Tea at Trianon: Parisian Walkways: Rue Cadet in the 9th Arrondissement

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, October 25, 2021

Parisian Walkways: Rue Cadet in the 9th Arrondissement

From France Today:

For lovers of French food and Parisian cafés, nowhere are the charms of the City of Light so deliciously distilled as on its famous pedestrian market streets. Whether it’s Rue Cler (dubbed the ‘paradise of Parisian foods’), Rue Montorgueil (beloved by centuries of bon vivants from Casanova to Balzac), or Rue des Martyrs (now a launching pad for the trendiest food concepts in the capital), a visit to Paris isn’t complete without a stroll down one of its lively commercial walkways.

But one of the most captivating is one that’s easily overlooked – Rue Cadet. Perhaps a bit too far south of popular areas like SoPi (South Pigalle) and Montmartre, or a bit too far north of Palais Royal and Musée Grévin, Rue Cadet doesn’t appear on many tourist maps. But nestled in this lively corner of the ninth arrondissement, with its many office and residential buildings, and running 300m between Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre and the Cadet metro stop on Rue Lafayette, Rue Cadet is an oasis of fine food shops and sunny café terraces – a secret street reserved for locals and Parisians in the know.

“Rue Cadet certainly isn’t a major tourist destination, but the few who do venture here are always enchanted by this welcoming little quartier they discover,” says Martin Garros, head of the Rue Cadet business owners’ association. “You really are in the middle of the city: Montmartre, the Musée Grévin, the Grand Boulevards and many other tourist sites are all nearby, yet hidden in the centre of it all you have this little enclave of authentic Parisian life.” In fact, ‘secretive’ could be the leitmotif of Rue Cadet, for besides numerous fantastic under-the-radar food addresses, the street has also been home to several discreet and fascinating slices of society through the centuries, making it a delight for foodies and history buffs alike.

Rue Cadet originated during the reign of Charles IX, when two master gardeners named Jacques and Jean Cadet had the fine idea of transforming a footpath through a garbage dump (called Chemin de la Voirie) into well-fertilised soil beds for market gardens earning a fortune from melons, beans, lettuce and strawberries in the process. The street was named after them in the 18th century, when it began to be developed by aristocrats and entrepreneurs. Early among them was Claude Gallerand, Louis XV’s head of fruit production, who built a house at what became 9 rue Cadet.

In 1762, Jules-David Cromot de Fougy, one of Louis XVI’s financial advisers, acquired the house and transformed it into a luxurious mansion – the Hôtel Cromot du Bourg. In the early 1800s, Hôtel Cromot du Bourg became one of the most exclusive addresses in the musical life of France, when the renowned composer Ignace Pleyel opened a piano manufacturing plant at nº9.

In the 1880s, his son Camille, himself a famous pianist, transformed part of the hotel into a salon for concerts seating 150 people, which became known as the Salle Pleyel. Here, one February evening in 1832, Frédéric Chopin gave his first public concert in Paris, performing his Concerto in E minor, Nocturnes, Mazurkas and Variations on a theme from Mozart’s Don Juan. This intimate salon became one of the shy Pole’s favourite concert settings, and it was here he performed his final concert in Paris on February 16, 1848, in front the cream of Parisian society, including Louis Philippe and the royal family – who one week later would be ousted as part of the 1848 Revolution. (Read more.)