Opéra de Monte-Carlo
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The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an
opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
which is part of the
Monte Carlo Casino The Monte Carlo Casino, officially named Casino de Monte-Carlo, is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monaco. It includes a casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the office of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. The Casino de Monte-Carlo i ...
located in the
Principality of Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria ...
. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des bains de mer, decided to include a concert hall as part of the
casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
. The main public entrance to the hall was from the casino, while Charles III's private entrance was on the western side. It opened in 1879 and became known as the Salle Garnier, after the architect Charles Garnier, who designed it. During the renovation of the Salle Garnier in 2004–05, the company presented operas at the ''Salle des Princes'' in the local
Grimaldi Forum The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco is a conference and congress centre located on the seafront of Monaco's eastern beach quartier, Larvotto. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra regularly perform there. This is also the ...
, a modern conference and performance facility where
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo (The Monte Carlo Ballet) is a classical ballet company established in 1985 by Caroline, Princess of Hanover, the Princess of Hanover in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Grace Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco. I ...
and the
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (french: Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, OPMC) is the main orchestra in the Principality of Monaco. The orchestra gives concerts primarily in the Auditorium Rainier III, but also performs at the Salle ...
regularly perform.


Salle Garnier

The architect Charles Garnier also designed the
Paris opera house The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
now known as the
Palais Garnier The Palais Garnier (, Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (, Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from ...
. The Salle Garnier is much smaller, seating 524, compared to about 2,000 for the Palais Garnier, and unlike the Paris theatre, which was started in 1861 and only completed in 1875, the Salle Garnier was constructed in only eight and a half months. Nevertheless, its ornate style was heavily influenced by that of the Palais Garnier, and many of the same artists worked on both theatres, including
Gustave Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (25 April 1824 – 22 September 1888) was a French figurative painter and academic artist and teacher known for his Classical and Orientalist subjects. Education and career The Néo-Grecs and the Prix de Rom ...
. Although the Monte Carlo theatre was not originally intended for opera, it was soon used frequently for that purpose and was remodeled in 1898–99 by Henri Schmit, primarily in the stage area, to make it more suitable for opera. The hall was inaugurated on 25 January 1879 with a performance by
Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...
dressed as a nymph. The first opera performed there was
Robert Planquette Jean Robert Planquette (31 July 1848 – 28 January 1903) was a French composer of songs and operettas. Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, especially ''Les cloches de Corneville'' (1878), the length of ...
's '' Le Chevalier Gaston'' on 8 February 1879, followed by three additional operas in the first season. With the influence of the first director, Jules Cohen (who was instrumental in bringing
Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her la ...
) and the fortunate combination of
Raoul Gunsbourg Raoul Samuel Gunsbourg (born January 6, 1860 in Bucharest - died May 31, 1955 in Monte Carlo) was a Jewish- Romania-bornBorn in Bucharest, Gunsbourg is a son of a French father and Romanian mother. His grandfather was a rabbi. opera director, ...
, the new director from 1892, and Princess Alice, the opera-loving American wife of Charles III's successor, Albert I, the company was thrust onto the world's opera community stage. Gunsbourg remained for sixty years, overseeing such premiere productions as
Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
's ''
La damnation de Faust ''La damnation de Faust'' (English: ''The Damnation of Faust''), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "''légende dramatique'' ...
'' in 1893, and the first appearances in January 1894 of the heroic Italian tenor
Francesco Tamagno Francesco Tamagno (28 December 1850 – 31 August 1905) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang with enormous success throughout Europe and America.Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, On 5 February ...
in
Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
's ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...
,'' whose title role he had created for the opera's premiere in Italy. Conductor
Arturo Vigna Arturo is a Spanish and Italian variant of the name Arthur. People *Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1985), American-born Salvadoran footballer * Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1959), Mexican footballer * Arthuro Henrique Bernhardt (b. 1982), B ...
served as music director of the Monte Carlo Opera from 1895–1903. By the early years of the twentieth century, the Salle Garnier was to see such great performers as
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, ...
and
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
in ''
La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...
'' and ''
Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...
'' (in 1902), and
Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...
in the premiere of
Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...
's ''
Don Quichotte ''Don Quichotte'' (''Don Quixote'') is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn. It was first performed on 19 February 1910 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Massenet's ''comédie-héroïque'', like many dramatize ...
'' (1910). This production formed part of a long association between the company and Massenet and his operas, two of which were presented there posthumously. Other famous twentieth-century singers to appear at Monte Carlo included
Titta Ruffo Titta Ruffo (9 June 1877 – 5 July 1953), born as Ruffo Cafiero (double forename) Titta, was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" ("voice of the lion"), he was greatly admi ...
,
Geraldine Farrar Alice Geraldine Farrar (February 28, 1882 – March 11, 1967) was an American lyric soprano who could also sing dramatic roles. She was noted for her beauty, acting ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice." She had a large following a ...
,
Mary Garden A Mary garden is a small sacred garden enclosing a statue or shrine of the Virgin Mary, who is known to many Christians as the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady, or the Mother of God. In the New Testament, Mary is the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Mary ...
,
Tito Schipa Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice ...
,
Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...
,
Claudia Muzio Claudia Muzio (7 February 1889 – 24 May 1936) was an Italian operatic soprano who enjoyed an international career during the early 20th century. Early years Claudina Emilia Maria Muzzio was born in Pavia, the daughter of Carlo Muzio, an operat ...
,
Georges Thill Georges Thill (14 December 1897 – 17 October 1984) was a French opera singer, often considered to be his country's greatest lyric-dramatic tenor. Born in Paris, his career lasted from 1924 to 1953, peaking during the 1930s. Career A pupil of ...
,
Lily Pons Alice Joséphine Pons (April 12, 1898 – February 13, 1976), known professionally as Lily Pons, was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer, she s ...
, and
Mary McCormic Mary McCormic (November 11, 1889DOB is from her grave marker; the DOD listed in thSocial Security Death Indexstates November 12, 1895; the grave marker is consistent with archival records, namely the 1910 US Census, which, places her DOB around ...
. Apart from Massenet, composers whose works had their first performances at Monte Carlo included: Saint-Saëns ('' Hélène'', 1904); Mascagni ''( Amica,'' 1905); and
Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...
''(
La rondine ''La rondine'' (''The Swallow'') is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and . It was first performed at the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo (or the Théâtr ...
'', 1917). Indeed, since its inauguration, the theatre has hosted 45 world premiere productions of operas. René Blum was retained to found the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo. The "Golden Age" of the Salle Garnier has passed, since small companies with small houses are not able to mount highly expensive productions. Nonetheless, the present day company still presents a season containing five or six operas.


Gala Events in Salle Garnier

Twice in its 130-year history the Opéra was transformed into a spectacular venue to host gala-dinners. The first occasion was in 1966 for the celebration of centenary of Monte-Carlo hosted by Grace Kelly and Rainier III; the second was for the royal wedding of
Prince Albert II Albert II – Website of the Palace of Monaco (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, since 2005. Albert was born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, and he is the second child and only son of Prince Rai ...
and
Princess Charlene Charlene (' Charlene Lynette Wittstock; French: ''Charlène'';Since her marriage, her name has been Gallicised by adding a grave accent to her name in French documents. born 25 January 1978) is the princess consort of Monaco and a former Olympic ...
. The Opéra was transformed for the third time on 27 July 2013 to host the
Love Ball The Naked Heart Foundation is a charity that provides children in Russia with families and safe and stimulating playspaces. It does this through creating safe and inspiring play facilities in impoverished areas, supporting foster families and fam ...
, a fundraising gala event organised by the Naked Heart Foundation.Miles Socha
"The Naked Heart Foundation Benefit Set for July in Monaco"
11 June 2013 on wwd.com


See also

* :Opera world premieres at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo * Mondial du Théâtre


References

Notes Sources * Bonillo, Jean-Lucien, et al. (2004). ''Charles Garnier and Gustave Eiffel on the French and Italian Rivieras: The Dream of Reason'' (in English and French). Marseilles: Editions Imbernon. . *Bouvet, Charles (1925)
"Gustave Boulanger, Collaborateur de Charles Garnier à l'Opéra"
''Gazette des Beaux-Arts'', Nov. 1925, pp. 301-311. * Bouvier, Béatrice (2004). "Inventaires" in Bonillo et al. pp. 186–205. * Folli, Andrea; Merello, Gisella (2004). "The Splendour of the Garnier Rooms at the Monte Carlo Casino" in Bonillo et al. 2004. * Zietz, Karyl Lynn (1991). ''Opera: The Guide to Western Europe's Great Houses''. Santa Fe, New Mexico: John Muir Publications. .


External links


Opéra de Monte-CarloPanoramic views and giant photos of the decorations of the Salle Garnier
by Dr. Giuseppe Mazza. {{DEFAULTSORT:Opera De Monte-Carlo Opera houses in Monaco Music venues completed in 1879 1879 establishments in Monaco Second Empire architecture Theatres completed in 1879 Concert halls in Monaco Charles Garnier buildings