Authors and Actors
As also Wolfgang Mozart was able to verify through his own experience on the occasion of the composition and rehearsal of his melodramas, the actors (and above all the prima donna) could play the good and the bad ordeal by refusing to sing the arias that in their opinion did not enhance their voices or by asking to add new ones to better highlight their role in to the detriment of / the rival etc.
Even in France the situation was not dissimilar, at least until the time when Gluck, thanks to his artistic "weight" of European level and the times that were progressively changing in favor of composers and authors, was unable at least in part to contain and trim, not without difficulty, the claims of the stars.
The authors of the literary texts of tragedies or comedies represented in Parisian theaters were often not paid or, if they managed to agree on a small percentage on the proceeds of the plays, they were regularly cheated by the directors of the companies who falsified the revenue figures by inflating the expenses.
It is true that a Royal Decree of the end of the 17th century had established that the authors would have to pay a fee equal to one ninth of the collection for the texts in five acts and one twelfth for those in three acts, net of management costs of the theater.
This decree was never applied.
Even the directors of the theaters put up absurd clauses for which if a theatrical work did not reach a certain income in two or three consecutive performances, the rights of the text passed to the company, which could have staged it at will without paying a cent to the author.
The company of the Italian Theater, however, from 1775 decided to continue to pay for the work of the authors, which caused a flow of writers who, leaving the Comédie-Francaise, offered their works to Italians.
The earnings of the actors
The income of the most famous actors, singers and dancers underwent, during the eighteenth century, considerable increases: from the 2,000 annual livre (which in the mid 18th century allowed a dignified but certainly not brilliant life) soon reached figures 10/20/30 times more, not counting the gifts from admirers and lovers.
The great artists thus began to "keep a parlor" by hosting nobles and intellectuals at their tables, spending enormous sums to feed their guests every day and to sumptuously furnish the palaces, which began to compete for luxury with those of the great aristocracy.
One of the major items of expenditure, especially for the artists, were the stage costumes that for almost the whole of the 18th century were not dissimilar from those in fashion in the contemporary world (in spite of the eras represented in the tragedies, where the "Arianne" mourning the abandonment of Theseus with clothes equipped with farthingdales 150 centimeters wide or the "Didone Abandoned" showed charming red-heeled shoes).
The value of only the theatrical costumes of the actress Raucourt amounted to 90,000 livre, even poor if we compare them to the 4,000 pairs of shoes and 800 dresses that occupied the wardrobe of the actress Hus in 1780.
And then diamonds, carriages and horses, servants that exceeded ten units, fine furniture, palaces (even two or three, often received as a gift from lovers).
In terms of comparison, let's say that the actors of the theaters of the fairs, often no less good, could earn in the same seasonal periods around 5,000 livre per year.
When they were asked to perform abroad (admitted and not granted that the permission to leave France was recognized) they were no less greedy, as in the case of the singer Caterina Gabrielli who asked for 5,000 Ducats from Catherine II of Russia.
To her assertion that she didn't even pay her generals that much, the singer replied: "Then let them sing."
The "spirit" of the time
Having "esprit and savoir vivre", spirit and refinement, was absolutely essential to attend the beautiful French society of the 18th century and it is no surprise that the young Mozart when he was in Paris, alone with his mother during the second attempt to break through in France, could not be accepted by an acolyte of rich, bored and snobbish people who, after having applauded him, made him wait for hours in the hall in the cold before receiving him.
Moreover, his "esprit" and his "savoir vivre" did not always prove to be up to the rituals and conveniences deemed worthy of a gentleman. Being fashionable also meant knowing "where" to go and "when" to go, on the "right" days. For example, it was considered elegant to show up at the Comédie-Francaise on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The shows at the theater began at 5.30 pm and ended at 9 pm (if some actress or dancer did not arrive late or did not throw a tantrum by delaying the shows for hours) and generally presented two titles: a first more important show called "grand pièce" and a second show called petite pièce.
To advertise their shows, the theaters had posters posted in the streets of the city with personalized colors: yellow for the Opéra, red for the Comédie-Italienne and green for the Comédie-Francaise.
Just as an example, to show the style of thought considered brilliant at the time, here are some jokes of the famous singer Sophie Arnould handed down to posterity.
Meeting the poet Pierre Joseph Bernard, known to always be very condescending and complimenting to everyone, asked what he was doing sitting under a tree. At the poet's reply "I entertain myself" she managed to find a lightning-fast comment warning him with the words "Be careful because you are chatting with a flatterer".
At the news that the satirical writer Francois Antoine Chevrier, author of poisonous pamphlets against the malpractice of the theatrical world, had died, Arnould exclaimed "He must have sucked her pen!".
Artists in prison
We have seen how the most famous artists behaved, on stage and in life, often over the top, not to say decidedly arrogant and disrespectful even towards the King and the highest courtiers.
The start of the show was delayed if the dress did not seem to live up to the fame they enjoyed or because the author had not satisfied them in adding arias and lines to enhance them better than their rivals. Performances were blown up claiming to be sick and then we would show up in the same evening in a box at the Opèra in the company of the lover on duty. Faced with these behaviors, the reaction of the authorities was more than soft: they summoned them to the prison of Fort-L'Eveque, a building in Paris adapted to a prison for petty crimes where the cells were paid and, if they had financial resources, it was also possible to furnish them according to personal taste, to invite people to party by eating and drinking the tastiest things on offer at the market.
A room with a fireplace cost 30 soldi a day (roughly the same as a theater ticket), if there was no fireplace it went down to 20 soldi, 15 soldi for each person in the common rooms, down to 1 penny a day for those who were housed in multiple rooms sleeping on straw (which was changed once a month!).
Interesting fact
Even then there was ticket scalping, that is the activity of grabbing tickets for shows and then reselling them at higher prices, but it was prohibited by law for the premieres and for the most anticipated shows. Complimentary tickets are also not a modern invention, they existed even then but could be used by those who received them only if the theater sold out by selling every available ticket.
It was a way not to damage the finances of the theater by letting in non-paying people who occupied the seats of those who would have gladly shelled out some money to see the show.