page_title: History of music in Paris
section_title: The café concert, the music hall and the cabaret
hierarchical_section_title: History of music in Paris / The Belle Époque (1872–1913) / The café concert, the music hall and the cabaret
context_page_description: The city of Paris has been an important center for European music since the Middle Ages. It was noted for its choral music in the 12th century, for its role in the development of ballet during the Renaissance, in the 19th century it became famous for its music halls and cabarets, and in the 20th century for the first performances of the Ballets Russes, its jazz clubs, and its part in the development of serial music. Paris has been home to many important composers, to name a few: Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Niccolò Piccinni, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Jacques Offenbach, Georges Bizet, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Hector Berlioz, Paul Dukas, Gabriel Fauré, César Franck, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Vincent d'Indy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Sidney Bechet...
context_section_description: The café concert was an extremely popular musical venue at the beginning of the Belle Époque.  Following the 1870 war, sentimental songs and songs calling for revenge against Germany for the loss of Alsace and Lorraine were the staple of all musical cafes.  Over the course of the Belle Époque, the café chantant evolved into two different musical institutions;  some, like Café des Ambassadeurs and the Eldorado, became very large, crowded and filled with noise and smoke, with orchestras, dance reviews, singers and comedy.
  The music hall originated in England in 1842, and was first imported into France in its British form in 1862, but under the French law protecting the state theaters, performers could not wear consumes or recite dialogue, something only allowed in theaters. When the law changed in 1867, the Paris music hall flourished, and a half-dozen new halls opened, offering acrobats, singers, dancers, magicians, and trained animals.
  The first Paris music call built specially for that purpose was the Folies-Bergere (1869);  it was followed by the Moulin Rouge (1889), the Alhambra (1866), the first to be called a music hall, and the  Olympia (1893).  The Printania (1903) was a music-garden, open only in summer, with a theater, restaurant, circus, and horse-racing.   Older theaters also transformed themselves into music halls, including the Bobino Music Hall (1873), the Bataclan (1864), and the Alcazar  (1858).  At the beginning , music halls offered dance reviews, theater and songs, but gradually songs and singers became the main attraction.  At the end of the Belle Epoque, the music halls began to face competition from movie theaters. The Olympia responded in 1911 with the invention of the grand stairway as a set for its musical and dance spectacles. 
  The smaller, more intimate clubs, called cabarets, focused on individual singers and personal songs, often written by the singer, along with satire and poetry. 
  The Le Chat Noir, neighborhood of Montmartre, was created in 1881 by Rodolphe Salis, a theatrical agent and entrepreneur.  It combined music and other entertainment with political commentary and satire. The Chat Noir brought together the wealthy and famous of Paris with the Bohemians and artists of Montmartre and the Pigalle.  Its clientele was described by the historian Paul Bourget:  "a fantastic mixture of writers and painters, of journalists and students, of employees and high-livers, as well as models, prostitutes and true grand dames searching for exotic experiences."   The composer Eric Satie earned his living after finishing the Conservatory playing the piano at the Chat Noir.
  By 1896 there were fifty-six cabarets and cafes with music in Paris,  along with a dozen music halls.  The cabarets did not have a high reputation;  one critic wrote in 1897, "they sell drinks which are worth fifteen centimes along with verses which, for the most part, are worth nothing.".
caption: The Café-Concert by Edgar Degas (1876-77)
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