Creative law: singers, roles, and legal disputes at the Paris Opéra during the ancien régime

This article argues that the legal institutions governing the operation of the Paris Opéra since its establishment in 1669 were not merely applied hierarchically from above. To some extent, performers participated in defining the legal terms of the Opéra’s business. Challenging the prevailing creative practice of the time, these performers deployed legal rhetoric particularly in resolving disputes relating to casting. Casting decisions proved particularly salient insofar as the combination of personal prestige and financial success at stake produced both professional competition and social conflict. After demonstrating the main principles at work behind performers’ challenges to the administrative and legal conditions of the Paris Opéra, this article presents a series of case studies that illustrate the ways in which performers attempted to use legal strategies to alter the institutional setting as it related to casting.