Decree on the theatres
The theater Napoleonic decree of July 29, 1807 limited the Parisian theater scene on eight large theater. To reduce the competition every theater was limited to certain genres. This classification shaped the theater genres and their social status since the 19th century world. What was then known as tragedy, comedy, grand opera, comic opera, vaudeville, vaudeville, melodrama, pantomime, is to essentially due to this classification. It also meant that the circus was no longer expected to theatrical performances.
The decree laid down four senior secondary and four theaters, each of which was limited to a narrowly limited range of productions.
Grands Theatres ( " Grand Theatre " )
- Théâtre Français: Imperial Theatre, which was dedicated to the tragedy and the comedy in the spirit of French classicism.
- Théâtre de l' Imperatrice: "Theatre of the Empress" (now Odeon Theatre ), the secondary stage of the former.
- Théâtre de l' Opéra ( Académie de Musique impériale ): It was dedicated to the " song and dance ", ie the ( through-composed ) great opera and ballet.
- Théâtre de l' Opéra -Comique: comédies ou Drames mêlés de couplets, d' Ariettes et de morceaux d'ensemble, " comedies and dramas mixed with songs, arias and small ensemble vocal pieces ", ie musical comedy and comic opera.
Théâtres secondaires ( " Secondary Theater" )
- Théâtre du Vaudeville: It was limited to petites pièces sur melees de couplets of airs connus (small theater pieces mixed with songs to familiar tunes ), so the Vaudeville theater as a genre.
- Théâtre des Variétés: petites pièces dans le genre grivois, poissard ou villageois: Genre poissard, peasant farce and vaudeville.
- Théâtre de la Porte Saint- Martin, et aux mélodrames aux pièces à grand spectacle: melodrama, spectacle piece and piece of equipment.
- Théâtre de la Gaîté, pantomimes de tous genres, mais sans ballets, aux arlequinades farces et autres, dans le goût de celles autrefois données par Nicolet: pantomimes, farces in the style of the Paris fairground theater.
Article 3 of Decree stipulated that no new theater to be built without imperial permission and no theater company were allowed to change their venue. All the other theater should be closed until August 15. Similar regulations were enforced in the French province. The larger cities ever were allowed to have two theaters, the smaller maximum of a stationary theater troupe.
The decree did not take the withdrawal of Napoléon in 1815. Because the audience has however been homogenized ( every Parisian theater corresponded to a social class ), the social context of the respective theater held as a sort of tradition.
This division between the theaters as institutions was perceived in the German language area as a separation between the theater genres, as there was not a similar breakdown as between the suburbs of Vienna theaters and imported from Paris pieces were perceived according to their origin as aristocratic, bourgeois or proletarian products.