The Salle du Bel-Air^[2] or Salle du Jeu de Paume de Béquet (Hall of the Béquet Tennis Court), also spelled Becquet,^[3] was a 1672 theatre located in Paris, France. Originally an indoor tennis court (jeu de paume) it was converted by the Italian designer Carlo Vigarani into a theatre which was used by Jean-Baptiste Lully's Paris Opera from 15 November 1672 to 1 February 1673.^[4] It was located in the Rue de Vaugirard, just west of the city moat (fossé) and the Rue des Fossés Monsieur-le-Prince (now the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince). Today the site of the former theatre extends into the Rue de Médicis, just south of no. 15 (or 13 bis) Rue de Vaugirard.^[5]

History

Pierre Perrin, a poet and librettist, was given a monopoly to found an Academy of Opera in Music and French Verse on 28 June 1669.^[6] Perrin had already associated himself with Alexandre de Rieux, Marquis de Sourdéac, and the marquis's own associate François Bersac de Fondant, who styled himself Sieur de Champeron. Sourdéac and Champeron hired singers and took a lease on the Jeu de Paume de Béquet. The conversion to a theatre was well advanced (an amphithéâtre,^[7] boxes, and stage machinery had already been installed), when they were evicted for their failure to obtain proper authorisation from the police. Seeking new premises, they leased the Jeu de Paume de la Bouteille, which became the first theatre of the Paris Opera.

The composer Jean Baptiste Lully persuaded Perrin to sell him his monopoly to perform opera, but this was disputed, and a royal decree in March 1672 transferred the monopoly to Lully. Unable to use the Salle de la Bouteille, since Sourdéac and Champeron still held the lease, Lully requested permission to use the Great Hall in the Louvre Palace on 3 June 1672. However, King Louis XIV denied that request, since the Louvre, as a royal palace, was not considered appropriate for performances that would be open to the public. As a result, on 12 August 1672, Lully acquired a lease on the Béquet. On the same day Sourdéac and Champeron's right to give performances at the Bouteille was revoked. This measure was particularly punitive, since their five-year lease of the Bouteille did not end for another three years.^[8]

On 23 August 1672, Lully hired the Italian stage designer Carlo Vigarani to remodel the theatre and to create the scenery for the first production, Lully's Les fêtes de l'Amour et de Bacchus, which opened on 11 November 1672.^[9] This was followed by his first tragédie lyrique, Cadmus et Hermione, on 27 April 1673. The theatre was equipped with stage machinery, but Lully regarded it as temporary. After Molière died on 17 February 1673, Lully convinced King Louis XIV to allow him to use Molière's theatre at the Palais-Royal free of charge.^[10]