Page 89 - HandbookMarch1

http://www.hberlioz.com/Paris/P-RSerna-e.htm

The Misadventures of the Salle du Conservatoire

By

Pierre-René Serna

© 2004 Pierre-René Serna

Translated by Michel Austin
© Michel Austin

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The hall of the former Conservatoire (nowadays the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique, in Paris’
9th arrondissement), still remains that well-kept secret, unknown to tourists and to many Parisians.
Yet this building, loaded with an illustrious musical past that is without equal, provides a unique
testimony on the art of the concert halls of the past and is a priceless architectural jewel.

Originally, that is in the early XVIIth century, the area of the Faubourg Poissonnière was nothing
but open fields and wasteland beneath the ramparts surrounding Paris. When these were
demolished and the Boulevards created, the area beyond the old city limits was parcelled out for
residential homes and private hotels. This extended area of Paris, henceforth called La
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Nouvelle France , attracted royal attention and in the brand new rue Bergère it was decided to set
up the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs. This institution, the equivalent of the present Ministry of Culture,
included within its precinct art schools and companies of actors and musicians. The architect
Louis-Alexandre Giraud, who collaborated with Gabriel on the Opéra of the Versailles Château,
was responsible for the original building, built between 1763 and 1787; it included storage rooms
for stage sets and workshops, to which were added an adjoining theatre. This theatre, the former
Théâtre de la Foire Saint-Laurent of 1752, the work of the famous stage engineer Arnould, was
dismantled then reassembled at the Menus Plaisirs; it witnessed among others the first performance
of La Serva Padrona by Pergolese. It was on this spot that at the instigation of Napoleon I the
present hall was built between 1806 and 1811, on the plans of the architect Delannoy, inspired by
the original model. Other buildings were added later, such as the library in 1808. In the meantime
(in 1795), to take the place of the menus plaisirs, too redolent of the Ancien Regime, the
Conservatoire of music and declamation was instituted.

From then on, this hall, one of the very first concert halls in history, became the musical meeting-
place of Europe. The Concerts Français founded by Habeneck were succeeded in 1828 by the
Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, presided over by Cherubini; its inaugural concert took
place on 9 March. This was the setting for the first performances in France of Beethoven’s
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symphonies and the majority of Berlioz’s symphonic works . Its incomparable acoustic was hailed
from its opening and celebrated by musicians all over the world, and it long remained a model.
Concerts were given there regularly up to the Second World War, infrequently thereafter (notably