Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens

The Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens (French: [teɑtʁ de buf paʁizjɛ̃]) is a Parisian theatre founded in 1855 by the composer Jacques Offenbach for the performance of opéra bouffe and operetta. The current theatre is located in the 2nd arrondissement at 4 rue Monsigny with an entrance at the back at 65 Passage Choiseul. In the 19th century the theatre was often referred to as the Salle Choiseul. With the decline in popularity of operetta after 1870, the theatre expanded its repertory to include comedies.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The theatre is still active with regular productions of stage plays.

Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in 2010

History

Salle Lacaze

In February 1855, Offenbach successfully requested a license from the Parisian authorities for the performance of what he described as a "new and original" genre of musical theatre. He justified his proposed endeavour by saying that these works would have mass appeal and would provide opportunities for young French composers.^[3]

The company gave its first performances during the summer of 1855 at the Salle Lacaze. This theatre was unusually small with a capacity of only 300 spectators,^[6] but was located on the Carré Marigny, near the crowds attending the Exposition Universelle. The inaugural performance was on 5 July with Offenbach conducting four of his own works: a prologue called Entrez, messieurs, mesdames, a one-act pièce d'occasion written by Joseph Méry and "Jules Servières" (a pen name of Ludovic Halévy, who worked as a government official and needed to protect his reputation); Une nuit blanche, a one-act opéra-comique on a pastoral theme; Arlequin barbier, a pantomime utilizing themes from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia arranged by "Alfred Lange" (Offenbach); and Les deux aveugles, a one-act bouffonerie musicale about two swindling "blind" Parisian beggars. The latter was almost cut, since the invited audience who attended the dress rehearsal failed to laugh, but Offenbach decided to retain it, and it was the hit of the opening night. This little piece soon acquired an international reputation (due to visitors from the Exposition), and Offenbach's admirers soon included Tolstoy and Thackeray. Further performances in the summer of 1855 were primarily of satirical sketches which only included a few musical numbers. The season, however, was so successful that Offenbach was able to resign his position as conductor of the Théâtre Français.^[1][2][7]

Salle Choiseul

The Salle Choiseul during a performance of Offenbach's Un mari à la porte (1859)

In October Offenbach submitted another petition to the authorities, this time to merge his company with the Théâtre des Jeunes Élèves de Monsieur Comte (Théâtre Comte). This company's theatre, which was not much larger than the Salle Lacaze, was demolished, and the larger Salle Choiseul with a capacity of about 900 was constructed. The new theatre was not only larger, but warmer, more luxurious and more comfortable than the Salle Lacaze. The orchestra was enlarged from sixteen players to thirty.^[8] Offenbach's new license permitted performances of one-act comedies, with or without music, but with fewer than five characters. It also specifically excluded sketches and required the performance of at least two works by composers other than Offenbach. The first performance of the merged company was on 29 December 1855 at the Salle Choiseul and included the premiere of Offenbach's Ba-ta-clan, a one-act chinoiserie musicale with a libretto by Halévy. From this time performances were primarily given at the Salle Choiseul during the winter theatre season. The company performed at the Salle Lacaze during the 1856, 1857 and 1859 summer seasons,^[9][10] however, in March 1861 legislation was enacted which prevented the company from using both theatres, and appearances at the Salle Lacaze were discontinued.^[11] In spite of the restrictions of the license, Offenbach began including longer, more substantial works which violated its terms. For instance, his two-act Orphée aux enfers with a cast of 16 received its first performance at the Salle Choiseul on 21 October 1858. Even after Offenbach resigned as the director in January 1862, the company continued at the Salle Choiseul, performing light operas by other composers as well as Offenbach.^{[1][2][3][12]}

Upon the departure of Offenbach, the new director tore down the existing hall to erect a larger one with a capacity of 1100 spectators.^[1]

Legacy

While the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens is indelibly linked to Offenbach, it has also been the venue for a number of other important works. In addition to Offenbach's own operettas, the theatre has seen the premieres of musical works by Hervé, Emmanuel Chabrier and Claude Terrasse, and plays by writers such as Robert de Flers, Albert Willemetz, Sacha Guitry and Henri Bernstein.

From 1986 to 2007, the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens was under the directorship of the actor Jean-Claude Brialy, after whose death in May 2007 his partner Bruno Finck took over.^[13] Subsequently Dominique Dumond, director of Polyfolies assumed the leadership in September 2013.^[14]

The theatre is part of the « Théâtres parisiens associés »^[15] and more recently the stage has witnessed straight theatre such as 88 fois l'infini with Niels Arestrup and François Berléand in 2021,^[16] La Note with Sophie Marceau and François Berléand in 2023,^[17] and A Streetcar Named Desire (in French) in 2024.^[18]

List of premieres

Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens (c. 1867)

Date	Composer	Work	Ref
29 December 1855	Jacques Offenbach	Ba-ta-clan	[3]
29 December 1855	Auguste Pilati	Les Statues de l'Alcade	[19]
Léo Delibes	Dieux vielles gardes	[3]
8 April 1857	Charles Lecocq	Le docteur miracle	[3]
9 April 1857	Georges Bizet	Le docteur miracle	[3]
21 October 1858	Jacques Offenbach	Orphée aux enfers	[3]
8 June 1859	Léo Delibes	L'omelette à la Follembuche	[3]
19 November 1859	Jacques Offenbach	Geneviève de Brabant	[3]
10 February 1860	Jacques Offenbach	Le carnaval des revues	[3]
17 November 1866	Hervé	Les chevaliers de la table ronde	[20][21]
11 January 1867	Delphine Ugalde	Halte au moulin	[3]
16 January 1869	Charles Lecocq	Gandolfo	[3][22]
19 November 1871	Charles Lecocq	Le barbier de Trouville	[3][23]
3 October 1877	Gaston Serpette	La petite muette	[24]
28 November 1877	Emmanuel Chabrier	L'étoile	[3][25]
13 November 1879	Edmond Audran	Les noces d'Olivette	[26]
16 March 1880	Louis Varney	Les mousquetaires au couvent	[27]
29 December 1880	Edmond Audran	La mascotte	[28]
11 November 1882	Edmond Audran	Gillette de Narbonne	[29]
19 April 1884	Joseph O'Kelly	La Barbière improvisée	[30]
20 March 1886	Victor Roger	Joséphine vendue par ses sœurs	[3][31]
8 October 1887	Raoul Pugno	Le sosie	[3][32]
19 April 1888	Raoul Pugno	Le valet de cœur	[3][32]
15 October 1888	Victor Roger	Oscarine	[3][33]
1 February 1889	Raoul Pugno	Le retour d'Ulysse	[3][32]
18 December 1889	André Messager	Le mari de la reine	[3][34]
22 April 1892	Paul Vidal	Eros	[3][35]
29 March 1893	Edmond Audran	Madame Suzette	[36]
3 November 1893	Émile Pessard	Mam'zelle Carabin	[3][37]
17 October 1894	Edmond Audran	L'enlèvement de la Toledad	[38]
6 May 1895	Gaston Serpette	La dot de Brigitte	[39]
28 February 1896	Charles Lecocq	Ninette	[3][40]
16 November 1897	André Messager	Les p'tites Michu	[41]
10 December 1898	André Messager	Véronique	[42][43]
7 March 1901	Claude Terrasse	Les travaux d'Hercule	[44][45]
12 November 1918	Henri Christiné	Phi-Phi	[46]
10 November 1921	Henri Christiné	Dédé	[47]
31 March 1923	Maurice Yvain	Là-Haut	[48]
22 December 1923	Maurice Yvain	La dame en décolleté	[49]
7 March 1924	Raoul Moretti	En chemyse	[50]
17 September 1924	Raoul Moretti	Troublez-moi	[51]
21 April 1925	Henri Christiné	P.L.M.	[52]
3 December 1925	Raoul Moretti	Trois jeunes filles … nues	[53]
22 December 1926	Henri Christiné	J'aime	[54]
9 May 1929	Joseph Szulc	Flossie	[55]
12 December 1930	Arthur Honegger	Les aventures du roi Pausole	[56]
19 September 1934	Moisés Simons	Toi c'est moi	[57]

List of directors

The public at the Bouffes-Parisiens (c. 1860)

The Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens was founded as a private entrepreneurship.^[58]

Date	Director(s)
5 July 1855	Jacques Offenbach, Charles Comte[59]
3 February 1862	Alphonse Varney[59]
27 September 1864	Eugène Hanappier, Armand Lapoint[59]
17 September 1866	François Varcollier[59]
8 July 1867	Julien-Joseph-Henry Dupontavisse, Auguste Lefranc[59]
August 1868	Jules Noriac, Charles Comte[59]
1870	[Closed during the Franco-Prussian War][60]
16 April 1871	Jules Noriac, Charles Comte[59]
1873	Charles Comte[59]
1877	Louis Cantin[59][61]
15 October 1885	Delphine Ugalde[62]
1 September 1888	Charles (Carlo) A. Chizzola[63][64]
1889	Oscar de Lagoanère[65]
1890	Félix Larcher[66]
1892	Charles Masset[67]
1893	Eugène Larcher[68]
1895	Georges Grisier[69]
1897	Michel-Amable Coudert[70]
1899	Coudert and Berny[71]
1900	Vildreux and Pezzani[72]
15 October 1901	André Lénéka[73]
1902	Lagoanère and Lénéka[74]
1904	Armand Bour[75]
1905	Monza and Darcour[76]
October 1906	Clot and Dublay[77]
1907	Deval and Richemond[78]
1909	Mme Cora-Laparcerie[79]
1913	Gustave Quinson[80][81]
1927	Gustave Quinson, Albert Willemetz[82]
1929	Albert Willemetz[82]
1958	Nicky Nancel (Madame Mondavi)[80][81]
1986	Jean-Claude Brialy[80]
2007	Bruno Finck[80]

References

Notes

1. Bouffes-Parisien website Archived 18 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
2. Lamb, Andrew. "Offenbach, Jacques" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 653–658.
3. Levin 2009, pp. 401–402.
4. Galignani 1862, p. 470.
5. Dickens 1882, p. 32.
6. Lamb ( "Offenbach, Jacques" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, p. 653) gives the capacity of the Salle Lacaze as 300. Gammond (1980, p. 37) says it held an audience of only 50.
7. Faris 1980, pp. 51–52.
8. Lamb ( "Offenbach, Jacques" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, p. 653) gives the capacity of 900; Faris (1980, pp. 52–53) provides an extensive quote from the periodical Le Ménestrel describing the demolition and reconstruction of the theatre and the size of the orchestra.
9. Yon 2000, pp. 760–762.
10. During the summer of 1858 the company went on tour, and Offenbach sublet the Salle Lacaze to Jean-Charles Deburau (Yon 2000, p. 201). During the summer of 1860 the company performed in Brussels and Lyon. Offenbach himself went to Berlin to supervise the rehearsals and conduct the Berlin premiere of Orphée aux enfers at the Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater on 23 June 1860 (Yon 2000, pp. 232–233).
11. Levin 2009, p. 401.
12. Lamb, Andrew. "Orphée aux enfers" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 774–776.
13. France-Soir, 16 April 2008.
14. Armelle Héliot, « Les théâtres cherchent leur planche de salut », Le Figaro, 9 May 2014.
15. Les Bouffes-Parisiens on the Théâtres parisiens associés website.
16. 88 fois l'infini at the at the Bouffes-Parisiens page accessed 22 April 2024.
17. Page for La Note at the Bouffes-Parisiens, 2023 accessed 22 April 2024.
18. Un tramway nommé désir at the Bouffes-Parisiens, 2024 accessed 22 April 2024.
19. Fétis/Pougin (1880).
20. Gänzl 2001, pp. 360–362.
21. Lamb, Andrew. "Hervé" in Sadie 1992, vol. 2, p. 708.
22. Gänzl 2001, p. 722.
23. "Lecocq, [Alexandre] Charles" in Gänzl 2001, pp. 1165–1168.
24. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1602–1603.
25. Gänzl 2001, pp. 590–591.
26. Traubner 2003, p. 91; Gänzl 2001, pp. 1494–1495.
27. The date of the premiere is given as 16 March 1880 by Andrew Lamb "Varney, Louis" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, p. 901 (see also OCLC 457931152), but as 16 May 1880 by Levin 2009, p. 402.
28. Traubner 2003, p. 91; Gänzl 2001, pp. 1341–1343.
29. Gänzl 2001, pp. 763–764.
30. Klein, Axel: O'Kelly - An Irish Musical Family in Nineteenth-Century France (Norderstedt 2014). ISBN 978-3-7357-2310-9.
31. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1038–1040.
32. "Pugno, [Stéphane] Raoul" in Gänzl 2001, p. 1662.
33. "Roger, Victor" in Gänzl 2001, pp. 1733–1734.
34. "Messager, André" in Gänzl 2001, pp. 1379–1382.
35. Charlton, David. "Vidal, Paul (Antonin)" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, pp. 987–988.
36. Gänzl 2001, p. 1297.
37. Gänzl 2001, p. 1307.
38. Gänzl 2001, pp. 581–582.
39. Gänzl 2001, p. 530.
40. Gänzl 2001, p. 1490.
41. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1660–1662.
42. Wagstaff 1992.
43. Gänzl 2001, pp. 2126–2127.
44. Charlton, David. "Terrasse, Claude (Antoine)" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, p. 700.
45. Gänzl 2001, pp. 2067–2068.
46. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1611–1613.
47. Gänzl 2001, pp. 480–482.
48. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1139–1140.
49. Gänzl 2001, p. 457.
50. Gänzl 2001, p. 578.
51. Gänzl 2001, p. 2079.
52. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1625–1626.
53. Gänzl 2001, pp. 2077–2078.
54. Gänzl 2001, pp. 1008–1009.
55. Gänzl 2001, p. 668.
56. Gänzl 2001, p. 87.
57. Gänzl 2001, pp. 2056–2057.
58. Levin indicates that the company was a private entrepreneurship from its founding in 1855 up until 1885, which is the extent of her coverage of the topic. See Table 16.8. "Chronology and administration of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens company" in Levin 2009, p. 399.
59. Levin 2009, p. 399.
60. Levin 2009, p. 399, indicates that the theatre was closed. The company's website states that the closure was due to the Franco-Prussian War. (See "Historique" at the Bouffes-Parisiens website Archived 11 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 20 August 2011).
61. "Cantin, Louis" in Gänzl 2001, pp. 308–309. According to Gänzl, Cantin gave up his directorship in 1885.
62. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1885, p. 62.
63. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1888, p. 56 Archived 18 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
64. Chizzola was an Italian manager-impresario, managed Tommaso Salvini on tour in the US in 1873-4. See Carlson, Marvin A. (1985). The Italian Shakespearians: Performances by Ristori, Salvini, and Rossi in England and America. Associated University Presses. pp. 48, 56–8. ISBN 9780918016768.
65. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1889, p. 57.
66. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1890, p. 58; Le Boulevard: Croquis Parisiens 1893, p. 191.
67. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1892, p. 64; Le Boulevard: Croquis Parisiens 1893, p. 191.
68. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1893, p. 66; Almanach Hachette 1895, p. 452.
69. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1895, p. 69; Gänzl 2001, p. 1490.
70. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1897, p. 57; Bulletin officiel 1899, vol. 65, p. 352.
71. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1899, p. 65.
72. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1900, p. 63.
73. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1901, p. 71; Martin 1901, p. 404.
74. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1902, p. 68.
75. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1904, p. 69.
76. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1905, p. 76.
77. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1906, p. 78.
78. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1907, p. 81.
79. Almanach des spectacles. Année 1909, p. 78.
80. "Historique" at the Bouffes-Parisiens website Archived 11 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 20 August 2011.
81. "Les Théâtres parisiens: Bouffes-Parisiens" Archived 30 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine at the website Encyclopédie multimedia de la comédie musicale, 1918–1940, retrieved 20 August 2011.
82. Gänzl 2001, p. 2198.

Sources

• Dickens, Charles (1882). Dicken's Dictionary of Paris, 1882. An Unconventional Handbook. London: Macmillan. View at Google Books.
• Faris, Alexander (1980). Jacques Offenbach. London & Boston: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-11147-3.
• Fauser, Annegret, editor; Everist, Mark, editor (2009). Music, theater, and cultural transfer. Paris, 1830–1914. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-23926-2.
• Galignani, A. and W., publishers (1862). Galignani's New Paris Guide for 1862. Paris: A. and W. Galignani. View at Google Books.
• Gammond, Peter (1980). Offenbach. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-0257-2.
• Gänzl, Kurt (2001). The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, second edition. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 978-0-02-864970-2.
• Levin, Alicia (2009). "A documentary overview of musical theaters in Paris, 1830–1900" in Fauser 2009, pp. 379–402.
• Martin, Jules (1901). Nos Artistes: Annuaire des Théâtres et Concerts, 1901–1902. Paris: Ollendorff. View at Google Books.
• Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-56159-228-9.
• Wagstaff, John (1992). "Véronique" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, pp. 961–962.
• Yon, Jean-Claude (2000). Jacques Offenbach. [Paris]: Galimard. ISBN 978-2-07-074775-7.

External links

• The Theatre's website

48.8684°N 2.3354°E / 48.8684; 2.3354