- Paris Opera Ballet
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Paris Opera Ballet 
General Information Name Paris Opera Ballet Local Name Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris Previous Names - Académie d'Opéra
- Académie Royale de Musique
- Académie Impériale de Musique
- Théâtre National de l'Opéra
Year Founded 1669 Principal venue Palais Garnier,
Place de l'Opéra,
Paris, 9th arrondissement,
France
Website www.operadeparis.fr Senior Staff Administrator Olivier Aldeano Director Brigitte Lefèvre Artistic Staff Ballet Master in Chief Other Associate Schools Paris Opera Ballet School[1] Formation Étoile
Premier Danseur
Sujet
Coryphée
QuadrilleThe Paris Opera Ballet (French: Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris) is the oldest national ballet company in the world, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It has always been an integral part of the Paris Opera, which was founded in 1669 as the Académie d'Opéra (Academy of Opera), although theatrical dance did not become an important component of the Paris Opera until 1673, after it was renamed the Académie Royale de Musique (Royal Academy of Music) and placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully.[1][2] 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). Currently the company presents ballet primarily at the Palais Garnier.[3]
Contents
History
See also: History of balletBackground
The Paris Opera Ballet had its origins in the earlier dance institutions, traditions and practices of the court of Louis XIV of France. Of particular importance were the series of comédies-ballets created by Molière with, among others, the choreographers and composers Pierre Beauchamps and Jean-Baptiste Lully. The first was Les fâcheux in 1661 and the most important, Le bourgeois gentilhomme in 1670.[4] Many of these were also performed by Molière's company at the public theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris, which was later to become the first permanent home of the opera company and the opera ballet.
Also in 1661 Louis had founded the Académie Royale de Danse (Royal Academy of Dance) in an effort "to improve the quality of dance instruction for court entainments". Members of the academy, as well as the dance teachers who were certified by it, and their students, participated in the creation of the ballets for the court, Molière, and later the opera.[5] In 1680 Beauchamps became the chancellor (director) of the Académie Royale de Danse.[2][6] Although the Académie Royale de Danse and the Opera were closely connected, the two institutions remained separate, and the former disappeared with the fall of the monarchy in 1789.[7]
Founding and early history
On 28 June 1669 Louis granted a privilege to the poet Pierre Perrin giving him a monopoly to form a separate academy for the performance of opera in French. The first production of the company founded by Perrin, the Académie d'Opéra (Academy of Opera), was Pomone, which was first performed on 3 March 1671 and included ballets choreographed by Pierre Beauchamps.[5]
In 1672 Lully purchased Perrin's privilege and also obtained new letters patent limiting the use of musicians and dancers by other French companies. With Beauchamps as choreographer and Carlo Vigarani as stage designer, Lully's company, now called the Académie Royale de Musique, produced Les fêtes de l'Amour et de Bacchus in November 1672. This work consisted primarily of excerpts from Lully's prior court ballets connected with new entrees created by Beauchamps. A crucial difference, however, from the previous court ballets was that the members of the court no longer participated, and all of the dancers were professional.[5]
The next production, Cadmus et Hermione (27 April 1673), the first tragédie lyrique, with a libretto by Philippe Quinault, was received ecstatically by Louis XIV. Lully, Quinault, and Beauchamps continued to collaborate on a series of successful productions, in the process creating a new genre of French opera in which dance interludes played an important part in the musical drama.[8]
Initially the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet were all male. Mademoiselle de la Fontaine (1665–1738) became the first professional ballerina when she danced in the premiere of Lully's ballet Le Triomphe de l'Amour on 21 January 1681.[9] Pierre Beauchamps continued to collaborate with Lully at the Paris Opera until Lully's death in 1687.[6]
Later history
The 18th century saw the creation of an associated school, now referred to as the Paris Opera Ballet School (French: École de Danse de l’Opéra de Paris), which opened in 1713. The operas of Rameau, and later Gluck, raised standards for the dancers. Jean-Georges Noverre was a particularly influential ballet master from 1776 to 1781. He created the ballet Les Petits Riens which used music by Mozart in 1778. Maximilien Gardel was ballet master from 1781, with his brother Pierre Gardel taking over after Maximilien's death in 1787. Pierre Gardel survived the Revolution creating ballets such as La Marseillaise and Offrande à liberté.[1] He remained the ballet master up to 1820 and continued to work up to 1829.[10]
In 1820 Pierre Gardel was succeeded as ballet master by Jean-Louis Aumer, who was however highly criticized for using too much mime and failing to use choreography which furthered plot or character.[10] In 1821 the company moved to a new house, the Salle Le Peletier, where Romantic ballet was born.
In 1875 the company moved to the Palais Garnier where it continues to perform.[1]
The Paris Opera Ballet School has become one of the most preeminent in the world. Its former pupils have won a record of 17 Benois de la Danse awards since 1992.[11] The school will celebrate its tercentennial in 2013.
Choreographers
Choreographers associated with the Paris Opera Ballet and works created for the Paris Opera Ballet are:
- Jean Dauberval: La fille mal gardée (1789).
- Pierre Gardel: Télémaque (1790), Psyché (1793), Le jugement de Pâris (1793), La dansomanie (1800)
- Philippe Taglioni: La Sylphide (1832)
- Jules Perrot: Giselle (1842)
- Jean Coralli: Giselle (1842)
- Carlo Blasis
- Arthur Saint-Léon: Coppélia (1870)
- Louis Meranté: Sylvia (1875)
- Serge Lifar: Les créatures de Prométhée (1929), Icare (1935), Istar (1941), Suite en blanc (1943)
- Kenneth MacMillan: Métaboles (1978), Les quatres saisons (1978)
- Rudolf Nureyev: Raymonda (1983), Swan Lake (1985)
- Maurice Béjart: Arepo (1986)
- William Forsythe: In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (1987)
- Angelin Preljocaj: Le parc (1994), Annunciation (1996), MC/14-22 (Ceci est mon corps) (2004), Le songe de Médée (2004)
Dancers
There are five ranks of dancers in the Paris Opera Ballet, from highest to lowest they are:
- étoiles
- premiers danseurs
- sujets
- coryphées
- quadrilles
étoiles
- Agnès Letestu
- Aurélie Dupont
- Benjamin Pech
- Clairemarie Osta
- Dorothée Gilbert
- Émilie Cozette
- Hervé Moreau
- Isabelle Ciaravola
- Jérémie Bélingard
- Karl Paquette
- Laëtitia Pujol
- Marie-Agnès Gillot
- Mathieu Ganio
- Nicolas Le Riche
- Mathias Heymann
- Stéphane Bullion
former dancers
- Delphine Moussin
- Élisabeth Platel
- Emma Livry
- Freya Monroy
- José Martinez
- Kader Belarbi
- Lelia Haller
- Marie Taglioni
- Michel Descombey
- Patrick Dupond
- Sylvie Guillem
- Yvette Chauviré
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c d "Paris Opera Ballet" in Crane and Mackrell 2000, pp. 360–361.
- ^ a b Christout 1998, p. 86.
- ^ "Histoire de l'Opéra national de Paris" (in French) at the Paris Opera website. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ Guest 2006, pp. 5–7.
- ^ a b c Astier 1998a, p. 3.
- ^ a b Astier 1998b, pp. 396–397.
- ^ Astier 1998a, p. 4.
- ^ Christout 1998, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Pitou 1983, pp. 249, 325–326.
- ^ a b Babsky 1998, p. 202.
- ^ Prix Benois de la Danse. The addition of the 11 awards of both Bolshoi Ballet dancers or pupils of its Academy and of the 9 of both the Mariinsky Ballet or Vaganova Academy gives nevertheless 20 awards to both main Russian schools.
- Sources
- Astier, Régine (1998a). "Académie Royale de Danse" in Cohen 1998, vol. 1. pp. 3–5.
- Astier, Régine (1998b). "Beauchamps, Pierre" in Cohen 1998, vol. 1., pp. 396–397.
- Babsky, Monique (1998). "Aumer, Jean-Louis" in Cohen 1998, vol. 1, pp. 201–203.
- Christout, Marie-Françoise (1998). "Paris Opera Ballet" in Cohen 1998, vol. 5, pp. 86–100.
- Cohen, Selma Jeanne, editor (1998). International Encyclopedia of Dance (6 volumes). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195094626 (hardcover). ISBN 9780195173697 (2004 paperback edition).
- Craine, Debra; Mackrell, Judith (2000). The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198601067.
- Guest, Ivor (2006). The Paris Opéra Ballet. Alton, Hampshire: Dance Books. ISBN 9781852731090.
- Pitou, Spire (1983). The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Genesis and Glory, 1671–1715. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwod Press. ISBN 9780686460367.
External links
London Festival Ballet (1977) · Robert Cohan (1978) · Peter Schaufuss (1979) · The Royal Ballet (1980) · Stuttgart Ballet (1981) · Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris (1982) · Ballet Rambert (1986) · Trisha Brown (1987) · Kirov Ballet (1988) · London Contemporary Dance Theatre (1990) · Twyla Tharp and Jennifer Tipton (1991) · William Forsythe and The Royal Ballet (1992) · Siobhan Davies (1993) · London Contemporary Dance Theatre (1994) · Peter Mumford (1995) · Siobhan Davies (1996) · Rambert Dance Company (1997) · Lez Brotherston (1998) · William Forsythe and Ballett Frankfurt (1999) · Jiří Kylián and Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (2000)
Complete list · (1977–2000) · (2001–2025) Categories:- Paris culture
- Paris Opera Ballet
- 1661 establishments
- Opera company stubs
- Dance stubs
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