Design, Operation and Organization of Stage Machinery At the Paris Opera: 1770-1873 (France).

Abstract

Using period documents, the machines used on the stage of the Paris Opera between 1770 and 1873 are discussed in the context of their use, design and construction, and their relation to each other as they were organized in the stage house. The dissertation examines the major areas of the stage house: the substage area, the stage itself, and the grid. The machines used in these areas and the counterweight motors which powered them are then treated individually. Discussion includes technical descriptions of the design and construction of the machines as well as the various methods of rigging and operating them. Scenic machines, such as wings and borders and the salon ferme or box set, as well as spectacular machines (e.g. glories and flying machines) are covered in the discussion. Special effects are excluded from the study. Lights are discussed only in the context of their organization with the machines in the grid, (i.e., ramps and flying bridges), and the problems encountered when lighting the salon ferme. The text contains 106 illustrations taken from works of the period as well as photographs of selected machines from the Drottningholm Theatre. Two works of the period are included as appendices in English translation: "Machines for the Theatre", from The Encyclopedia of Diderot and D'Alambert (1770), and Essay on the Art of Constructing Theatres, their Machines, and their Operations, by C. Boullet, Head Machinist of the Theatre des Arts, 1801. The dissertation compares the drawings of the machines and plans of the theatres used throughout the period, demonstrating that there was very little change in any of the major technical features at the Paris Opera during the period studied. Some comparisons are made to earlier Italian systems to establish the unique characteristics of the French system of stage machines. 431 pages, including a large bibliography of works on European stage machines in general.