Phantom of the Opera (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Read Free

politically motivated attack that ultimately spared him but resulted in the death of 150 people. It was at this moment that the Emperor conceived of replacing the rue le Peletier building (which had been designated the home of the Paris Opera following the assassination of the Duc de Berry in 1820 at the previous opera house at the square Louvois) with a new, more secure structure (with a private, imperial entrance), one whose grandeur would be representative of his ambitious reign. He gave his controversial city planner, Baron Haussmann, who was in the process of reconfiguring Paris with a new layout, the task of organizing a competition to select an architect to design the new building, which would be one of the hubs of his plan of connected boulevards and avenues. Chosen from among the nearly 200 entries was that of the more or less unknown Charles Garnier. Garnier impressed the judges by labeling his eclectic architectural approach “Napoleon III style,” and the resulting structure indeed remains the prime example of Second Empire construction in Paris.
    Erecting such a daunting edifice—distinguished by its imposing polygonal shape, crowning dome, ornately sculptured facade, and gigantic interior complete with an enormous foyer and a majestic, gilded double staircase—was a monumental task that was stymied during nearly a twenty-year period by financing issues, construction difficulties, and most directly, political upheaval. The French defeat at Sedan during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 resulted in the Emperor’s capture. A Third Republic was proclaimed, but the fragile provisional government was then menaced by the siege of the capital by German troops. The still-unfinished Opera House was designated an arsenal and warehouse, and then became the headquarters and eventually a military prison of the Communards—the name given to working-class Parisians who formed their own army in an effort to overthrow those at the helm of the new French regime following France’s capitulation. The violent civil revolution lasted three months and resulted in the loss of thousands of lives before the rebellion was squashed by government forces in May 1871. It was not until 1875 that Garnier’s building—whose cost had escalated to more than 47 million francs—was finally ready to be unveiled with a gala event thrown more to demonstrate the political stability attained by the Third Republic than to celebrate the architect’s achievement (Garnier, in fact, was famously asked to pay to attend the opening!). The Paris Opera—which also had its own ballet company—would draw an increasingly large public during the next few decades as cultural appreciation took on a new importance as part of the joie de vivre mentality that enveloped France before World War I.
    In addition to the visible edifice of the Opera House—divided into one zone for public and administrative use and another for private use—an entire underground portion was devised by Garnier for both structural and practical reasons. A stream running beneath the site required extensive excavation, draining, and the design of a specially fortified foundation. The extraordinary depth then allowed for the construction of a number of separate, subterranean levels. One, for example, housed a complete working stable with more than a dozen horses that were used in opera productions, while another held a man-made lake first used to power hydraulic stage equipment and later as a reservoir in case of fire. The costume and set designers had their own workshops and ample storage space for all of the sets and props that were necessary for the staging of the operas, which were often given in rotation. These various cellars, which were connected by staircases, passageways, tunnels, and ramps, combined to form a vast underworld network designed to render seamless and professional the more and more visually complicated operas being performed above.
    Upon his visit to these lower