The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-06 00:00:00

THE SUN,

FRENCH WRITERS FOR THE STAGE.
There are in Paris eight or nine hundred authors or
composers who have had one or more of their works
presented on the stage; but the number of authors or
composers of the now pieces represented in Paris in a
single year is about 250. Paris is much more prolific of
new pieces than London, and the payments made by the
stage of Paris on account ofauthorship form a considerable
item in the year's expenses. The year 1851 may he
taken as a fair sample of the rest. In that year the
two hundred and fifty authors owned two hundred and
seventy-three new pieces, of which number ono hundred
and eighty-six were vaudveilles, and thirty-two were
pieces produced by the theatres enjoying part in the
subvention. The method in which French authors are
to receive payment for dramatic works has been practi-
cally subject to much fluctuation, and great discussion
has been held upon its theory. The rights of the
authors in the case of the Opera, the Comedie Fran-
caise, and the Opera Comique, are now established upon
a system fixed by authority. For other theatres a scale
has been fixed by the Association of Dramatic Authors,
and generally accepted by the managers. The follow-
ing are now the author's dues upon each night's per-
formance of his piece. We express the larger sums of
money in round numbers, by addition or subtraction in
each case of a taw odd shillings. At the Opera—for an
opera in five acts: for each of the first forty representa-
tions, twenty guineas; for every subsequent representa-
tion, eight guineas For an opera in three acts: the
two rates of payment are fourteen pounds and seven
pounds. A ballet in three acts, seven pounds, and then
two pound,. A ballet in one act, four guineas, and then
one pound five. At the Comedie Fraiceise—A twelfth
of the gross receipts (after deducting the right of the
indigent) for pieces in five and four acts; an eighteenth
for pieces in three acts; a twenty-fourth for pieces in
two acts or one act. At the Opera Comique—After de-
ducting the tax for the poor, and eighth and a half, that
is to say, two-seventeenths of the receipts, for pieces in
three acts. At the Odeon, Vaudeville, Varietes, Gym-
nase, and Palais Royal, twelve per cent. on the gross re-
ceipts. At the Gait 4, Ambigu, and Porte Saint Martin,
ten per cent. At the Theatre National, one pound thir-
teen shillings and fourpence nightly for a long piece, and
one pound ten shillings for pieces in three acts, during
the first twenty-five representations, and one pound for
each subsequent performance. Fifteen shillings a night
for pieces in two acts; ten shillings and tenpence for
pieces in one act. . . . The whole amount received
by authors from the stage of Paris is about twenty-
eight thousand pounds a-year. The whole stage in the
provinces yields to them about seven thousand more.
In addition to this, they have, of course, the copyright
of their manuscripts, certain fees called primes de lecture,
and the right of signing—every night when their plays
are acted—a fixed number of free admissions, which are
sold at a price lower than that of the tickets issued by
the theatre, and produce an additional fund of profit to
the authors which is not by any means to be despised.
It adds to their aggregate of payments no less a sum
than sixteen or seventeen thousand pounds a year.-
Dickens's " Household Words."