That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story,
the Paris Opera House as it really is and has not created a building out
of his imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it taken
from an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879,
a short time after the building was completed:
"The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire
and finished under the Republic, is the most complete building of the
kind in the world and in many respects the most beautiful. No European
capital possesses an opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution,
and none can boast an edifice equally vast and splendid.
"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861.
It was determined to lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong.
It was well known that water would be met with, but it was impossible
to foresee at what depth or in what quantity it would be found. Exceptional
depth also was necessary, as the stage arrangements were to be such
as to admit a scene fifty feet high to be lowered on its frame. It was
therefore necessary to lay a foundation in a soil soaked with water
which should be sufficiently solid to sustain a weight of 22,000,000
pounds, and at the same time to be perfectly dry, as the cellars were
intended for the storage of scenery and properties. While the work was
in progress, the excavation was kept free from water by means of eight
pumps, worked by steam power, and in operation, without interruption,
day and night, from March second to October thirteenth. The floor of
the cellar was covered with a layer of concrete, then with two coats
of cement, another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. The wall
includes an outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, a coat of
cement, and a wall proper, a little over a yard thick. After all this
was done the whole was filled with water, in order that the fluid, by
penetrating into the most minute interstices, might deposit a sediment
which would close them more surely and perfectly than it would be possible
to do by hand. Twelve years elapsed before the completion of the building,
and during that time it was demonstrated that the precautions taken
secured absolute impermeability and solidity.
"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it
was about to be prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House
was put to new and unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted
into a vast military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous mass
of goods. After the siege the building fell into the hands of the Commune
and the roof was turned into a balloon station. The damage done, however,
was slight.
"The fine stone employed in the construction was
brought from quarries in Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Algeria, Finland,
Spain, Belgium and France. While work on the exterior was in progress,
the building was covered in by a wooden shell, rendered transparent
by thousands of small panes of glass. In 1867 a swarm of men, supplied
with hammers and axes, stripped the house of its habit, and showed in
all its splendor the great structure. No picture can do justice to the
rich colors of the edifice or to the harmonious tone resulting from
the skilful use of many diverse materials. The effect of the frontage
is completed by the cupola of the auditorium, topped with a cap of bronze
sparingly adorned with gilding. Farther on, on a level with the towers
of Notre-Dame, is the gable end of the roof of the stage, a 'Pegasus',
by M. Lequesne, rising at either end of the roof, and a bronze group
by M. Millet, representing 'Apollo lifting his golden lyre', commanding
the apex. Apollo, it may here be mentioned, is useful as well as ornamental,
for his lyre is tipped with a metal point which does duty as a lightning-rod,
and conducts the fluid to the body and down the nether limbs of the
god.
"The spectator, having climbed ten steps and left
behind him a gateway, reaches a vestibule in which are statues of Lully,
Rameau, Gluck, and Handel. Ten steps of green Swedish marble lead to
a second vestibule for ticket-sellers. Visitors who enter by the pavilion
reserved for carriages pass through a hallway where ticket offices are
situated. The larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium,
traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it. The
ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted
columns of Jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico.
Here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain
until their carriages are summoned. The third entrance, which is quite
distinct from the others, is reserved for the Executive. The section
of the building set aside for the use of the Emperor Napoleon was to
have included an antechamber for the bodyguards; a salon for the aides-de-camp;
a large salon and a smaller one for the Empress; hat and cloak rooms,
etc. Moreover, there were to be in close proximity to the entrance,
stables for three coaches, for the outriders' horses, and for the twenty-one
horsemen acting as an escort; a station for a squad of infantry of thirty-one
men and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the horses of the latter;
and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty domestics. Thus arrangements
had to be made to accommodate in this part of the building about one
hundred persons, fifty horses, and half-a-dozen carriages. The fall
of the Empire suggested some changes, but ample provision still exists
for emergencies.
"Its novel conception, perfect fitness, and rare
splendor of material, make the grand stairway unquestionably one of
the most remarkable features of the building. It presents to the spectator,
who has just passed through the subscribers' pavilion, a gorgeous picture.
From this point he beholds the ceiling formed by the central landing;
this and the columns sustaining it, built of Echaillon stone, are honeycombed
with arabesques and heavy with ornaments; the steps are of white marble,
and antique red marble balusters rest on green marble sockets and support
a balustrade of onyx. To the right and to the left of this landing are
stairways to the floor, on a plane with the first row of boxes. On this
floor stand thirty monolith columns of Sarrancolin marble, with white
marble bases and capitals. Pilasters of peach-blossom and violet stone
are against the corresponding walls. More than fifty blocks had to be
extracted from the quarry to find thirty perfect monoliths.
"The foyer de la danse has particular
interest for the habitues of the Opera. It is a place of reunion to
which subscribers to three performances a week are admitted between
the acts in accordance with a usage established in 1870. Three immense
looking-glasses cover the back wall of the foyer, and a chandelier
with one hundred and seven burners supplies it with light. The paintings
include twenty oval medallions, in which are portrayed the twenty danseuses
of most celebrity since the opera has existed in France, and four panels
by M. Boulanger, typifying 'The War Dance', 'The Rustic Dance', 'The
Dance of Love' and 'The Bacchic Dance.' While the ladies of the ballet
receive their admirers in this foyer, they can practise their
steps. Velvet-cushioned bars have to this end been secured at convenient
points, and the floor has been given the same slope as that of the stage,
so that the labor expended may be thoroughly profitable to the performance.
The singers' foyer, on the same floor, is a much less lively
resort than the foyer de la danse, as vocalists rarely leave
their dressing-rooms before they are summoned to the stage. Thirty panels
with portraits of the artists of repute in the annals of the Opera adorn
this foyer.
"Some estimate ... may be arrived at by sitting
before the concierge an hour or so before the representation commences.
First appear the stage carpenters, who are always seventy, and sometimes,
when L'Africaine, for example, with its ship scene, is the
opera, one hundred and ten strong. Then come stage upholsterers, whose
sole duty is to lay carpets, hang curtains, etc.; gas-men, and a squad
of firemen. Claqueurs, call-boys, property-men, dressers, coiffeurs,
supernumeraries, and artists, follow. The supernumeraries number about
one hundred; some are hired by the year, but the 'masses' are generally
recruited at the last minute and are generally working-men who seek
to add to their meagre earnings. There are about a hundred choristers,
and about eighty musicians.
"Next we behold equeries, whose horses are hoisted
on the stage by means of an elevator; electricians who manage the light-producing
batteries; hydrauliciens to take charge of the water-works
in ballets like La Source; artificers who prepare the conflagration
in Le Profeta; florists who make ready Margarita's garden,
and a host of minor employees. This personnel is provided for as follows:
Eighty dressing-rooms are reserved for the artists, each including a
small antechamber, the dressing-room proper, and a little closet. Besides
these apartments, the Opera has a dressing-room for sixty male, and
another for fifty female choristers; a third for thirty-four male dancers;
four dressing-rooms for twenty female dancers of different grades; a
dressing-room for one hundred and ninety supernumeraries, etc."
A few figures taken from the article will suggest the
enormous capacity and the perfect convenience of the house. "There
are 2,531 doors and 7,593 keys; 14 furnaces and grates heat the house;
the gaspipes if connected would form a pipe almost 16 miles long; 9 reservoirs,
and two tanks hold 22,222 gallons of water and distribute their contents
through 22,829 2-5 feet of piping; 538 persons have places assigned wherein
to change their attire. The musicians have a foyer with 100 closets
for their instruments."
The author remarks of his visit to the Opera House that
it "was almost as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant stairways
and colossal halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble,
satin and velvet, met the eye at every turn."
In a recent letter Mr. Andre Castaigne, whose remarkable
pictures illustrate the text, speaks of a river or lake under the Opera
House and mentions the fact that there are now also three metropolitan
railway tunnels, one on top of the other.