ABSTRACT
The emergence of grand opéra around 1830 resulted in large-scale works in five acts, setting libretti largely based on historical subjects, which dominated much European stage music until the First World War. But such shifts in generic paradigm came at a price. The repertory of the Paris Opéra was based as much on ballet-pantomime as on opera, and until 1830 both genres would share the stage in a single evening. Although the aesthetic impulses behind grand opéra made programming new opera and ballet henceforth impossible, the state required the Opéra to maintain the balance between opera and ballet in order to reserve the institution's "pompe et luxe"; such a situation called forth a number of responses from its management during the period that all Parisian opera houses were controlled by licence (1806-1807 to 1864).
