The other Palais Garnier

It was thanks to the railway that the Principality of Monaco enjoyed a tremendous growth in tourism from the 1860s onwards. A casino, an essential accessory for any modern seaside resort, was inaugurated in January 1865. The Société des Bains de Mer, which ran it, quickly realised the need to add a concert programme to the range of leisure activities on offer. At first, a symphony orchestra took on the task, appearing in a concert hall deemed too cramped for staged performances. But its – initially timid – attempts to present modestly dimensioned operettas and opérascomiques were all crowned with success, and from 1872 the management organised vocal performances twice a week. 

In 1873, the company took the plunge into opera with Faust, Roméo et Juliette and Don Pasquale, but the exiguity of the stage and the inadequacy of a chorus unworthy of the name meant that numerous cuts had to be made, which annoyed and disappointed a large proportion of the audience. Even though the management initially hid behind the pretext that the train timetables made it necessary to shorten operatic works considerably, it was soon obliged to agree with the artists that it was urgent to consider erecting a proper opera house. The decision was therefore taken to add to the Casino building an auditorium intended to be luxurious, which it proved to be beyond all expectations.