Name	Bastille
Location	Paris, France
Type	Medieval fortress, prison
Built	1370–1383
Builder	Charles V of France
Demolished	1789
Condition	remains in Metro station
Events	French Revolution }}

The Bastille () was a fortress-prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. The event was commemorated one year later by the ''Fête de la Fédération''. The French national holiday, celebrated annually on 14 July is officially the ''Fête Nationale'', and officially commemorates the ''Fête de la Fédération'', but it is commonly known in English as Bastille Day. ''Bastille'' is a French word meaning "castle" or "stronghold", or "bastion"; used with a definite article (''la Bastille'' in French, ''the Bastille'' in English), it refers to the prison.

Early history of the Bastille

The Bastille was built as the Bastion de Saint-Antoine during the Hundred Years' War. The Bastille originated as the Saint-Antoine gate, but from 1370–1383 this gate was extended to create a fortress to defend the east end of Paris and the Hôtel Saint-Pol royal palace. After the war, it was reused as a state prison, with Louis XIII the first king to send prisoners there.

The Bastille was built as an irregular rectangle with eight towers. The building is 70 metres (220 ft) long, 30 metres (90 ft) wide, with towers and walls 25 metres (80 ft) high, surrounded by a broad moat. Originally there were two courtyards inside and residential buildings against the walls. Pairs of towers on the east and west facades served as gates through which the rue Saint-Antoine passed. In the 15th century, these were blocked up, and a new city gate was created to the north on the present day rue de la Bastille. A bastion on the eastern approaches was built later. A very significant military feature of the building was that the walls and towers were of the same height and width and connected by a broad terrace. This enabled soldiers on the wall head to rapidly move to a threatened sector of the fortress without having to descend inside the towers, as well as allowing placement of artillery. A similar provision can be seen today at Château de Tarascon.

Storming

The archives of the Bastille show that the building largely held common criminals (forgers, embezzlers, swindlers, etc.), as well as people imprisoned for religious reasons (Huguenots) and those responsible for printing or writing forbidden pamphlets. People of high rank were sometimes held there too, and so the prison (which could only hold a little over 50 people) was far less sordid a place than most of the Parisian prisons. But the secrecy maintained around the Bastille and its prisoners gave it a sinister reputation.

The confrontation that led to the people of Paris storming the Bastille on 14 July 1789, following several days of disturbances, resulted from the fact that gunpowder and arms had been stored there, and the people (whose fears had been raised by a number of rumors) demanded access to these. The later idea that they wanted to free the prisoners (only 7 of whom remained) has been discounted. The regular garrison consisted of 82 ''invalides'' (veteran soldiers no longer capable of service in the field) under Governor Bernard-René de Launay. They had however been reinforced by a detachment of 32 grenadiers from one of the Swiss mercenary regiments summoned to Paris by the King shortly before 14 July.

A crowd of around 8800 men and women gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the guns and the release of the arms and gunpowder. Two people chosen to represent those gathered were invited into the fortress and slow negotiations began. In the early afternoon around 1:00, the crowd broke into the undefended outer courtyard and the chains on the drawbridge to the inner courtyard were cut. A spasmodic exchange of gunfire began; in mid-afternoon the crowd was reinforced by mutinous Gardes Françaises of the Royal Army, and two cannons, all of which were originally supposed to help the governor protect the prison. The governor ordered a ceasefire; in spite of his surrender demands being refused, he capitulated and the ''vainqueurs'' swept in to take control of the fortress at around 5:30.

When the rioters entered the Bastille, they collected cartridges and gunpowder for their weapons and then freed the seven prisoners (which they had to do by breaking down the doors, since the keys had already been taken off and paraded through the streets). Later, the governor and some of the guards of the Bastille were murdered under chaotic circumstances, despite having surrendered under a flag of truce, and their heads paraded on pikes.

As a symbolic gesture, the key to the west portal of the Bastille was presented on March 17, 1790 by Marquis de Lafayette to George Washington and is displayed in George Washington's home at Mount Vernon.

Demolition

The propaganda value of the Bastille was quickly seized upon, notably by the showy entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy, "Patriote Palloy". The fate of the Bastille was uncertain, but Palloy was quick to establish a claim, organising a force of demolition men around the site on the 15th. Over the next few days many notables visited the Bastille and it seemed to be turning into a memorial. But Palloy secured a license for demolition from the Permanent Committee at the Hôtel de Ville and quickly took complete control.

Palloy secured a fair budget and his crew grew in number. He had control over all aspects of the work and the workers, even to the extent of having two hanged for murder. Palloy put much effort into continuing the site as a paying attraction and producing a huge range of souvenirs, including many of the building blocks. Guided tours conducted by former prison guards were also very popular with Parisians. The actual demolition proceeded apace; by November, 1789, the structure was largely demolished. The cut stones of the fortress were used in the construction of the Pont de la Concorde.

The area today

The former location of the fort is currently called the Place de la Bastille. It is home to the Opéra Bastille. The large ditch ''(fossé)'' behind the fort has been transformed into a marina for pleasure boats, the Bassin de l'Arsenal, to the south, and a covered canal, the Canal Saint Martin, extending north from the marina beneath the vehicular roundabout that borders the location of the fort.

Some undemolished remains of one tower of the fort were discovered during excavation for the Métro (rail mass-transit system) in 1899, and were moved to a park (the Square Henri-Galli) a few hundred metres away, where they are displayed today. The original outline of the fort is also marked on the pavement of streets and sidewalks that pass over its former location, in the form of special paving stones. A cafe and some other businesses largely occupy the location of the fort, and the rue Saint Antoine passes directly over it as it opens onto the roundabout of the Bastille.

Bastille prisoners

Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, last Governor-General of New France (or Canada), March to May 1762

Marquis de Sade, 1784 to 4 July 1789

Bastille prisoners in fiction

Comte de Rochefort (''The Three Musketeers'', ''Twenty Years After'')

Doctor Alexander Manette (''A Tale of Two Cities'')

M. Thénardier (''Les Miserables'')

"Philippe" (''The Man in the Iron Mask'')

References

External links

Remains of the Bastille - photo of the salvaged remains of one tower, with a brief description

''À bas la Bastille!'': how the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written about the Bastille in various editions since 1768.

Category:Defunct prisons in Paris Category:Former buildings and structures of Paris Category:Former fortresses Category:1383 establishments Category:1789 disestablishments Category:Political history of the Ancien Régime Category:1380s architecture Category:Destroyed landmarks Category:Fortifications of Paris Category:Buildings and structures of the French Revolution

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Roberto Alagna (born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor of Sicilian (Italian) descent. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.

Early years

Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian (Italian) immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips. Influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza, but also from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera, but remained largely self-taught.

Career

After winning the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition, Alagna made his professional debut in 1988 as Alfredo Germont in ''La Traviata'' with the Glyndebourne touring company. This led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France and Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew and he was soon invited to sing at major theaters such as La Scala in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992 and the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in 1996. His performances of Roméo in ''Roméo et Juliette'' by Charles Gounod at Covent Garden in 1994 (opposite Leontina Vaduva) catapulted him to international stardom.

Alagna opened the 2006/07 season at La Scala on 7 December 2006 in the new production of ''Aïda'' by Franco Zeffirelli. During the second performance on 10 December, Alagna, whose opening performance was considered ill-at-ease, was booed and whistled from the ''loggione'' (the least expensive seats at the very back of La Scala), and he walked off the stage. The tenor's reaction to his public criticism was denounced as immature and unprofessional by La Scala management and Zeffirelli, who said, “A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star.” The role of Radames was taken over successfully for the rest of the performance by his understudy Antonello Palombi, who entered on stage wearing jeans and a black shirt. In 2007 while at the Metropolitan Opera singing the role of Pinkerton in ''Madame Butterfly'', Alagna replaced the indisposed Rolando Villazon as Romeo in ''Roméo et Juliette'' opposite Anna Netrebko for two performances in September and two performances in December. His wife had flown to New York to be with him for the September engagements, and as a result was fired from the Lyric Opera of Chicago for missing her rehearsal dates for ''La Bohème''. Alagna was also engaged by the Metropolitan Opera at the last minute to cover for the indisposed Marco Berti in a 16 October 2007 performance of ''Aida''. After the performance, the audience gave him a standing ovation. The 15 December performance of ''Roméo et Juliette'' starring Alagna and Netrebko was broadcast by the Met into 447 theaters worldwide in high definition and seen by about 97,000 people.

Personal life

Alagna's first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a brain tumor in 1994; they had one daughter, Ornella, who was born in 1992. In 1996, he married Romanian soprano, Angela Gheorghiu. The couple have sung together often onstage and have made many recordings together both of duets and arias and complete operas. Their joint album, ''Duets & Arias'', peaked at #42 in the UK Albums Chart in May 1996. The two singers also starred in a film version of Puccini's ''Tosca'' directed by French film director Benoît Jacquot. In October 2009, Alagna said in an interview in ''Le Figaro'' that he and Angela Gheorghiu had separated. Following the separation, Gheorghiu declined to appear opposite him in ''Carmen'' at the Metropolitan Opera in December 2009.

References

Metropolitan Opera, Alagna, Roberto (Tenor), performance record from MetOpera database

External links

Reviews, articles, photos and future schedules from The Opera Critic

Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks

Concert photos

Roberto Alagna in an excerpt from ''Tosca''.

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:People from Clichy-sous-Bois Category:French male singers Category:French opera singers Category:French tenors Category:Operatic tenors Category:French buskers Category:French people of Italian descent Category:French people of Sicilian descent

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Paul Gay (born November 8, 1968) is a notable French bass-baritone who sings opera and other classical forms. He has performed in France, Germany, Russia, and the United States, with a number of significant companies and directors.

Paul Gay's voice has had mixed critical success thus far. Gay's singing as Temrouk in George Bizet's ''Ivan IV'' was criticized by "Classics Today.com". He showed some early promise, according to auditions. He was termed "a reliable Masetto" in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni''.

Gay has secured some title roles. On February 2, 2008, he appeared on NPR in the title role in Édouard Lalo's ''The King of Ys''. In August 2009, he performed the title role of St. Paul in Felix Mendelssohn's 1836 oratorio, St. Paul, with Leon Botstein conducting.

References

External links

Personal website in English

Downloads available for Paul Gay on Naxos.com

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:French opera singers

fr:Paul Gay (chanteur)

Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a German operatic tenor. Although he has sung a variety of leading roles including both the Mozart and Wagner repertoire, he is particularly known for his performances in ''spinto'' roles such as Don José in ''Carmen'', Cavaradossi in ''Tosca'', Maurizio in ''Adriana Lecouvreur'', and the title role in ''Don Carlos''.

Early life and education

Kaufmann was born in Munich. His father worked for an insurance company, and his mother was a kindergarten teacher. He had one older sister. He started studying piano when he was eight, and he sang in his elementary school choir. Although he studied for math entrance exams, in the summer of 1989 he began his vocal training at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. While studying, he sang some small roles at the Bavarian State Opera. He graduated from school in 1994.

In 1995, after a vocal crisis, Kaufmann received help from American baritone Michael Rhodes who taught him a "new way of singing" and how to become "more relaxed in my voice and in myself." In Kaufmann's book ''Meinen die wirklich mich?'' he said, "To find a Michael Rhodes that can really help you and bring you to success is really a great stroke of luck."

Career

He began his professional career at Staatstheater Saarbrücken in 1994 and was soon invited to make debuts in German theaters such as the Stuttgart Opera and Hamburg State Opera, as well as international debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra National de Paris, and La Scala. He made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1999 in a new production of Busoni's ''Doktor Faust'' and returned there in 2003 as Belmonte in Mozart's ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and for concerts of the Beethoven's Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic.

He performed in Covent Garden in 2006-2007 in the role of Don José in Bizet's ''Carmen'' to critical acclaim, and also sang Alfredo in Giuseppe Verdi's ''La Traviata'' at the Metropolitan Opera and in Covent Garden in 2008. In May 2008, Kaufmann made his role debut as Cavaradossi in Puccini's ''Tosca'' in Covent Garden, again to critical acclaim.

In 2008-09 he performed ''Manon'' in Chicago opposite Natalie Dessay and in the title role of a new production of ''Lohengrin'' at the Bavarian State Opera. He also sang Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival opening night performance of the 2010 season; the production was staged by Hans Neuenfels and conducted by Andris Nelsons.

His debut recording with Decca, ''Romantic Arias'', was released in January 2008. He has also recorded a Schubert song cycle on the same label and the role of Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly'' for EMI.

In January 2010 he assumed the title role in Jules Massenet's ''Werther'' at the Opera Bastille; the performance was recorded and released on DVD in November 2010.

In April 2011 he returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Siegmund in director Robert Lepage's new production of Richard Wagner's ''Die Walküre'' the second part of his much larger work ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'', scheduled to be presented in its entirety during the 2011-12 season. In September 2011, he underwent surgery to remove a lymph node from his chest. In December, he was back, performing the title role in Gounod's Faust.

Personal life

Kaufmann is married to mezzo-soprano Margarete Joswig. They have three children and live in Zürich, Switzerland.

References

External links

Official Website jonaskaufmann.com

Jonas Kaufmann on bach-cantatas

Unofficial Website

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:People from Munich Category:German opera singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:German tenors

ca:Jonas Kaufmann de:Jonas Kaufmann es:Jonas Kaufmann eo:Jonas Kaufmann fr:Jonas Kaufmann it:Jonas Kaufmann pl:Jonas Kaufmann pt:Jonas Kaufmann ru:Кауфман, Йонас

Frédéric Lordon (born 15 January 1962) is a French economist born in 1962. He has, since 2004, served as a CNRS Director of Research at the Bureau d'économie théorique et appliquée in Strasbourg. He has a number of works published.

References

Category:French economists Category:Living people Category:1962 births

ca:Frédéric Lordon fr:Frédéric Lordon