Music in Paris
Music in the city of
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera, officially called the Opéra National de Paris founded in 1669, is the oldest and most famous opera company of France. It mainly produces operas at its modern 2700-seat theatre Opéra Bastille which opened in 1989, and ballets and some classical operas at the older 1970-seat Palais Garnier which opened in 1875. Small scale and contemporary works are also staged in the 500-seat Amphitheatre under the Opéra Bastille. The company's annual budget is in the order of 200 million euros, of which 100 million come from the French state and 70 million from box office receipts.[1] With this money, the company runs the two houses and supports a large permanent staff, which includes the orchestra of 170, a chorus of 110 and the corps de ballet of 150.[2] Each year, the Opéra presents about 380 performances of opera, ballet and other concerts, to a total audience of about 800,000 people (of whom 17% come from abroad), which is a very good average seat occupancy rate of 94%.[2] In the 2012–13 season, the Opéra presented 18 opera titles (two in a double bill), 13 ballets, 5 symphonic concerts and two vocal recitals, plus 15 other programmes. The company's training bodies are also active, with 7 concerts from the Atelier Lyrique and 4 programmes from the École de Danse.[3]
Paris Opera Ballet
The Paris Opera Ballet (French: Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris) is the oldest national ballet company in the world, founded in 1669, just after the Opera; and many European and international ballet companies, can trace their origins to it. Many famous romantic ballets, including Giselle and Le Corsaire, were first danced by the Paris Opera company. The Paris Opera has had many different official names during its long history but since 1994 has been called the Opéra National de Paris (Paris National Opera). The company presents ballet primarily at the Palais Garnier. The director of the Paris Opera Ballet until his resignation in February 2016 was Benjamin Millepied.
Orchestre de Paris
The
The main venue of the Orchestre de Paris is the Philharmonie de Paris in the Cité de la Musique, in the Parc de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement. The hall, designed by Jean Nouvel, was inaugurated in 2015. The orchestra has 119 musicians, and will be giving fifty concerts during the 2015–2016 season. The musical director since 2010 is Paavo Järvi. He will be replaced in September 2016 by Daniel Harding.
Classical music and dance
Paris has several other important orchestras and venues for classical music and dance. The
Radio France is the home of two professional symphony orchestras. The Orchestre National de France, founded in 1934, specializes in French music and tours frequently abroad. It plays regularly at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and its concerts are broadcast on French national radio. Its music director since 2008 is Daniele Gatti.
The
The Salle Pleyel is another important concert venue for classical music. It was home of the Orchestre de Paris until 2015.
Cité de la Musique
The
Music in the cathedral and churches
The most famous organ in Paris is that of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. It was made in the 18th century by the noted builder François-Henri Clicquot. Some of Clicquot's original pipework in the pedal division continues to sound from the organ today. The organ was almost completely rebuilt and expanded in the 19th century by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
The position of titular organist ("head" or "chief" organist) at Notre-Dame is one of the most prestigious organist posts in France, along with the post of titular organist of
The organ has 7,374 pipes, with ca 900 classified as historical. It has 110 real
The church of
Another well-known organ in Paris is the organ of the American Cathedral in Paris on Avenue George V. Built in 1887 by the prestigious French firm Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, it was inaugurated on October 5, 1887, by Alexandre Guilmant. It has been suggested that Marcel Dupré is the person most responsible for the evolution of the instrument, which is still one of the largest in Paris: it was Dupré who acted as consultant, first in 1922, again in 1930, then again in the 1950s, with Maurice Duruflé. The latest restoration was completed in 1993 by the organ firm of Bernard Dargassies with the generous support of the Paulé Foundation and other Cathedral members. The organ was re-dedicated on February 21, 1993, and re-inaugurated on May 18, 1993, by Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, and on May 30, 1993, by Marilyn Keiser.[6]
African-American gospel musicians are well known in Paris and some of them have taken permanent residence here.[7]
Many churches in Paris host free concerts on Sunday afternoons. A few well-known examples include the Sunday "Les Dimanches Musicaux" concerts[8] at the American Cathedral in Paris, an English speaking church located on Avenue George V, and similar programs at other churches around Paris including La Madeleine.[9]
The Opéra-Comique
The
Musical theater
Today the main venue for musicals is the
Music halls
The music hall was first imported to Paris from London in 1862, and became enormously popular, with dancers, singers, acrobats, magicians trained animals. In the 1920s and 1930s they focused on music, and introduced many famous singers including
The
Bal musette
Rock and popular music
Paris offers concerts by French and international rock groups of all genres of rock and popular music. The largest concerts take place in the Stade de France, the national sports stadium located just outside Paris in Saint Denis. It seats eighty-one thousand persons. In 2015 it was the venue for concerts by AC/DC and Paul McCartney, and in 2016 hosted concerts by Beyoncé and Rihanna.
The largest concert venue within the city itself is the
Another major concert venue is
Several former musical theaters now present regular concerts of rock music. These include the Bobino Music Hall, founded in 1873, which hosted many of France's most famous singers, including Josephine Baker and Juliette Greco. It closed in 1983, but reopened in 1991. In 2007, it was turned into a cabaret named Bobin'o, located in Montparnasse, at 20 rue de la Gaieté in the 14th arrondissement. The Bataclan, founded in 1864, presented musical comedy. It was transformed into a rock club in the 1960s. The Bataclan was the scene of a notorious terrorist attack on November 13, 2015, which killed eighty-nine people. The theater was closed after the attacks; the interior was rebuilt, and it reopened with a performance by Sting on November 12, 2016.
Concentrations of music clubs are found in the streets between Chatelet, Les Halles and the Pompidou Center, and around Bastille, while others are found in the outer arrondissements. Popular music clubs uncle Le Klub at 14 rue Saint-Denis in the 1st arrondissement; La Mechanique Ondulatoire, at 8 Passage Thiéré, near Bastille, known for punk and metal. Clubs in the outer arrondissements include LaPlage de Glazart, a former bus station turned tint an underground music venue, at 1915 Avenue de la Porte de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement; Le Batofar, a former Irish floating lighthouse that now has a small concert hall, at Porte de la Gare in the 13th arrondissement, known for reggae, heavy metal, and aerobe; and L'Alimentation Générale, a large club which features an assortment of Brazilian, Cuban, West African High Life, East European jazz, and French hip-hop and electro-funk. Other well-known clubs include the Flèche d'Or, in a former train station at 102 rue de Bagndet in the 20th arrondissement; Le China, a Chinese restaurant and rock club at 50 rue Chareton, known for Manouche, R&B, funk and soul music; Le Pompon, at 5 Avenue de l'Opera, known for independent bands and electro-pop DJs, and Les Trois Baudets, a venerable club and concert hall where musicians including Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Juliette Gréco and Serge Gainsbourg once played, which now presents French pop, electro and rap music, located at 64 Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement. [13]
Jazz clubs
Jazz was introduced to Paris during World War I by a black American army band led by
Three jazz clubs cited by the Washington Post, all in existence since the 1980s, are in the same neighborhood on Rue des Lombards near Les Halles; the 'Duc des Lombards', 'Sunset-Sunside', which feature well-known French and international groups, and 'Le Baiser Sale', which features fusion and world music, and many groups from West Africa. Manouche, or gypsy jazz, a more traditional style made famous by jazz musicians Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli in the 1930s, is the speciality of some clubs, notably the 'Atelier Charonne' near Place de la Bastille, and the 'New Morning' in the 10th arrondissement, which also features rock and funk groups.[15]
Paris hosts several notable jazz festivals, including the Jazz sur Seine festival in October, and the more traditional Jazz Musette des Puces in June.
Music schools
The city of Paris has several important academic institutions devoted to musical education. The first and most famous is the Conservatoire de Paris, founded in 1795 shortly after the French Revolution, formally known as the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris or CNSMDP. It was the first state music conservatory in Europe; famous students and faculty included composers Hector Berlioz, Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy and Nadia Boulanger. The school now located within the Cité de la Musique, near the Philharmonic Hall, in the 19th arrondissement.
The first and most famous ballet school in France, the École de danse de l'Opéra national de Paris, the school of dance of the Paris opera, was founded in 1669 for adult dancers, and began taking children as students beginning in 1776. Virtually all of the main dancers of the Paris ballet are graduates of the school. In 1987 the ballet school was relocated from the Opera house to the suburb of Nanterre.[16]
The Schola Cantorum de Paris was founded in 1896 as a rival to the Conservatory; it put an emphasis on technique, and on the study of late Baroque and early Classical works, Gregorian chant, and Renaissance polyphony. Famous students included composers Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen and Albert Roussel. The school is located in a former convent in the 5th arrondissement.
The
The Conservatoire Rachmaninoff is a private music school was which established between 1923 and 1931 by emigres fleeing the Russian Revolution, including Feodor Chaliapin and Alexander Glazunov. Its honorary president was composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Today it provides music instruction in both French and Russian languages.
Military music
The French military in Paris has several musical ensembles, bands and choral groups. The most famous is the band of the
The gendarmerie, or national police force, formally part of the French military, has its own band and orchestra. The prefecture of police in Paris, separate from the Gendarmerie, has its own orchestra called the Musique des Gardiens de la Paix, which belongs to the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité or CRS, best known as the Paris riot police. It is based at Vélizy, in the Paris suburbs. The brigade of Paris firemen, also formally members of the military, has a musical unit, called the Musique de la brigade de sapeurs-pompiers de Paris. It includes an orchestra, a band, a small jazz-rock band, and several smaller ensembles.
Street and subway musicians
The profession of street musician has existed in Paris since the Middle Ages- street singers and musicians had their own professional guild. Beginning in the 17th century, the most popular venue for musicians was the Pont Neuf. (See
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A Mongolian Tovshuur player
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The Hot Sugar Band at Saint=Germain-des-Pres
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Musicians in the Paris Metro stations must pass an audition to have a place
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A brass band on the Pont des Arts
Festivals
A number of musical festivals take place annually in Paris, including the
See also
- History of music in Paris
- Fairground organ, an instrument originated in Paris
References
- ^ Interview with the President of the Board of the Opéra (in French)
- ^ a b Company profile, Tous à l'Opéra 2012 press release Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine pp 52,53 (in French)
- ^ Opéra national de Paris website, 2012/13 season presentation Archived 2012-08-08 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
- ^ Andante (2004). "Orchestre de Paris". Andante.com. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ Sources Vives, L'èglise Saint-Gervais, pages 119-123
- ^ "American Cathedral in Paris". Archived from the original on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
- ^ Laurenson, John (22 August 2012). "Gospel music in Paris flourishes". BBC News Magazine.
- ^ "Les dimanches musicaux - les Arts George V".
- ^ "Home". concerts-lamadeleine.com.
- ^ Fierro 1996, pp. 1033–1035.
- ^ Dregni 2008, p. 19.
- ^ Dregni 2008, p. 32.
- TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ Vila 2007, pp. 268–269.
- ^ Washington Post. "The best jazz clubs in Paris". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Fierro 1996, p. 702.
- ^ "ENMP". Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
- ^ YouOriginal (2017-07-14), Amazing Violinist Busking in The Subway, retrieved 2017-10-24
- ^ "Rock en Seine '13". Efestivals.co.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
Bibliography
- Damschroeder, David; Williams, David Russell (1990). Music Theory from Zarlino to Schenker: A Bibliography and Guide. Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-0-918728-99-9.
- Dregni, Michael (2008). Gypsy Jazz : In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-804262-4.
- Hayden, P.C., ed. (1904). School Music: A Magazine for Music Educators (Public domain ed.). P.C. Hayden.
- Fierro, Alfred (1996). Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris. Robert Laffont. ISBN 2-221-07862-4.
- Lawrence, Rachel; Gondrand, Fabienne (2010). Paris (City Guide) (12th ed.). London: Insight Guides. ISBN 9789812820792.
- Mroue, Haas (2006). Frommer's Memorable Walks in Paris. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-03712-6.
- Schroeder, Alan; Wagner, Heather Lehr (2009). Josephine Baker: Entertainer. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-0086-9.
- Tillier, Alan; Spenley, Katherine (2012). DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Paris. DK Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7566-9119-6.
- United States. Commission to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1867 (1870). Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1867. Vol. 5 (Public domain ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Vila, Marie Christine (2007). Paris musique. Parigramme. ISBN 978-2-84096-419-3.
- Wright, Craig (2008). Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris, 500-1550. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-08834-3.
External links
Media related to Music of Paris at Wikimedia Commons