Description

Did the sociological structure and ritual organisation of an evening at the Opéra-Comique make this theatre, in the 19th century, a “bourgeois” forum for “official art”? The qualified answer to this question is based on the comparison of historical data (poster design), conversations and symbolic depictions, particularly in literature (of the audience’s dress and reactions). It was also important to take into consideration the complex history of the genre of opéra comique, which was regularly changing, sometimes persisting in its traditions, sometimes receptive to artistic modernity.