When feeling depressed, visit the Paris Opera.
Irish author James Joyce had a routine throughout most of his twenty years living in Paris: ‘He gets up around nine, writes a little, but spends most of the morning on the phone, and chins with his friends by the hour. Before lunch he plays and sings, and afterwards works until five o’clock … After five he walks, alone … He likes the opera, the theatre (never misses a Thursday matinee), song recitals, and even movies,’ wrote biographer Gordon Bowker.
When James Joyce was depressed, it was his passion for opera that ‘saved’ him. Gordon Bowker wrote that when Joyce grew depressed, he had little or nothing to say to Nora, his wife, and only livened up when one of Maria Jolas’s Parisian friends talked with him about opera.
Joyce’s American avant-garde friend, composer George Antheil (1900-1959), suggested to Joyce that he write an opera based upon the Cyclops episode in his 1922 book Ulysses. Conor Fennell wrote about it in his autobiography, saying that Antheil suggested:
‘Instrumentally, there would be thirteen electic pianos. There would be drums, steel xylophones and various other loud instruments. The score would be played at great speed with crescendos and diminuendos achieved by switching pianos on and off. The singers would be out of sight, singing into microphones attached to loudspeakers on the stage, and a corps de ballet would mime the action.
As with other planned collaborations between Antheil and Joyce, it came to nothing.’
An Irish friend of James Joyce, poet Padraic Colum (1881-1972), had a ‘poor ear for music’ and ‘lacked Joyce’s unbridled enthusiasm’ for opera. When Joyce and Colum went to the Paris Opera, ‘Colum seems to have been more impressed by the Opera House than by the opera, savouring the presence of smartly dressed dignitaries with chains and women bedecked with wraps and jewels,’ wrote Conor Fennell.
Most of Joyce’s residences were on the Left Bank, far from the National Opera of Paris wich was located on the Right Bank in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. But not too far that prevented him from strolling to the opulent building.
With Australian friends in Paris, that’s where we headed on a grey November day – not to see an opera but to see the building of The Palais Garnier known as the Garnier Palace, the L’Opéra Garnier, Paris Garnier, or the Opera House.
Charles Garnier (1825-1898) was the architect commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III to oversee the construction of the building from 1861-1875 which became known as the new Paris Opera that hosted both opera and ballet productions. The construction of the Bastille Opera House in the 12th arrondissement in 1984-1990 relegated The Palais Garnier to secondary status for hosting operas and is now primarily used for ballet productions by the Paris Opera Ballet.
The buiding of The Palais Garnier is 56 metres tall (184 feet) and 155 metres (508 feet) long, with a façade of 32 metres (105 feet). It is famous mainly for five aspects: 1) the main façade, 2) the auditorium (the stage), 3) the grand staircase, 4) the chandeliers, and 5) the mosaic tiles.
On the day of our visit, yesterday, the main façade was under renovation and covered with a massive advertisement for Ralph Lauren, and the auditorium was closed for public viewing due to rehearsals. Nevertheless, there was much to see – for a small fee.
