The Paris Opera House
THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"
That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris OperaHouse as it really is and has not created a building out of hisimagination, is shown by this interesting description of it taken froman article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, a short timeafter the building was completed:
"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under theRepublic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world and inmany respects the most beautiful. No European capital possesses anopera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, and none can boastan edifice equally vast and splendid.
"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined tolay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was well knownthat water would be met with, but it was impossible to foresee at whatdepth or in what quantity it would be found. Exceptional depth alsowas necessary, as the stage arrangements were to be such as to admit ascene fifty feet high to be lowered on its frame. It was thereforenecessary to lay a foundation in a soil soaked with water which shouldbe sufficiently solid to sustain a weight of 22,000,000 pounds, and atthe same time to be perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for thestorage of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, theexcavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, worked bysteam power, and in operation, without interruption, day and night,from March second to October thirteenth. The floor of the cellar wascovered with a layer of concrete, then with two coats of cement,another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. The wall includes anouter wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, a coat of cement, and awall proper, a little over a yard thick. After all this was done thewhole was filled with water, in order that the fluid, by penetratinginto the most minute interstices, might deposit a sediment which wouldclose them more surely and perfectly than it would be possible to do byhand. Twelve years elapsed before the completion of the building, andduring that time it was demonstrated that the precautions taken securedabsolute impermeability and solidity.
"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to beprosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put to new andunexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted into a vastmilitary storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous mass of goods.After the siege the building fell into the hands of the Commune and theroof was turned into a balloon station. The damage done, however, wasslight.
"The fine stone employed in the construction was brought from quarriesin Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland, Spain, Belgium andFrance. While work on the exterior was in progress, the building wascovered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent by thousands ofsmall panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, supplied with hammersand axes, stripped the house of its habit, and showed in all itssplendor the great structure. No picture can do justice to the richcolors of the edifice or to the harmonious tone resulting from theskilful use of many diverse materials. The effect of the frontage iscompleted by the cupola of the auditorium, topped with a cap of bronzesparingly adorned with gilding. Farther on, on a level with the towersof Notre-Dame, is the gable end of the roof of the stage, a 'Pegasus',by M. Lequesne, rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group byM. Millet, representing 'Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commandingthe apex. Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well asornamental, for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does dutyas a lightning-rod, and conducts the fluid to the body and down thenether limbs of the god.
"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left behind him a gateway,reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, andHandel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to a second vestibulefor ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion reserved forcarriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are situated.The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium,traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. Theceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen flutedcolumns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico.Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remainuntil their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is quitedistinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. The sectionof the building set aside for the use of the Emperor Napoleon was tohave included an antechamber for the bodyguards; a salon for theaides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one for the Empress; hat andcloak rooms, etc. Moreover, there were to be in close proximity to theentrance, stables for three coaches, for the outriders' horses, and forthe twenty-one horsemen acting as an escort; a station for a squad ofinfantry of thirty-one men and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for thehorses of the latter; and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twentydomestics. Thus arrangements had to be made to accommodate in thispart of the building about one hundred persons, fifty horses, andhalf-a-dozen carriages. The fall of the Empire suggested some changes,but ample provision still exists for emergencies.
"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare splendor of material,make the grand stairway unquestionably one of the most remarkablefeatures of the building. It presents to the spectator, who has justpassed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture. Fromthis point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing; thisand the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, arehoneycombed with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; the steps are ofwhite marble, and antique red marble balusters rest on green marblesockets and support a balustrade of onyx. To the right and to the leftof this landing are stairways to the floor, on a plane with the firstrow of boxes. On this floor stand thirty monolith columns ofSarrancolin marble, with white marble bases and capitals. Pilasters ofpeach-blossom and violet stone are against the corresponding walls.More than fifty blocks had to be extracted from the quarry to findthirty perfect monoliths.
"The foyer de la danse has particular interest for the habitues of theOpera. It is a place of reunion to which subscribers to threeperformances a week are admitted between the acts in accordance with ausage established in 1870. Three immense looking-glasses cover theback wall of the FOYER, and a chandelier with one hundred and sevenburners supplies it with light. The paintings include twenty ovalmedallions, in which are portrayed the twenty danseuses of mostcelebrity since the opera has existed in France, and four panels by M.Boulanger, typifying 'The War Dance', 'The Rustic Dance', 'The Dance ofLove' and 'The Bacchic Dance.' While the ladies of the ballet receivetheir admirers in this foyer, they can practise their steps.Velvet-cushioned bars have to this end been secured at convenientpoints, and the floor has been given the same slope as that of thestage, so that the labor expended may be thoroughly profitable to theperformance. The singers' foyer, on the same floor, is a much lesslively resort than the foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leavetheir dressing-rooms before they are summoned to the stage. Thirtypanels with portraits of the artists of repute in the annals of theOpera adorn this foyer.
"Some estimate ... may be arrived at by sitting before the concierge anhour or so before the representation commences. First appear the stagecarpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes, when L'Africaine,for example, with its ship scene, is the opera, one hundred and tenstrong. Then come stage upholsterers, whose sole duty is to laycarpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and a squad of firemen.Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, coiffeurs,supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries number aboutone hundred; some are hired by the year, but the 'masses' are generallyrecruited at the last minute and are generally working-men who seek toadd to their meagre earnings. There are about a hundred choristers,and about eighty musicians.
"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted on the stage bymeans of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producingbatteries; hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works in balletslike La Source; artificers who prepare the conflagration in Le Profeta;florists who make ready Margarita's garden, and a host o
f minoremployees. This personnel is provided for as follows: Eightydressing-rooms are reserved for the artists, each including a smallantechamber, the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besidesthese apartments, the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, andanother for fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four maledancers; four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of differentgrades; a dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries,etc."
A few figures taken from the article will suggest the enormous capacityand the perfect convenience of the house. "There are 2,531 doors and7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house; the gaspipes ifconnected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; 9 reservoirs, and twotanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and distribute their contentsthrough 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; 538 persons have places assignedwherein to change their attire. The musicians have a foyer with 100closets for their instruments."
The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that it "was almostas bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways and colossalhalls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, satin andvelvet, met the eye at every turn."
In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable picturesillustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera Houseand mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitanrailway tunnels, one on top of the other.
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