Tips 1 - 10 of 31 Paris Off The Beaten Path
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Off The Beaten Path: Espace La Comedia
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The composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) is best known today for his one serious opera, Tales of Hoffmann, which he composed shortly before his death, based on the life and writings of the German author and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann.
But actually Tales of Hoffmann was only one of 102 works for the musical stage that Offenbach wrote during his career. The rest were mostly light satirical operettas, known as "Offenbachiades", which were hugely successful in Paris in the 1850s, 60s and 70s.
I have seen several of these "Offenbachiades", but the one I know best is La Péricole, because I saw it several times when the Frankfurt Opera staged it in 1998.
So it was sort of like meeting up with an old friend when I saw La Péricole again ten years later at a small theater (95 seats) in the east of Paris called Espace La Comedia. Of course they had no orchestra, just a piano, and only a tiny stage compared to the one in Frankfurt, but it was a fine performance by an enthusiastic young cast.
(I have a CD of La Péricole which I am listening to as I write this.)
Second photo: People in the audience at Espace La Comedia.
Third photo: People leaving after the performance.
Fourth photo: Velib' cyclist on a separate bicycle lane on Boulevard de Ménilmontant, near the theater Espace La Comedia. (Also near the Pére Lachaise Cemetery, by the way.)
6 impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris
Velib' 11021
Métro Philippe-Auguste
GPS 48°51'28.20" North; 2°23'19.72" East
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Phone: 01.58.39.39.10
Website: http://www.evene.fr/culture/lieux/espace-la-comedia-1081.php
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Belleville is a traditionally working- class district in the east of Paris.
I think I first heard of Belleville from Puccini's opera Il tabarro (the first of the three short operas of Il trittico), in which the illicit lovers Giorgetta and Luigi discover that they both grew up in Belleville. This gives them something in common right from the start, and establishes their working-class background.
If you climb the hill to Belleville Park -- or ride up on a Velib' as I did -- you can get some wide views out over Paris.
I took this photo on a beautiful but -- err -- somewhat cloudy day with the Eiffel Tower sticking up on the right and the Montparnasse Tower on the left.
Second photo: Pavilion at the top of the hill in Belleville Park.
Third photo: The hillside in Belleville Park.
Fourth photo: The Eiffel Tower from Belleville Park.
Velib' 20113
Métro Pyrénées
GPS 48°52'17.62" North; 2°23'5.88" East
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Street Art: Belleville: Beware of words
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In 1993 the artist Ben Vautier (born 1935) created this work of urban art at Place Fréhel in Belleville.
It shows two workmen (actually life-size puppets) lowering a huge blackboard with the words "Il faut se méfier des mots" = Beware of Words.
This square, which could also be thought of as a vacant lot, came into being when some buildings had to be torn down during the construction of the tunnel for Métro line number 11 from Châtelet to Porte des Lilas in the 1930s.
Velib' 19102
Métro Pyrénées, Belleville
GPS 48°52'23.18" North; 2°22'54.28" East
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Website: http://ben-vautier.com/
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Street Art: Belleville: Jean Le Gac's detective
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This huge painting of a detective, by Jean Le Gac (born 1936) is also on the wall of a building at Place Fréhel, Rue de Belleville.
"Accustomed to the allusive style of the painter, the young detective understands that the message tells him to continue the chase along the street Julien Lacroix."
This is the street that goes off to his right (our left) and leads up to Belleville Park.
Second photo: Place Fréhel was named after the singer and actress Marguerite Boulc'h (1891-1951), whose stage name was Fréhel. On the link below there is a tiny green square which you can click on (if you can find it) to hear Fréhel singing La Java bleue in 1938.
Velib' 19102
Métro Pyrénées, Belleville
GPS 48°52'23.18" North; 2°22'54.28" East
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Website: http://masterpo.over-blog.com/article-4882143.html
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Off The Beaten Path: Belleville: Edith Piaf
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The singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963) grew up in Belleville and sang in the local music halls before becoming world-famous with such songs as "Mon Légionnaire," "La Vie en Rose," "L'Hymne à l'Amour," "Milord," and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien".
Second photo: Above the door of 72 rue de Belleville is this plaque which reads: "On the steps of this house was born on the 19th of December 1915 in the most abject poverty EDITH PIAF whose voice later would astound the world."
(But her birth certificate says she was born in the Tenon Hospital, which is about a dozen blocks away near Place Gambetta.)
Velib' 19041
Métro Pyrénées
GPS 48°52'24.18" North; 2°23'0.83" East
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Website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRuLFR91e4
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Off The Beaten Path: Rossini lived here (I think)
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As I mentioned on my Wildbad im Schwarzwald page, one of the mysteries of operatic history is why the composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) abruptly stopped composing in 1829 at the age of 37, when he was at the height of his powers and had just scored a huge success with his opera Wilhelm Tell. Since he was a prolific composer who churned out two or more operas a year with little apparent effort, nobody expected him to just stop. But that's exactly what he did.
Since he had made a considerable fortune from his many operas, he was able to buy a large house in Passy, which at that time was a village on the outskirts of Paris, and devote the rest of his life (he was to live for thirty-nine more years) to his two favorite hobbies, gourmet cooking and gourmet dining.
One afternoon I rode around Passy on a Velib' bike looking for the place where Rossini used to live -- and I think this is it, more or less.
Rossini's house was called Villa Beau Séjour and this fenced-in cul-de-sac in the photo is called Villa Beauséjour. The street going past is Boulevard de Beauséjour, and the next street over is Avenue Ingres (named after the painter), which I have also seen listed as Rossini's address.
Second photo: Houses at Villa Beuséjour.
Third photo: There is a plaque on one of the houses, but it has nothing to do with Rossini. It says "Here lived and died Adolphe Alphand 1817-1891 creator of the Boulogne Forest and the gardens of the Second Empire, Director of Public Works of Paris."
Velib' 16021
Métro La Muette
GPS 48°51'27.12" North; 2°16'19.25" East
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Off The Beaten Path: Passy: Villa Mozart
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Here's another elegant cul-de-sac in Passy. This one is named after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).
Mozart never lived in Passy, which in fact it was really only a tiny village with six streets during his lifetime, but he did spend some time in Paris in the years 1763-64 -- when he was touring Europe giving concerts as an eight-year-old child prodigy, in the company of his father and sister -- and again in the spring of 1766, two years older but on the same tour.
As an adult, age 22, he spent six months in Paris in the year 1778, but this visit was a sad one. He didn't get any of the jobs or commissions he was hoping for. His mother, Anna Maria Mozart, who was with him on this trip, fell ill and died in Paris on July 3, 1778 at the age of 57. She was buried the next day in the churchyard of the parish of Saint-Eustache, near what is now the Forum Les Halles.
Second photo: A building near Villa Mozart in Passy.
Location of Villa Mozart in Passy:
Velib' 16027
Métro Jasmin, Ranelagh
GPS 48°51'12.53" North; 2°16'7.91" East
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Off The Beaten Path: Passy: Rue Berton
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Rue Berton is a narrow street in Passy which is best known for the fact that its upper end points directly towards the Eiffel Tower, which is a coincidence since the street was there long before the tower was built.
Also on this street is the back door of a house that used to belong to the author Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). Tradition has it that Balzac made use of the back door on Rue Berton to escape from his creditors when they were knocking at the front door on Rue Raynouard.
Rue Berton, formerly Rue du Roc, is named after two composers: Pierre Montan-Berton (1727-1780), director of the Paris Opera, and his son Henri Montan-Berton (1767-1844), who composed no less than 48 operas during his lifetime. (I used to know an opera singer named Cassandre Berthon, who sang in Frankfurt in the 1990s, but I don't know if she is any relation.)
Second photo: The lower end of Rue Berton is probably one of the narrowest streets in Paris.
Velib' 16112
Métro Passy
GPS 48°51'17.68" North; 2°16'49.90" East
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Off The Beaten Path: Hôtel de la Princesse de Lamballe
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Behind this wall on Rue Berton is the former residence of the Princess of Lamballe (1749-1792), a prominent aristocratic lady who was lynched during the French Revolution.
In the nineteenth century this house was the clinic and asylum of the famous physician and psychiatrist Dr. Esprit Blanche (1796-1852) and later his son Dr. Émile Blanche (1820-1893). Their patients included many prominent authors, painters and composers such as Berlioz, Listz, Gounod, Rossini, Delacroix, Maupassant and Nerval.
The house is now used as the Turkish Embassy, hence the Turkish flag flying behind the wall and fence.
Second photo: The Eiffel Tower above the Turkish Embassy, from Rue Berton.
Velib' 16112
Métro Passy
GPS 48°51'18.88" North; 2°16'54.28" East
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Off The Beaten Path: Theatre de l'Ile Saint-Louis
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This lovely little theater is tucked away at the end of a courtyard on the Ile Saint-Louis, the smaller of the two islands in the Seine in the center of Paris.
One of my bicycle maps claimed that there was a Velib' station on the Ile Saint-Louis near Pont Marie, but there isn't -- at least not yet, but maybe they will install one eventually. In any case, I had to go looking for some other place to dock my Velib' bike, which wasn't easy because Paris Plages was in full swing and most of the docking stands were full.
So I arrived at the theater only about a quarter of an hour before the flute and piano recital "Promenade à la française" and asked if I could still get a ticket. The man said no problem, and he sold me one.
I had a quick look around the neighborhood and came back for the recital at 18:30, when it turned out that I was the only person who had bought a ticket. I told them I wouldn't be offended if they decided to cancel the recital under these circumstances, but they said no, that would be unprofessional, the show must go on. (Also it turned out that they were recording the concert for possible use on a CD.)
After a while the man who had sold me the ticket also came in to listen, so there were two of us in the audience.
The concert consisted of compositions for flute and piano by the French composers Fauré, Ibert, Satie, Ravel, Boulanger, Bolling and Poulenc. It was really fine, and I had a nice chat with the musicians afterwards. I told them about the Poulenc concert I had seen two years before at the House of Radio France, and about recitals of French flute music that are sometimes given in Frankfurt by flutists of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra.
And they promised to send me an e-mail as soon as their CD comes out.
Second photo: Most of the 42 seats in the Theatre de l'Ile Saint-Louis.
Third photo: Pianist Virginie Jungblut.
Fourth photo: Flutist Eric Poyrault.
39 Quai d'Anjou, 75004 Paris
Velib' 4011
Métro Pont Marie
GPS 48°51'8.45" North; 2°21'26.15" East
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Website: http://www.theatre-ilesaintlouis.com/
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 Comments for Nemorino about Paris | | | | |
pfsmalo Thu Jun 25, 2009 14:49 UTC
Thanks for the visit Don. Shall be returning to Paris this autumn. I'm glad you are on our side for bike riding, terrific tips for cyclists in Paris. Regards Paul | MarcusH Mon May 25, 2009 21:50 UTC
boulevard de Ménilmontant (métro Ménilmontant, line 2), serves free food after 7 pm four nights a week: free moules frites on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and free couscous on Fridays and Saturdays. | globetrott Mon May 25, 2009 21:47 UTC
Thanks a lot, Don for this excellent tour through Paris and plenty of new updates since my last visit to this page ! Cycling in Paris ?? I dont know, I rather take the metro ;-)) | breughel Thu May 21, 2009 07:46 UTC
Back to your Paris reviews. What do I have to see on my next trip? The Opera Garnier maybe. |
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on Sep 25, 2008
