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64-458: In 1876, Ambroise Thomas constructed the three-storey house, chapel and conical tower that all currently stand on the island. Île Illiec was purchased by the American aviator Charles Lindbergh , following the kidnapping and murder of his son in 1932 and his subsequent move to Europe in 1936. In March 1938, the family bought the 4 acre ( ≈16 000 m² or 127 x 127 m ) island for $ 16,000,

128-604: A Shakespeare play – The Tempest ), but it made little impression. In 1894, after the 1,000th performance of Mignon at the Opéra-Comique, the octogenarian composer was embraced on the stage by Verdi , his junior by two years, before President Carnot decorated Thomas with the ribbon of the Grand-Croix de la Légion d'honneur . Thomas died in his flat in the Conservatoire in 1896, aged 84, of congestion of

192-513: A considerable revival, beginning in the late 20th century, with major productions of Mignon and Hamlet in France, Britain and the US. Forbes writes that Thomas was an eclectic composer able to write in a wide variety of styles. She identifies Hérold and Auber as influences on his early works, and considers Le caïd the first of his works to show true originality, though nonetheless clearly showing

256-723: A cost of approximately $ 1 per square metre, but lived there only until December. The Lindbergh family returned to the USA in April 1939, shortly after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia . The island's inside is now privately owned by the Heidsieck family. 48°51′01″N 3°17′43″W  /  48.85028°N 3.29528°W  / 48.85028; -3.29528 Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas ( French: [ɑ̃bʁwaz tɔmɑ] ; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896)

320-462: A reputation for musical conservatism, the score of Hamlet was innovative in one respect: its incorporation of saxophones into the instrumentation. Later in Thomas' life his academic career largely overtook his activities as a composer, and after Hamlet , he composed only one more opera: Françoise de Rimini (1882), which was well received but did not enter the regular operatic repertoire. On

384-672: Is Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique , and its theatre, with a capacity of around 1,248 seats, sometimes referred to as the Salle Favart (the third on this site), is located at Place Boïeldieu in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris , not far from the Palais Garnier , one of the theatres of the Paris Opéra . The musicians and others associated with the Opéra-Comique have made important contributions to operatic history and tradition in France and to French opera. Its current mission

448-648: Is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs . In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne . It was also called the Théâtre-Italien up to about 1793, when it again became most commonly known as the Opéra-Comique. Today the company's official name

512-556: Is to reconnect with its history and discover its unique repertoire to ensure production and dissemination of operas for the wider public. Mainstays of the repertory at the Opéra-Comique during its history have included the following works which have each been performed more than 1,000 times by the company: Cavalleria Rusticana , Le chalet , La dame blanche , Le domino noir , La fille du régiment , Lakmé , Manon , Mignon , Les noces de Jeannette , Le pré aux clercs , Tosca , La bohème , Werther and Carmen ,

576-628: The Conservatoire: he increased the number of classes, improved the conditions of the faculty, and expanded the curriculum to include solfège , sight-reading and compulsory orchestral practice. The faculty under Thomas included, at various times the composers Franck, Théodore Dubois, Jules Massenet and Ernest Guiraud , and the singers Pauline Viardot and Romain Bussine . In 1889 the Opéra staged Thomas' ballet La tempête (another treatment of

640-539: The Fair Saint-Laurent on 19 August with verses for the ariettes provided by Pierre Baurans and with music parodying a variety of composers including Vincenzo Legrenzio Ciampi , Duni, Baldassare Galuppi , and Giuseppe Scarlatti , and also included music attributed to the French composers Jean-Louis Laurette and Philidor. Christoph Willibald Gluck was later to compose his own music for the work. His version

704-755: The King's wife, Madame de Maintenon , the fair theatres were quick to adopt much of the Italians' repertory, which included parodies of operas and tragedies. The fair theatres were soon viewed as competition by the Opéra and the Comédie-Française , and restrictions were again more strictly enforced. The troupes at the Foire Saint-Germain and the Foire Saint-Laurent received warnings from the police in 1699 and 1706. Although in 1708

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768-581: The Law of 1791 which removed restrictions on the opening of theatres, there was competition with the Théâtre Feydeau , which was resolved in 1801 by merger. By 1807 Napoleon had reduced theatrical freedoms, and the Opéra-Comique was named one of four primary theatres in Paris. French opéra comique , in the 19th century at least, was not necessarily "comic" either in the classical sense of ending happily or

832-635: The Opéra-Comique also offers relayed performances to cinemas (around France and in Europe); Carmen in June 2009 and Béatrice et Bénédict in March 2010. In 2013 an opera critic was moved to write that of Paris lyric theatres "over the past seven seasons, [the Opéra-Comique] has best succeeded in establishing a particular identity and achieving consistent quality in its productions". In the summer of 2015

896-524: The Opéra-Comique company settled in the second Salle Favart (architect Louis Charpentier; 1,500 seats), built on the site of the first theatre, destroyed by fire in 1838. The new house was inaugurated with a revival of Hérold's Le Pré aux clercs . During the 1850s and 1860s the Théâtre Lyrique offered competition in the type of repertoire staged, being particularly strong in its policy of new commissions. Performances took place on most evenings of

960-526: The Opéra-Comique, of which 222 were either world premieres (136) or the first performance in Paris (86). In June 1936 a broadcast of Les Contes d'Hoffmann was disrupted by the start of a company sit-in demanding the director's resignation. In 1939 financial problems resulted in the Opéra-Comique being merged with the Opéra to become the 'Réunion des Théatres Lyriques Nationaux'. Notable premieres during this period included Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1947) and La Voix humaine (1959). However, by

1024-586: The Opéra-Comique: it was another nine years before Carmen defied the convention there, ending with the death of the main character.) The strong original cast featured, in the title role, Célestine Galli-Marié , a celebrated singer who later created the part of Carmen in Bizet's opera. Thomas was similarly fortunate in his cast for his next success, Hamlet (1868), which starred Jean-Baptiste Faure as Hamlet and Christine Nilsson as Ophelia. The opera

1088-607: The Opéra. Although the company of the Opéra-Comique was disbanded (followed 20 years later by the closure of the opéra comique classes at the Paris Conservatoire ), from 1978 works were staged again at the theatre, both from its traditional repertoire ( Le médecin malgré lui and Werther ) as well as more adventurous repertoire: La chatte anglaise in 1984, Denisov's L'Écume des Jours , as well as productions with international stars, including Jessye Norman as Dido in 1984. While still battling for survival

1152-463: The Salle Favart on 25 May 1887 resulted in the death of 84 people by asphyxiation. The building was destroyed and the director Léon Carvalho was forced to resign, although later he was acquitted of blame and resumed the helm at the company from 1891 to 1897. The third Salle Favart (architect Louis Bernier ) was officially opened in the presence of President Félix Faure on 7 December 1898. As

1216-424: The attention of the arts establishment. At the start of the 1960s Stéphane Wolff, claimed that the theatre could regain its independence: "well-managed, it could again become what it was for so long, the most active and therefore the leading lyric stage in France". However, in 1972 the Opéra-Comique company was closed (although the theatre itself received visiting productions) and its government grant added to that of

1280-433: The character of the important roles strongly and clearly. "If Thomas had written no stage works except Mignon and Hamlet he would probably be more widely recognized as one of the most influential and important of French 19th-century operatic composers." See: List of operas by Ambroise Thomas . solo voice and piano, except where otherwise stated Op%C3%A9ra-Comique The Opéra-Comique

1344-433: The composers Jules Massenet , Gaston Serpette , and, late in Thomas' career, George Enescu ; future academics included Théodore Dubois and Charles Lenepveu ; and conductors who were Thomas' students included Edouard Colonne and Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht . During the 1850s Thomas continued to compose, writing five operas, none of which made much impression. After a fallow spell in the early 1860s he wrote Mignon ,

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1408-400: The curriculum. Thomas strove to keep progressive musicians from being appointed to the faculty of the Conservatoire – unsuccessfully in the case of César Franck , who was appointed against Thomas' wishes in 1872, but successfully as regards Gabriel Fauré whose appointment to the Conservatoire was delayed until after Thomas' death. Thomas was, on the other hand, innovative in the running of

1472-433: The differences between opéra and opéra comique faded, the two main houses in Paris came more into competition, although the Salle Favart saw the premieres of more innovative works: Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue (1907), Ravel's L'heure espagnole (1911), and French premieres of works by Puccini and Falla. Between 1900 and 1950, 401 works by 206 different composers were performed at

1536-516: The end of the Second World War, the Opéra-Comique's best artists, assets and repertory had been gradually taken from it to enrich the Opéra. The Opéra-Comique discovered some fresh energy in 1950s, restaging Roméo et Juliette , Orphée et Eurydice , Le roi malgré lui and Les noces de Jeannette and introducing Bluebeard's Castle , Landowski's Les Adieux and Dallapiccola 's Volo di Notte to attract new audiences and keep

1600-481: The fairground entrepreneurs Charles Alard and Maurice were able to purchase from the Opéra's director Pierre Guyenet the right to use singers, dancers, musicians, and sets, this did not last as Guyenet died in 1712, leaving the Opéra with a debt in the neighborhood of 400,000 livres. Alard resorted to giving silent performances with the actors' speeches displayed to the audience on large cue cards. The players next tried including vaudeville airs via audience participation:

1664-642: The first performances of such important French works as Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust (1846), Thomas' Mignon (1866), and Bizet's Carmen (1875). In the latter part of the century the theatre revived works it had made its own, restaged works from the repertoire of the Théâtre Lyrique (which had closed in 1872) and premiered new pieces, such as Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann (1881); Delibes' Lakmé (1883); Massenet's Manon (1884), Esclarmonde (1889), and Werther (French premiere in 1893); and Charpentier's Louise (1900). A fire at

1728-418: The governor of "Richemont", where the action takes place. The premiere in Paris was followed by productions in many European and American theatres. The work, described by The Musical Times as "a little masterpiece", was frequently revived, but fell out of the repertory after the composer's death. Later in 1850 Thomas' next opera, Raymond , was premiered. It has not survived in the operatic repertoire, but

1792-491: The head of the academy, with whom he shared an admiration for both Mozart and Beethoven ; he also met Berlioz , who encouraged him and wrote about him favourably. During his Italian sojourn he wrote chamber music – a piano trio, a string quintet and a string quartet – and a set of six songs, Souvenirs d'Italie . After leaving Rome, Thomas stayed briefly in Germany, before returning to Paris in 1835, when he began writing for

1856-423: The influence of Rossini . In later works, Thomas' music could still be derivative: Forbes cites Psyché (1857) as "an inferior copy of Gounod 's Sapho " and his Le carnaval de Venise (also 1857) as imitating Victor Massé . She concludes that at his best – which he was not always – Thomas wrote delightful and individual music, was capable of orchestration that is "often quite ravishing", and musically conveyed

1920-414: The king in 1780, although the names Comédie-Italienne and Théâtre Italien were still used frequently by the press and public for many years thereafter. In 1783 the company moved again, into the Salle Favart (architect Jean-François Heurtier ; ca. 1,100 seats) on the site where the current theatre stands. Around that time the works of Grétry featured strongly. With the proliferation of opera houses after

1984-486: The last having been performed more than 2,500 times. Since the Middle Ages popular light theatrical entertainments had been a part of the seasonal Parisian fairs, especially the Foire Saint-Germain and the Foire Saint-Laurent. They included farces, tightrope acts, acrobatics, and marionettes, and also included music, such as vaudevilles and popular songs. The audiences were diverse, from all levels of society, and

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2048-481: The libretto from English-speaking critics at the time and subsequently, the work has remained an occasional part of the operatic repertoire; later singers of Ophelia included Emma Calvé , Emma Albani , Nellie Melba and Mary Garden , and among the Hamlets have been Victor Maurel , Titta Ruffo , Mattia Battistini and more recently Sherrill Milnes , Thomas Allen and Thomas Hampson . Although Thomas had by now

2112-474: The liveliest banter – would rank with the leaders of the modern school of composers; as it is, the purity and diversity of his style make him a first-rate dramatic composer. In the 2001 edition of Grove , Langham Smith writes, "In the context of French opera of the late 19th century Thomas was a figure of considerable importance, an imaginative innovator and a master of musical characterization." Langham Smith concludes that after years of neglect, Thomas' work saw

2176-406: The lungs. He was survived by his widow, Elvire, née Remaury (1827–1910), whom he married in 1878. He was succeeded as director of the Conservatoire by Dubois. Emmanuel Chabrier 's jibe, "There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas" is often quoted, but, as the musicologist Richard Langham Smith observes, it is not clear whether Chabrier meant that Thomas' music

2240-489: The modern one of being funny; the term covered a much wider category of work. Notable composers in the history of the Opéra-Comique include Auber , Halévy , Berlioz and Bizet . After Rossini's arrival in Paris, new works at the Opéra-Comique took in Italian vocal style and techniques, leading to greater virtuosity, although "the repertory as a whole stood as a bulwark against the italianate invasion of Rossini". In 1840,

2304-456: The music was arranged by Jean-Claude Gillier, and the orchestra consisted of 15 players. Lesage authored many of the early opéras comiques , and composers like Gillier worked primarily as arrangers of existing music. In 1716 one of the troupes' leaders, Catherine Vanderberg purchased additional rights and began to present more original works by authors, such as Jacques-Philippe d'Orneval , Alexis Piron , and Louis Fuzelier . In these early days

2368-438: The musicians would play a popular tune, and the spectators would sing, while the actors remained silent. This was further enhanced when the words began to be displayed to the audience on a large banner. In 1713 and 1714 several of the fair troupes were able to conclude a new series of agreements with the creditors of the deceased Guyenet, who at this point had become the managers of the rather expensive Opéra. For an annual fee

2432-451: The nineteenth century, and achieved more than four hundred performances over the next fifty years. Thomas' next work for the Opéra-Comique, Le songe d'une nuit d'été (The Summer Night's Dream, 1850), was also a popular success. The text, by Joseph-Bernard Rosier and Adolphe de Leuven , owes nothing to A Midsummer Night's Dream : Shakespeare appears as one of the characters, along with Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare's Falstaff ,

2496-402: The office that if I did not nominate you I should seem to be signing your dismissal from a post already yours." As director Thomas ran an intransigently conservative regime. The music of Auber, Halévy and especially Meyerbeer was regarded as the correct model for students, and early French music such as that of Rameau and modern music, including that of Wagner were kept rigorously out of

2560-402: The orchestra is consummate, both in grouping instruments of different timbre, and obtaining new effects of sound; but though carrying orchestral colouring to the utmost pitch of perfection, he never allows it to overpower the voices. With a little more boldness and individuality of melody this accomplished writer, artist, and poet – master of all moods and passing in turn from melancholy musings to

2624-572: The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 Thomas, though aged nearly sixty, volunteered to serve in the Garde Nationale . The following year Auber resigned as director of the Conservatoire, shortly before his death, and Thomas was appointed his successor. He was so widely seen as Auber's heir apparent that the minister of education, Jules Simon , said in his letter offering Thomas the post, "You are so obviously fitted for

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2688-515: The overture became a popular orchestral showpiece. In 1851, following the death of the composer Gaspare Spontini , Thomas was elected to succeed him as a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts . In 1856 Thomas was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatoire, under the directorship of Daniel Auber . He remained on the staff, as professor and subsequently director, until his death forty years later. Over these years his students included

2752-643: The piano with Friedrich Kalkbrenner , and composition with Jean-François Lesueur and Auguste Barbereau . In 1832, at his second attempt, Thomas won France's premier music prize, the Grand Prix de Rome , with his cantata Hermann et Ketty . The prize brought him three years' study at the Villa Medici , the French Academy in Rome . During his time there he became friendly with the painter Ingres ,

2816-543: The presentations were given on makeshift stages. However, with the establishment in 1672 of King Louis XIV 's Académie royale de Musique (popularly known as the Opéra) under Jean-Baptiste Lully , the use of music by fair troupes was significantly curtailed. When the Italian players at the Hôtel de Bourgogne were banished from Paris in 1697 for performing their comedy La fausse prude ("The False Prude"), which satirized

2880-417: The role of librettist for the theatre was more important than that of the composer – and pre-eminent among them for more than forty years was Charles-Simon Favart , who made his first contribution in 1734 and achieved his first important success with La chercheuse d'esprit in 1741. In 1743 the impresario Jean Monnet paid 12,000 livres to the Opéra for the right to run the Opéra-Comique, He renovated

2944-538: The stage. The first opera Thomas composed was La double échelle (The Double Ladder, 1837), a one-act comedy, praised by Berlioz for its "extreme vivacity and wit". It was produced at the Opéra-Comique , received 247 performances, and in the next few years was given in Brussels, New Orleans , Berlin, Vienna and London. His first full-length opera, Le perruquier de la Régence (The Regency Wigmaker, 1838)

3008-551: The students of the Conservatoire. Thomas' operas were generally neglected during most of the 20th century, but in more recent decades they have experienced something of a revival both in Europe and the US. Thomas was born in Metz , the youngest of four children of Martin Thomas (1770–1823) and his wife, Jeanne, née Willaume (1780–1866), both music teachers. By the age of ten he was already an experienced pianist and violinist. When he

3072-653: The theatre and brought together a group of highly talented creative artists, including, besides Favart, who also worked as a stage director, the comedian Préville , the stage designer François Boucher , and the ballet master Dupré and his pupil Jean-Georges Noverre . Jean-Philippe Rameau may also have been the leader of the orchestra. The company was, however, too successful, and the Opéra refused to renew Monnet's privilege in 1745. After working briefly in Lyon, and mounting unsuccessful productions in Dijon (1746) and London (1749), he

3136-560: The theatre closed for 18 months for major refurbishment including the costume department, the salle Bizet, and the hall Boieldieu. During the closure a webopera and a fan zone at the UEFA Cup where spectators were invited to sing well-known opéra-comique songs took place. After the works, the theatre reopened in 2017, with the first stage production since the composer's death of Marais's Alcione (on 25 April 2017) with Jordi Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations . The information in

3200-450: The theatre hosted one of the major baroque revivals: Atys , with Les Arts Florissants in 1987. The company regained its autonomy and returned, albeit with an inadequate budget, to the Salle Favart in 1990. Although its budget amounted to less than most provincial French opera houses, the first new director of the independent Opéra-Comique, Thierry Fouquet, attempted to run a balanced programme but handed over in 1994 to Pierre Médecin, who

3264-486: The troupes obtained the right to perform light comedies interspersed with songs and dances and to use sets and theatre machines. They were also given the right to use the name "Opéra-Comique". The first work officially given that designation was Télémaque (a parody of the opera by André Cardinal Destouches ), which was first performed by the Théâtre de la Foire Saint-Germain in 1715. The words were by Alain-René Lesage ,

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3328-470: The week except for major festivals. Boxes could be hired for a year at a time, and many subscribers were wealthy. Before 1848 a third of subscribers were of the aristocracy, but after then it became an especially middle class theatre. After 1848 Émile Perrin sought to revive the repertoire with more literary and ambitious works. Until 1864 its repertoire was still prescribed, by statute, to have spoken dialogue between musical numbers. The Opéra-Comique staged

3392-406: The work by which his name became most widely known. The libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré , based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre . Forbes writes that, unusually, Thomas had the advantage of a well-judged and theatrically effective libretto, and that although in the novel Mignon dies, the happy ending works well in the opera. (A happy ending was then compulsory at

3456-640: Was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas Mignon (1866) and Hamlet (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris , winning France's top music prize, the Prix de Rome . He pursued a career as a composer of operas, completing his first opera, La double échelle , in 1837. He wrote twenty further operas over the next decades, mostly comic, but he also treated more serious subjects, finding considerable success with audiences in France and abroad. Thomas

3520-468: Was able to repurchase the Opéra-Comique privilège in December 1751 and remained its director until 1757. During his second period as director, Monnet continued to work with Favart and Noverre, and Boucher designed and built a substantial new theatre for the company of the Foire Saint-Laurent in 1752. The theatre was later installed in a wing of the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs on the rue Bergère, where it

3584-438: Was actually original, composed by Antoine Dauvergne , and began a period of new works in a more Italian style in which music played a much more significant role. Composers for the company during this period included Egidio Duni , François-André Danican Philidor and Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny . The dramatist Michel-Jean Sedaine wrote the text of his first opera for the company, Le diable à quatre , in 1756. It premiered at

3648-402: Was appointed as a professor at the Conservatoire in 1856, and in 1871 he succeeded Daniel Auber as director. Between then and his death at his home in Paris twenty-five years later, he modernised the Conservatoire's organisation while imposing a rigidly conservative curriculum, hostile to modern music, and attempting to prevent composers such as César Franck and Gabriel Fauré from influencing

3712-474: Was distantly based on Shakespeare by way of a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père , and Paul Meurice , further adapted as a libretto by Carré and Barbier. Although the adaptation was seen as a travesty of the play, with a ballet-divertissement (obligatory at the Opéra) and a happy ending, with Hamlet acclaimed as king, the work was successful not only in Paris but in London. Despite disparaging reviews of

3776-551: Was first given in Laxenburg, Austria, on 28 May 1759. Other settings were later composed for the Opéra-Comique by Bernardo Porta (14 February 1790) and Jean-Pierre Solié (30 November 1809). On 3 February 1762 the Opéra-Comique was merged into the Comédie-Italienne and occupied the Hôtel de Bourgogne , gaining in respectability what it lost in independence. The company was renamed to Opéra-Comique by an edict of

3840-475: Was followed in the next decade by six more, none of which made any permanent impression. During this period he also composed a ballet ( La Gipsy , 1839). His first completely successful three-act opera was Le caïd (The Qaid , 1849), described by the musicologist Elizabeth Forbes as "a mixture of Il barbiere di Siviglia and L'italiana in Algeri "; it remained in the French operatic repertoire throughout

3904-596: Was responsible for the centenary season in 1998 with a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande . The loss of private sponsors led to a policy of musical comedy and operetta under Jérôme Savary from 2000. A decree of November 2004 put the theatre on a new basis, stressing the variety of productions it should mount: "de l'opéra baroque à la création contemporaine et le patrimoine de l'Opéra-Comique". It currently mounts 7 or 8 operas or opéra comiques (some of them co-productions), with complementary concerts, recitals and exhibitions, each season. In common with many other opera houses

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3968-475: Was twelve his father died, and Ambroise's elder brother Charles moved to Paris, where he played the cello in the Opéra orchestra. In 1828, aged 17, Ambroise joined him in Paris, where he was admitted as a student by the Conservatoire de Paris . He studied the piano with Pierre Zimmerman and harmony and counterpoint with Victor Dourlen . He won premiers prix in these subjects in 1829 and 1830. He went on to study

4032-549: Was used by the Opéra in 1781, and then as the first concert hall of the Paris Conservatory , which was founded on the same site in 1795. The new theatre was especially important, as it enabled the company to perform at times when the fair was not in operation. Monnet's friend Jean-Joseph Vadé wrote the libretto for Les troqueurs , first staged in July 1753 and advertised as a translation of an Italian work. The music

4096-404: Was worse than bad, somewhere between good and bad, or something else. A contemporary assessment was given in the first edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1889), where Gustave Chouquet wrote of Thomas: He brings to his task an inborn instinct for the stage, and a remarkable gift of interpreting dramatic situations of the most varied and opposite kinds. His skill in handling

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