The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe ( en, European Music Hall) (formerly the Théâtre de l'Odéon ( en, Music Hall)) is one of France's six national

theatres Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. It is located at 2 rue Corneille in the

6th arrondissement of Paris The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in a reference to the seat o ...

on the left bank of the Seine, next to the

Luxembourg Garden The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

and the

Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of th ...

, which houses the Senate.

First theatre

The original building, the Salle du Faubourg Saint-Germain, was constructed for the Théâtre Français between 1779 and 1782 to a Neoclassical design by

Charles De Wailly Charles de Wailly () (9 November 1730 – 2 November 1798) was a French architect and urbanist, and furniture designer, one of the principals in the Neoclassical revival of the Antique. His major work was the Théâtre de l'Odéon for the Comédi ...

and

Marie-Joseph Peyre Marie-Joseph Peyre (1730 – 11 August 1785) was a French architect who designed in the Neoclassical style. Biography He began his training in Paris with Jacques-François Blondel at l'École des Arts, where he met Giovanni Niccolo Servan ...

. The site was in the garden of the former

Hôtel de Condé The Hôtel de Condé was the main Paris seat of the princes of Condé, a cadet branch of the Bourbons, from 1612 to 1764/70. The hôtel gave its name to the present ''rue de Condé'', on which its forecourt faced. The Théâtre de l'Odéon was ...

. The new theatre was inaugurated by

Marie-Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child ...

on April 9, 1782. It was there that

Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist, ...

' play '' The Marriage of Figaro'' was premiered two years later. On April 27, 1791, during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, the company split. The players sympathetic to the crown remained in the theatre in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. They were arrested and incarcerated on the night of September 3, 1793, but were allowed to return a year later. In 1797, the theater was remodeled by the architect Jean-François Leclerc and became known as the Odéon, but it was destroyed by a fire on March 18, 1799.

Second theatre

An 1808 reconstruction of the theater designed by

Jean Chalgrin Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin (1739 – 21 January 1811) was a French architect, best known for his design for the Arc de Triomphe, Paris. Biography His neoclassic orientation was established from his early studies with the prophet of neocla ...

(architect of the Arc de Triomphe) was officially named the Théâtre de l'Impératrice, but everyone still called it the Odéon.Regarding the name Théâtre de l'Impératrice, see Hemmings 1994, p. 106. It burned down in 1818.

Third theatre

The third and present structure, designed by Pierre Thomas Baraguay, was opened in September 1819. In 1990, the theater was given the

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

'Théâtre de l'Europe'. It is a member theater of the Union of the Theatres of Europe. Théâtre national de l'Odéon by Eugène Grasset 1890

Access

The Line 4 and Line 10 serves Odéon station.

Notes

Bibliography

* Carlson, Marvin (1966). ''The Theatre of the French Revolution''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. . * Hemmings, F. W. J. (1994). ''Theatre and State in France, 1760–1905''. New York: Cambridge University Press. (2006 reprint). * Wild, Nicole (2012). ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens (1807–1914)''. Lyon: Symétrie. . .

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odeon Theatre Buildings and structures in the 6th arrondissement of Paris Theatres in Paris 1782 establishments in France National theatres Terminating vistas in Paris