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Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland. As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in 1962, after extensive refurbishments, which houses the largest stage in Switzerland. As an institution, it is the largest production and host theatre in French-speaking Switzerland, featuring opera and dance performances, recitals, concerts and, occasionally, theatre.〔(Grand Théâtre de Genève )〕 During the 17th and early 18th centuries, Geneva was heavily influenced by Calvinist orthodoxy and it was not until the middle 1760s that the city agreed to the building of the Théâtre de Rosimond, Geneva's first opera house. Under the influence of Voltaire opera began to flourish at La Grange aux Etrangers and its successor theatre, the Théâtre de Neuve, both of which were located outside the walls of the city. ==The Grand Théâtre 1879-1951== After a long period of uninterrupted activity, the Théâtre de Neuve was pulled down in 1880 to be replaced by a new theatre, better suited to the quality and space needed by Geneva's growing population. As early as 1862, the Municipal Council had decided that the theatre was too small and plain, in view of Geneva's increasing importance and prestige. In 1870, an invitation for proposals was launched, and the project was handed to architects Emile Reverdin and Gaspard André. Funds for the new theatre project were provided by Duke Charles of Brunswick's legacy to the city in 1873, out of which CHF 1.2 million were earmarked to build Geneva's future temple of operatic art. The municipal government voted to begin construction of the new theatre in 1874, on a 3,000 square metre plot granted by the State of Geneva and formerly occupied by the moats of the ancient city wall, according to plans drawn up by the architect Jacques-Élysée Goss. The first stone was laid in 1875, and the official inauguration took place in 1879 with a performance of Rossini's ''William Tell'' opening the season. The new building, placed between the Musée Rath and the Conservatory of Music, was rated among the ten best opera houses in Europe, close behind the recently completed Palais Garnier in Paris, from which it drew considerable architectural inspiration, in its Second Empire style. The building's facades are built of freestone, with plinths of Jura limestone and the rest of the building in sandstone and molasse. On the main façade, eight large pillars of Jura limestone alternate with six smaller ones, of red granite found in the bed of a mountain river in the Bernese Oberland. The main façade was—and still is—graced with a number of sculptures and mouldings, which give it its monumental aspect. A spacious perron leads to the front building, where marble statues representing Drama, Dance, Music, and Comedy balance the central façade. On the upper level, double columns separate the three balcony windows from the main foyer. The top of the façade features a pediment bearing the coat of arms of Geneva, crowned with an allegorical figure representing the Genius of the Arts, supported by two groups of sculptural figures. Under the entablature, eight busts decorate the main façade and its returns on the sides of the building. They represent important composers of the time: Rossini, Boieldieu, Beethoven, Meyerbeer, Weber, Mozart, and Donizetti and the famous writer—and occasionally composer—Jean-Jacques Rousseau. When entering the vestibule, one formerly came across the box office, and, on the right hand side, the theatre café. Beyond this, a hall with a recently renovated polychrome marble floor led to the house. The two flights of stairs leading to the foyer and the upper tiers were decorated with six large-scale paintings by Léon Gaud representing six types of music : military, pastoral, religious, light, Orphic and Dionysian. These panels, of a highly academic nature, alternated with medallion portraits of famous composers. All the decorative elements of the upper vestibule (door frames leading to the balconies, ceiling panels) were lost in the great fire of 1951. Also on the upper level, in front of the vestibule leading to the house, three doors open onto the grand foyer, with three bay windows opening the view out on place Neuve. The grand foyer with, on the right hand side, the little foyer and, on the left hand side, the little salon, are the piano nobile of the main façade. The enfilade effect of the three spaces in the grand foyer is magnified by the subtle visual interplay of reflections from several oversized mirrors. The grandeur of the foyer recalls the Louvre's famous Galerie d’Apollon in Paris. The ceiling panels in the little foyer are by Léon Gaud. Several artists—painters and sculptors—were commissioned to decorate the inside and the outside of the building in an eclectic style. The house was decorated in a style with gold highlights on light tones. Around the central cupola, from which hung a magnificent chandelier, a panelled ceiling with fifteen medallions featured portraits of nine actors and six singers. These medallions, along with the rest of the painted allegories (Music, Dramatic Performance and Dance) decorating the house, were the work of Pierre-Nicolas Brisset. The first Grand Théâtre was not only lavishly decorated; its technical infrastructure was also state-of-the-art, for the period. The stage curtain was powered by hydraulic pressure from the nearby Usine des Forces Motrices power plant on the river Rhône. Electric power was installed between 1905 and 1913, allowing the installation of a safety curtain, operated by an electric winch, and the replacement of gas lighting with electrical lights during performances. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grand Théâtre de Genève」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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