Historic
OF THE THEATRE FROM THE LORDS OF MACCARANI TO THE FIRE OF 1881
The small wooden theatre of 1776
The Marquise Alli-Maccarani obtained authorisation from Amadeus III, King of Sardinia, within whose jurisdiction the County of Nice was located, to transform her former home into a theatre. As a result, the small Maccarani Theatre, named after its owners, was erected on the site of the current opera house in the 18th century.
Built in 1776 and entirely wooden, its north facade opened onto the city and its south facade onto the ramparts of the Quai du Midi, today the Quai des États-Unis.
Works for a new opera in 1826
In 1826, the City of Nice bought the Theatre upon the advice of King Charles Félix and decided to raze it in order to build a large opera house in the Italian style, on the site of the old one.
It was Brunati, an architect of the City, and Perotti, a Turin architect, who would come design a building with a spacious floor – without seats, as was the tradition at that time – and four floors of boxes to comfortably house the affluent audience, along with a large royal box supported by two golden caryatids.
The stage was closed by a huge curtain, upon which the painter Biscarra depicted the exploits of the heroine of Nice, Catherine Ségurane, in a giant fresco. The bottom of the stage, facing south as it does today, opened onto a vast bay window revealing the sea. This bay was walled up in 1866, with a gigantic sundial placed there on the Quai du Midi side. The Opera became the Municipal Theatre in 1870.
1881: The Disaster
On Wednesday, 23 March 1881, during the opening of Lucia de Lammermoor, absolute horror unfolded over the course of just a few minutes. A terrible fire, likely due to a gas leak at the stage ramp, completely destroyed the theatre.
THE NEW THEATRE IN 1885
On 7 November 1882, the local council decided to rebuild the new theatre on the site of the old one and commissioned François Aune to develop its plans.
François Aune, a Nice architect born in 1814, obtained a degree in geometry in Turin before being appointed architect of the City. His plans for the new opera were approved by Charles Garnier, then Civil-Buildings Inspector.
Exterior construction
François Aune, a pupil of Gustave Eiffel, built a traditional masonry envelope made of stones, bricks and lime, inside which he established a structure of metal beams.
Interior Decoration
The decoration of the hall and the stage is the result of a compromise achieved between the local traditions of Nice, the growing influence of Francophiles and the aesthetic requirements of a cosmopolitan audience.
The synthesis of these various currents was ensured by an architect trained in the Turin school and blended, or tainted as some would argue, with Parisianism. From the outset, the specifications indicated that the room would be Italian in style. As a result, the boxes, like small, intimate rooms, open out onto the hall, together offering the appearance of a wall pierced with multiple bays.
Freedom is given to everyone to participate in the show, according to a philosophy that privileges individual autonomy, without hindering collective comfort.
The new theatre was beautifully decorated, while the ceiling, painted by Emmanuel Costa, depicts the Sun Chariot.
Sculptures by Raimondi represent the Muses: Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Thalia (comedy) and Terpsichore (dance).
In 1902, the Municipal Theatre took on the name we know today: Nice Opera.
THE OPERA HOUSE TODAY
Some elements of this building have been modified since its inauguration.
Such was the case of the main entrance, which led to a vast staircase in the theatre's rotunda, later transferred to Rue Saint-François-de-Paule.
Likewise, the proscenium was reduced, the large chandelier removed (then restored in 1960, with 600 lights), the floor enlarged and the paintings at the entrance replaced with large mirrors.
The stage house was remodelled and modernised in 1979. Today, the orchestra pit can accommodate significantly increased numbers of musicians for concerts, thanks to its mobile platform, facilitating the performance of a wider repertoire.
The theatre was listed as a historical monument in 1993.
Since then, major interior and exterior restoration work has been undertaken. The first phase concerned safety, while the second tackled the renovation of the facades and the roof, with a final phase focused on interior restoration. The building regained its architectural identity in the year 2000.
A GREAT INTERNATIONAL OPERA STAGE
In the 19th century, Nice became a winter resort for the European aristocracy and the opera house benefitted immensely from this new craze.
Great singers and great composers alike followed one after the other on this stage. In the city centre, the musicians quarter remembers their names: Offenbach, Meyerbeer, Halévy, Berlioz or Verdi, whose French creation of the "Force du destin" took place in Nice in 1873. All these composers visited the opera, for longer or shorter residences, bringing with them the "sacred monsters" of singing such as the soprano Adelina Patti or the tenor Enrico Tamagno.
Following a fire on 23 March 1881, during a performance of Lucia di Lamermoor, the Nice Opera was rebuilt by François Aune, a disciple of Charles Garnier – the architect of the Paris opera house. Operatic life in Nice then returned in full force, with creations such as Massenet's Marie-Madeleine (1903), the French premieres of works such as Berlioz's Les Troyens (1891), Ponchielli's La Gioconda (1886), Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Wagner's Das Rheingold (1902), Shostakovich's Ekaterina Ismaïova, or the world premiere of Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers (1965).
Divas followed one another: Nelly Melba, Felia Litvine, Emma Calvé, Mado Robin, Régine Crespin, Barbara Hendricks and Montserrat Caballé, after whom the foyer of the Nice Opera would be named. Legendary singers have also dazzled audiences here: José Luccioni, Cezare Vezzani, Georges Thill, Mario del Monaco, Carlo Bergonzi, Luciano Pavarotti, Franco Corelli, Ruggiero Raimondi, Placido Domingo and Jonas Kaufmann.
Furthermore, the stage of the Nice Opera has played host to some prestigious concerts with soloists such as the pianists Marguerite Long, Arthur Rubinstein, Wilhelm Kempff and Krystian Zimerman; violinists Jacques Thibaud, Zino Francescatti and Yehudi Menuhin; or conductors Georges Enesco, Jasha Horenstein, Paul Paray, Igor Markevitch, Eugen Jochum and Wolfgang Sawallich, etc.