Berlioz in Paris
Le Palais de l’Industrie
On 15 and 16 November 1855 Berlioz, at the request of Prince Napoleon, the son of the emperor’s youngest brother, organised and conducted here two ‘colossal’ concerts to mark the closing of the Exposition Universelle. The programme included among other works the first performance of his cantata in honour of Napoleon III, L’Impériale. On this occasion he used an electric metronome to maintain the ensemble with several sub-conductors. The device had been newly created by the Belgian inventor Verbrugghen, who had come from Brussels to Paris at Berlioz’s request to install the equipment (the story is told in detail in the Postface of the Memoirs).
All the pictures reproduced on this page have been scanned from engravings, newspapers and books in our own collection. © Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin. All rights of reproduction reserved.
Inauguration ceremony of the Exposition Universelle in the Palais de l’Industrie – 15 May 1855
(Full screen view) (Full screen view)
These engravings appeared in a contemporary issue of L’Illustration.
Closure of the Exposition Universelle
at the Palais de l’Industrie
Giving out prizes to the Exhibitors – 15 November 1855
This engraving appeared in Paris dans sa Splendeur (1861).
Interior of the annex-gallery of the Exposition
This engraving appeared in a contemporary issue of L’Illustration.
Loysel’s coffee machine
This engraving appeared in a contemporary issue of L’Illustration.
Palais de l’Industrie around 1856
This engraving is dated from 1856.
Palais de l’Industrie circa 1898
This picture has been scanned from John L. Stoddards Lectures, Volume V – Paris La Belle France and Spain, by John L. Stoddard (Balch Brothers, 1898).
© 2000-2010 Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin for all the pictures and information on this page.
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