The Grand-Theatre, Bordeaux

If given the chance, do take the guided tour of the Opera National de Bordeaux.  Purchase tickets at the Bordeaux Tourist Information Office.  Unless attending an opera, ballet, or other performance, it is the only way to see the inside of the theatre.  July and August are vacation months.  Sadly there are no performances of any type during the period so we won’t get to see an event.  I’m not sure we’d understand or appreciate it but seeing and hearing a European opera in France would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.  Just the thought of that gives me chills.  Stan and I attended a performance of Pirates of Penzance at a local theatre in Cheltenham, England a few years ago.  As we bought tickets I think we pictured an opera on the theme of Pirates of the Caribbean.  How naive!  If I remember correctly, it was a lively show and we managed to stay awake.

Stan and I were just at the grand theatre yesterday and walked through the entry and upper salon.  We learned a bit on our own, but it’s amazing what you can be learned in a tour led by an educated guide.

Our tour started outside the theatre.  It was 102 degrees HOT today with brilliant sun.  The group moved across the street to shade. 

Those twelve beautiful statutes atop the Gran Téâtro de Burdeos (how many names does one beautiful place need?) in perfect alignment with the twelve columns below are nine Muses and three goddesses of art (Juno – protector of the nation, Venus – goddess of love and Minerva – goddess of wisdom).  Each of the twelve figures represents some form of comedy, drama, music, love, poetry, eloquence, and dance.  The architect’s plan was to boldly illustrate that this grand building is associated with nothing but art.

Although the architect was French much of his design is Italian.  In the 1700s Italy was and in many respects still, today thought to be the center of good design.  Most European architects studied there at one time or another.  It was pointed out that the semi-circular tops of windows on French buildings are Italian design.  The same is true for the carved clusters of fruit, vegetables, or flowers above doors and windows.  Now I cannot say this is a fact, but I’m betting that the dark, rounded roofs and tall rectangular windows on most light-stone buildings here are purely French!

In the 1700s Bordeaux was a vibrant and very rich port town.  Wine exports and slave trade created great wealth.  The period was called the Golden Age of Bordeaux.  It was during this time that the mansions and grand iconic buildings that we see and ooh and awe over today were designed and built.  The Gran Theatre was inaugurated in 1780 just nine years before the French Revolution.  This theatre entertained the poor as well as the rich and bourgeois. Cheap tickets gave admission to the highest section of the theatre, called Paradise. The stairs to Paradise were hidden from public sight. The main floor level and lower private boxes held the most expensive seats. The center grand staircase from the entry to the salon was (and still is) reserved for those who purchased those most expensive seats. On opera night, finely dressed guests, as if on the red carpet, rose step-by-step on display up the beautiful staircase to the theatre for all to see and know they were among the elite upper class. Nine years later, the people said enough and cut off the head of the king.

The performance theatre is primarily made of wood and is u-shaped for optimum acoustics but it is smaller than the building suggests.  It accommodates only 1411 seats on the floor and surrounding box compartments however the stage is almost as deep as the seating area.  The theatre has survived fires and wars.  Candles that once lighted the grand theatre and stage are gone.  Rich draperies and heavy cloth stage curtains are gone too, replaced by paintings of draperies, a mechanical iron curtain, and a sprinkler system. 

This grand place is a spectacle in itself but it has showcased ballets, operas and musical artists for three centuries.  May this wonderful place live long!