“From the start, opinion was divided between critics and admirers”

The Cross : How did Paris and Parisians welcome the new Palais Garnier on January 5, 1875?

Mathias Auclair: The capital and its inhabitants have been living with the construction of the new opera house for fifteen years. There had even been partial inaugurations such as that of the facade, almost completed, during the Universal Exhibition of 1867. This is also the date on which the entire building should have been finished. But financial constraints had delayed this completion…

Charles Garnier still wanted to dramatize this stage inauguration by hiding the facade until the last moment behind a wooden fence. Double advantage: the workers could work sheltered from bad weather and the public had the shock of the discovery when this palisade was torn down, on August 15, 1867, “Saint-Napoleon” Day (1).

From 1867, opinion was divided between critics and admirers of the aesthetics of the Palais Garnier, such as Théophile Gautier, who wrote a praising article. Some time later, The Dancea high relief sculpted by Carpeaux, sparked a lively controversy until it was vandalized on the night of August 27, 1869 with a bottle of ink. So much so that, at the end of the same year, it was moved inside the building.

What was the criticism of this new temple of music and dance?

M. A. : Aesthetically, to be loaded and colorful like a pastry studded with candied fruit! And, in principle, to respond to the codes of a bygone era, that of the Second Empire – let us remember that the construction was decided by Napoleon III – and of French grand opera, a genre which in 1875 shines with its last lights. Thus, the Palais Garnier would belong to an old world, to a prosperity swept away by the defeat of 1870.

The Goncourt brothers, for example, report that at dinners in town, people wonder about the cost of its construction at a time when money is lacking. However, after the fire at the Opéra Le Peletier in 1873 (in the street of the same name), the need for this new establishment became clear in public opinion. It then once again becomes a symbol of the future.

How did the inauguration of January 5, 1875 take place?

M. A. : It was quite special with a limited number of guests, mainly representatives of the established bodies, in order to leave a large contingent of places for sale. Thus, quite a few artists were not invited, who may have conceived bad humor, even animosity. Garnier himself did not receive an invitation and had to buy his place! An oversight which was certainly not intentional but rather a breach of protocol. Indeed, it was planned to award him the Legion of Honor at intermission, something difficult in his absence… And he had his revenge, receiving a standing ovation from the public at the end of the show, on the landing of the grand staircase.

Did the Opéra Garnier then quickly establish itself in the Parisian landscape?

M. A. : Parisians and visitors to the capital quickly adopted it even if it still provoked very harsh words from some, like Claude Debussy, who considered it outdated, linked to a declining society and aesthetics. The moderns no longer want this world of yesterday, especially since music, and particularly lyrical art, is in the midst of a Wagnerian revolution. Let us not forget that the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, built according to the wishes of the author of The Tetralogy, will be inaugurated one year after the Opéra Garnier.

There also remain some criticisms (which still persist today) on its acoustic qualities and on the comfort of the room, hampered by the proximity of the seats. However, this last point responds to the specifications of the building, which insisted on this “light touch” between spectators, conducive to the circulation of a ” fluid “.

Today, has the Palais Garnier retained its power of fascination?

M.A. : Absolutely. Even if its adaptation to the evolution of lyrical art is regularly questioned over time, as was the case in 1968 in Jean Vilar's report entitled “A reform of opera”. In 1977, François Bloch-Lainé will once again sign a severe study on the question.

But the public is generally won over. Whether he attends the shows or just visits the Palais Garnier, one of the busiest monuments in Paris, with an average of more than a million visitors per year, for nearly 343,000 opera and ballet spectators. Symbol of the capital, the building serves as a film set, as in Ariane (1957) by Billy Wilder or Funny Face (1957) by Stanley Donen, two films with Audrey Hepburn. Without forgetting of course The Big Mop (1966) by Gérard Oury. Closer to us, Tom Cruise passes by the Opéra Garnier in Fallout (2018), episode of the series Mission impossible.

And, since the explosion of social networks, many influencers have photographed themselves in evening wear in this sumptuous postcard setting!