What the Opera Meant to Paris in the 19th Century

Premiered on June 11, 2021 at 7:00 pm MARIANNE GREY, docent, Princeton University Art Museum How did Paris become the City of Light? It began with Louis XIV, the Sun King, and by the late 19th century, Louis Napoleon and Baron Haussmann had turned a medieval settlement along the Seine into the Emerald City of Europe. The sparkling city’s brightest light was its new opera house. Everyone went to the opera. Marianne, assisted by Impressionist painters Manet, Renoir, Pissarro, Monet, Tissot and co., will lead us through the daytime pleasures of the city to evenings at the opera where the drama in the audience rivals that on the stage.