L'Académie Royale de Musique

The official name given to the Paris Opera in 1671. Its original name was L'Académie d'Opéra, given by its founders Abbé Perrin and the Marquis de Sourdéac in 1669. It was changed two years later with the first production of Pomone (19 Mar. 1671), a mixture of opera, ballet, pastoral (mus. Robert Cambert, chor. Beauchamp). Lully was director between 1672 and 1687 and the associated dance school, which still exists, was opened in 1713. The name of the institution has changed several times over the years and since 1871 has been called Théâtre National de l'Opéra. It is from this institution that French ballet has evolved rather than the Académie Royale de Danse.