Before the French Revolution, the Paris Opera was unquestionably the first French theatre in the country. It played a dynamic role in French cultural life; it staked huge amounts of money, hired a very large staff and was very much appreciated by the Parisian audience. Above all, this music academy, created in 1669 -when the musician and poet Pierre Perrin was given a privilege by king Louis XIV, and which became the Royal Academy three years later when the composer-courtier Jean Baptiste Lully became its director- this academy got the exclusive rights on the whole territory to perform ballets and musicals in French or in any languages.
One might have thought that this monopoly situation enjoyed by the Opera could have been a big obstacle to the development of the national theatrical life. It was not so. Because of its extreme severity which reduced its impact, the Opera monopoly was to be blithely defied by the other theatres and the competition between them all was made possible all along the modern period. The consequences of this struggle were to trigger tremendous effects, both artistic - the Opera brilliantly showed it was henceforth able to support the succession of the genres without losing its legendary dignity for all that - as well as administrative.
Yet, the system gradually became unbearable and started dismantling at the end of the period when the Revolution knocked it down for ever.