it, avancorpo or , plural , german: Risalit, pl, ryzalit), a French term literally meaning "fore-body", is a part of a building, such as a porch or pavilion, that juts out from the ''corps de logis'', often taller than othe ...
''.[Guibert 1998, p. 55.] A high relief sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
of the goddess Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...
by Étienne Le Hongre
Étienne Le Hongre (7 May 1628 – 28 April 1690) was a French sculptor, part of the team that worked for the ''Bâtiments du Roi'' at Versailles. Le Hongre was one of the first generation of sculptors formed by the precepts of the Académie r ...
decorated the tympanum (interior of the pediment). Le Hongre's sculpture survives, mounted in a similar location on the façade of the current building and declared a ''monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' on 29 March 1928. Below the pediment were the Arms of France
The current Constitution of France does not specify a national emblem. The unofficial coat of arms of France depicts a lictor's fasces upon branches of laurel and oak, as well as a ribbon bearing the national motto of ''Liberté, égalité, frate ...
sculpted in low relief, and below that, at the level of the main floor, a decorative medallion inscribed with the words "Hotel des Comédiens ordinaires du Roy entretenus par Sa Majesté M.D.C.LXXXVIII ome of the regular Actors of the King supported by His Majesty 1688.[Guibert 1998, p. 55; Wild 2012, p. 387.] An iron balcony ran along the entire facade, and on the ground floor in the outer bays of the ''avant-corps'' were two ticket windows.[
Jacques-François Blondel's ''Architecture françoise''">
File:Hôtel des Comédiens du Roi - Plan au rez-de-chaussée - Architecture françoise Tome2 Livre3 Ch4 Pl1 - Kyoto U.jpg, Plan of the ground floor
File:Hôtel des Comédiens du Roi - Plan du premier étage - Architecture françoise Tome2 Livre3 Ch4 Pl2 - Kyoto U.jpg, Plan of the main floor
File:Hôtel des Comédiens du Roi - Coupe sur la longueur - Architecture françoise Tome2 Livre3 Ch4 Pl4 - Kyoto U.jpg, Long section of the theatre
File:Hôtel des Comédiens du Roi - Coupe sur la largeur CD - Architecture françoise Tome2 Livre3 Ch4 Pl5 - Kyoto U.jpg, Transverse section with a view of the stage
File:Hôtel des Comédiens du Roi - Coupe sur la largeur EF - Architecture françoise Tome2 Livre3 Ch4 Pl6 - Kyoto U.jpg, Transverse section with a view toward the balconies
By 1770 the theatre had become too cramped. The last performance was on 31 March 1770, and the company moved to provisional quarters at the Théâtre des Tuileries.][
]
In popular culture
* The theatre is the setting for the first act of Francesco Cilea's opera ''Adriana Lecouvreur
''Adriana Lecouvreur'' () is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the 1849 play ''Adrienne Lecouvreur'' by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first performed on 6 November 1902 at t ...
''.
Notes
Bibliography
* Blondel, Jacques-François (1752)
"Description des Bâtiments et du Théâtre de la Comédie Françoise, rue des Fossés St. Germaine des Prés"
Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 4, pp. 14–36, in ''Architecture françoise''. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert
Title page
at Gallica.
* Bonnassies, Jules (1868). ''Comédie française. Notice historique sur les anciens bâtiments, no 14 de la rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie... et nos 17 et 19 de la rue Grégoire-de-Tours''. Paris: Aug. Aubry
Copy
at Gallica.
* Carlson, Marvin
Marvin Albert Carlson (born September 15, 1935) is an American theatrologist, currently the Sidney E. Cohn Distinguished Professor at City University of New York, and also previously the Walker-Ames Professor at University of Washington. A largely ...
(1998). ''Voltaire and the Theatre of the Eighteenth Century''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. .
* Guibert, Noëlle (1998). "Les Fossés-St-Germain, histoire", pp. 54–57, in ''Paris et ses théâtres: architecture et décor'', edited by Béatrice de Andia. Paris: Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris. .
* Loupiac, Claude (1998). "Les Fossés-St-Germain, architecture", pp. 58–59, in ''Paris et ses théâtres: architecture et décor'', edited by Béatrice de Andia. Paris: Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris. .
* Registers Project (c. 2015)
"Salle de la rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Près, 1689-1770"
(archive copy of 11 April 2016). Paris: Comédie-Française.
* Wild, Nicole
Nicole Wild (20 June 1929 – 29 December 2017) was a French musicologist, chief curator at the Paris Opera Library and Museum, and a specialist in the history and iconography of opera in France in the 19th century.
Early life and education
Bor ...
(2012). ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens (1807–1914)''. Lyon: Symétrie. . .
{{Coord, 48.85306, 2.33847, scale:500, display=title
Buildings and structures in the 6th arrondissement of Paris
Theatres completed in 1689
Former theatres in Paris
17th century in Paris
18th century in Paris
Comédie-Française