{"id":369,"date":"2017-03-24T14:51:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T18:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/?p=369"},"modified":"2017-04-06T16:56:23","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T20:56:23","slug":"drama-at-the-petit-trianon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/2017\/03\/24\/drama-at-the-petit-trianon\/","title":{"rendered":"Drama at the Petit Trianon"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Marissa Rosenberg-Carlson<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Queen’s theatre at the Petit Trianon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Palace of Versailles is all about drama. It staged the grandeur of an absolute monarchy after Louis XIV made Versailles his chateau in 1682. It staged the tragedy of that same monarchy when French Revolutionary forces drove the royal family out of the chateau in 1789. For the hundred years in between, members of the royal family performed very public lives. \u201cIt was a nightmare to live at Versailles,\u201d according to Bertrand Rondot, head curator of the Museum of the Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles. The world was always watching the drama.<\/p>\n

But at the Petit Trianon, royal drama played out in private. The Petit Trianon lies just behind the main Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles. Originally built for the mistresses of Louis XV, it became Marie Antoinette\u2019s private quarters when Louis XVI succeeded the throne in 1774. The Petit Trianon\u2019s true center of drama was the Queen\u2019s theatre.<\/p>\n

Commissioned by Marie Antoinette in 1780, the theatre provided space for the Queen to indulge her passion for amateur opera. She designed this space just as she wished. \u201cThe Queen wanted things done quickly,\u201d according to Rondot. Her craftsmen fashioned all the auditorium\u2019s decorations from papier mach\u00e9 \u2013 \u201ceven the torches,\u201d according to Rondot. The result is a space that is at once dazzling and delicate. Pastel blue walls temper gold statues. Marie Antoinette\u2019s royal monogram curls into the vaulted ceiling. The forest set onstage creates an illusion of depth, inviting the audience\u2019s gaze into its most intimate back corners. It\u2019s easy to fall asleep on the auditorium\u2019s dusty-blue velvet seats.<\/p>\n

In her theatre, Marie Antoinette took private risks that were publicly prohibited. She commissioned contemporary works such as\u00a0Barber of Seville<\/em>, which premiered in here theatre in 1781. \u201cThe queen could be politically\u00a0adventurous here, away from censorship in Paris. She could insert herself into contemporary life and culture,\u201d said Rondot. The Queen even liked to switch up social roles in performance. She often played a servant, while a working-class artist played her.<\/p>\n

Unlike in the main chateau, at the Petit Trianon the royal family didn\u2019t have to answer to rumors about their private life. \u201cNo one had access,\u201d said Rondot. During the French Revolution, a rumor spread that the one of the Queen\u2019s opera sets was covered in diamonds. When revolutionary fighters came to seize it, they were humiliated to find that the \u201cdiamonds\u201d\u00a0were actually bits of broken glass.<\/p>\n

The Petit Trianon is the only eighteenth-century theatre in France that remains intact and fully-functioning. But it no longer stages performances, and is closed to the public. Visitors may only see the auditorium through a glass door. Two hundred years later, the Queen\u2019s theatre remains one of the ch\u00e2teau\u2019s most luxurious secrets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Marissa Rosenberg-Carlson The Palace of Versailles is all about drama. It staged the grandeur of an absolute monarchy after Louis XIV made Versailles his chateau in 1682. It staged the tragedy of that same monarchy when French Revolutionary forces drove the royal family out of the chateau in 1789. For the hundred years in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Drama at the Petit Trianon”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions\/846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}