The théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique (National Opéra Comic Theatre) is an opera company and opera house in Paris. It is located in the place Boïeldieu, in the 2e arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Opera Garnier, home of the Paris National Opera.
The Opéra-Comique company was established in 1714 by the St Germain troupe which performed in the fairs in Paris to offer French musical plays as an alternative to Italian opera that then domina...
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The théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique (National Opéra Comic Theatre) is an opera company and opera house in Paris. It is located in the place Boïeldieu, in the 2e arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Opera Garnier, home of the Paris National Opera.
The Opéra-Comique company was established in 1714 by the St Germain troupe which performed in the fairs in Paris to offer French musical plays as an alternative to Italian opera that then dominated the continent. By an agreement with the Opéra productions at the Opéra-Comique were distinguished from those at the Académie Royale de Musique by having plays interspersed with music and dance; the audience was likewise more mixed than at the Opéra. The initial repertoire consisted of pantomimes and operatic parodies – the main requirement of the company was that scenes with spoken dialogue should intersperse the musical items. The first work with the designation opéra-comique was Télémaque by Lesage.
In the first half of the 18th century...
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