page_title: Théâtre Lyrique
section_title: 1868–1870: Jules Pasdeloup
hierarchical_section_title: Théâtre Lyrique / On the Place du Châtelet / 1868–1870: Jules Pasdeloup
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover of the vocal score of Le bal masqué, a French adaptation by Eugène Scribe and Edouard Duprez of Verdi's opera Un ballo in maschera, as performed at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris beginning on 17 November 1869
context_page_description: The Théâtre Lyrique was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century. The company was founded in 1847 as the Opéra-National by the French composer Adolphe Adam and renamed Théâtre Lyrique in 1852. It used four different theatres in succession, the Cirque Olympique, the Théâtre Historique, the Salle du Théâtre-Lyrique, and the Salle de l'Athénée, until it ceased operations in 1872.
  The diverse repertoire of the company "cracked the strict organization of the Parisian operatic world by breaking away from the principle that institution and genre were of one substance."
context_section_description: By 22 August 1868 Jules Pasdeloup had been selected and confirmed as the new director of the Théâtre Lyrique. Pasdeloup, a successful conductor of popular concerts at the Cirque Napoléon with little experience as a theatre director, began with some already established productions. The season opened on 24 October with the company's revival of Halévy's Le val d'Andorre, which was followed by performances of Flotow's Martha, Rossini's Le barbier de Seville, Paer's two-act opéra comique Le maître de chapelle, and Grisar's one-act opéra comique Les bégaiements d'amour.
  Pasdeloup's first new production was a revival of Méhul's one-act opéra comique L'irato (1801), which opened on 16 November 1868. It was such an abysmal failure that it received only one performance. Next was a new revival of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, which was first presented on 26 November and did somewhat better with 15 performances. Ernest Reyer reported that at the second performance of Iphigénie on 29 November Pasdeloup arrived at the theatre after having "directed in the morning the beautiful Mass of Mme la Vicomte de Grandval at the Panthéon, and, in the afternoon the concert at the Cirque [Napoléon]." Pasdeloup had also retained his post as conductor of the Orphéonistes and seems to have had too little time available for running the Théâtre Lyrique. His next new revival was Adolphe Adam's three-act opéra comique Le brasseur de Preston on 23 December. The latter proved to be more popular, receiving 60 performances. Not long after the opening of Le brasseur, Adolphe Deloffre, who up to this time had been the chief conductor of the Théâtre Lyrique, left to become the conductor of the Opéra-Comique.
  The new year brought further performances of the company's productions of Verdi's Rigoletto (beginning 8 January 1869), Mozart's Don Juan (beginning on 24 January), and Verdi's Violetta (beginning on 1 February). Christine Nilsson, who had been highly successful as Violetta, had left the company for the Opéra and was replaced by the Hungarian soprano Aglaja Orgeni. She had been recommended by Pauline Viardot on the advice of Clara Schumann and had a strong foreign accent. She may have been mistaken as German and was poorly received. Gustave Bertrand, writing in the 7 February issue of Le Ménestrel, complained that the audience was "as unjust as they were brutal" and found that "Mlle Orgeni is an artist of merit." None of these productions were filling the house, despite significantly lower ticket prices. Henri Moreno of Le Ménestrel (31 January 1869) wrote of Don Juan: "He [Pasdeloup] does not want stars, but one cannot perform the classics, above all, unless with artists of the first order." The Revue et Gazette Musicale (31 January 1869) agreed: "Unfortunately he does not work on the same principles as M Carvalho, the production is therefore diminished as, consequently, is the success, in spite of all the care given elsewhere to the orchestral part."
  These revivals were followed by some premieres: a one-act opéra comique by Ernest Guiraud called En prison, which was first presented on 5 March 1869 and received 21 performances, and another new work, the three-act opéra comique Don Quichotte by Ernest Boulanger (winner of the Prix de Rome in 1835 and father of Nadia Boulanger), which premiered on 10 May and received only 18 performances. The latter, having been adapted from Cervantes' novel by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré and declined by Offenbach, "was received benevolently but without favor. The piece was lacking in interest or movement; it presented nothing but a series of scenes badly stitched one to the other, and which passed before the eyes of the spectator like magic lantern slides." Jules Ruelle, writing in Le Guide Musical, thought the baritone Auguste-Alphonse Meillet excellent in the role of Sancho-Pança, but the young bass Alfred Giraudet, although having the proper physique, not quite up to the role of the Don vocally — his voice began to fail by the end of the second act. Ruelle also felt that the lack of important female roles and a tenor 
caption: Cover of the vocal score of Le bal masqué (1869)
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