the Paris Opera

Not sure if this helps?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Garnier

The history of the Opéra Garnier:
http://www.histoire-en-ligne.com/spip.php?article115 (in French)

An English site
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Paris_Opera.html

I'm not sure if you mean Paris's three main opera companies (the Paris Opéra, the Opéra-Comique, and the Théâtre Lyrique) but the one actually called the "Paris Opéra" dates further back than 1820. Its history officially began in 1671 as the Académie Royale de Musique, housed at the Palais Royal. Over the next few centuries the official name would change several times: the Théâtre des Arts, the Académie Impériale de Musique, back to the Académie Royale de Musique, and finally the Opéra National de Paris. (Those are only the most prominent names--there were several others in between.) The institution has occupied several buildings during its long history (the Théâtre de la Porte-St-Martin, the Théâtre Montansier); the 1820s was one of the milestones in the Opéra's history and location, as you noted, but it was by no means the first. In 1821 the Opéra was housed on the Rue le Peletier, where it stayed until the building burned down in 1873. A new building, the Palais Garnier, was built a few blocks away. This would be the Opéra's official home until the company moved to the Opéra Bastille in the late 1980s. The Palais Garnier still has the old name of the company etched in its exterior, however, and still stages performances of the Opéra on occasion.

A list of the various opéras (including plans) is to be found here:

http://www.theatrales.uqam.ca/foires/01d.html

Actually, the Paris Opéra was situated at 15 different places over the centuries:


(Source: French wikipedia)

It's strange that the French Wikipedia dates the Opéra to 1659 in the chart you provided (which contradicts the actual text of the French Wikipedia article). I assume the 1659 refers to Molière's theater group, which performed mostly ballets.

As the French Wikipedia article mentions, the Opéra is usually traced back to the venture begun by Jean-Baptiste Colbert at the behest of Louis XIV: the Académies d’Opéra, which became the Académie Royale de Musique in 1671 and fell under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully the following year. It was at this time that Lully (a former collaborator with Molière) turned his attention away from comédies-ballets and tragédies-ballets to the new-fangled genre of tragédie en musique, the closest thing to Italian operas that a French composer had yet produced.

It refers to the "Académie d'opéra", part of the "Académie royale de Musique", founded by Colbert in 1669 as response to the already existing "Académie royale de Danse".

I could imagine that it's mentioned in my source above because the Opéra de Paris is mostly referred to as "National French Opera". (Source: French wiki again: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op%C3%A9ra_national_de_Paris)

Yes, exactly. What I am puzzling over is the chart, which cites precedent for the Opéra before this date (even though the text does not). The other link you provided cites instances of operatic performances before the 1660s, but so far I have not found any mention (either in the link or in the other sources I consulted) of a pre-1660 institution devoted specifically to the production of operas--let alone an institution that can plausibly be called a precursor to the Paris Opéra.

This is the only info I've found so far (online):


Source: http://www.franceahandbookfornewresidents.info/Book/Culture_3/New_Media_%5Bnouveaux_Supports%5D/

Thanks for the lead, Walter. I will try to find out more information about the Salle d'Issy and its connection with the Paris Opéra. More to come...

When we've been to France a couple of days ago, we were in Paris, too, I remembered this thread ... and I jumped at the chance to take some photos of Paris Opéra - at the Musée d'Orsay

Cool model, cool photos.

Thanks, osso.

I saw that exhibit a few times when I was in Paris a few summers ago. Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the memory jog.