Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens, 1807–1914 éd. by Nicole Wild (review)

In 1902, Maurice Second noted in Théâtre des Boule vards 1789–1848 (Paris: Société française d’Im primerie et de Librairie, 1902) that from 1815 until 1830, the so-called “minor” Parisian theatres presented a staggering number of new works: 369 comedies, 280 melodramas, 200 opera-comiques, and 1,300 vaudevilles. The Opéra, the most important theatre of all, staged 1,455 performances of more than 400 operas (http://chronopera.free.fr [accessed 4 December 2015]). All of this data begets numerous questions: where, when, and in which theatres did these performances take place? What were the production capabilities of the theatres? Who were the directors and designers? Moreover, what regulations governed the number of theatres and genres performed?

Many publications discuss individual theatres performing so many genres in nineteenth-century Paris—spoken theatre, opera, ballets, circuses, vaudevilles, its productions, stage design, social history, chronologies, and architecture of individual edifices. Little, however, has been published surveying all of the theatres of that time. The difficulties in investigating such a topic are immense. Documents lay dormant in numerous public and private archives; eyewitness and newspaper reports require cross-referencing; existing iconographic material sought out; and chronologies controlled.

For many years, Nicole Wild was Conservateur en chef of the Bibliothèque et Musée de l’Opéra housed in the former Emperor’s Pavilion at the Palais Garnier, now a part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Her book reaps the fruits of her long researches and vast knowledge of nineteenth-century Parisian theatres and its associated genres: opera houses, spoken plays, circuses, dance, shadow puppet theatre, prestidigitation, ad infinitum. Nineteenth-century stage design is another |specialty of hers, having authored two important catalogues of the collection of designs, prints, and drawings in the Bibliothèque de l’Opéra, Décors et costumes du XIXe siècle. Vol 1. Opéra de Paris – Vol. 2. Théâtres et décorateurs (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1987, 1993). The Bibliothèque nationale made both volumes freely available online through Open Edition Books: http://books.openedition.org/editionsbnf/948 and http://books.openedition.org/editionsbnf/809 (accessed 4 December 2015).

First published as Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens au XIXe siècle: les théâtres et la musique (Paris: Aux Amateurs de livres, 1989), and long out of print, Wild’s new ouvrage supersedes this edition with new and updated data through 1914 and, equally important, includes additional rare illustrative material including thirty colour plates; eighteen contemporary views of the auditoria by the French engraver Alexis Orgiazzi (fl. ca. 1800–1839), are provided as well.

A historical overview opens the book with a brief, but important, examination of the regulations governing theatrical performances (including opera and dance) in Paris. Laws promulgated by Napoleon I in 1806 and 1807 dictated the closure of a number of “minor theaters.” Upon the Emperor’s final overthrow in 1815, most theatres promptly reopened, much to the delight of the public addicted not only to opera, dance, opéra-comiques, and classical theatre, but also to mélodrames, vaudevilles, diorama, and the circus as well. By 1835, more than twenty-five theatres were offering performances of all genres, ten within walking distance of one another, particularly along the Boulevard du Temple. In 1864, Napoleon III eased regulations allowing the establishment of café-théâtre, but at the same time ordered all theatrical pieces and libretti to be submitted for approval by the government censors. The three regulations appear as facsimiles in the appendices. The overview continues with a discussion of the names of the edifices, after its geographic location (Le Peletier for the Opéra), a monument (Théâtre du Panthéon), or a quartier (Théâtre du Luxembourg). A brief discussion of methodologies and the source material found in the riches of the Bibliothèque et Musée...