Assorted opera research (posting so that I can find it again)

Interestingly, there *was* actually an opera "La Muette" (written by Eugène Scribe, after whom the rue Scribe entrance was named), in which the heroine was played by a ballet dancer rather than a soprano -- allegedly because the opera company had no suitable soprano performers under contract at the time (in the original version of the libretto none of the female characters sang at all, although in its final form there is a smaller role for another woman, Elvire).
It bears no relation whatever to the fictional "Il Muto", however, which is clearly a spoof of eighteen-century operas.


Mireille de Ribière's footnotes on Leroux do mention that performances took place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
( Opera repertoire in Paris )

( Paris Opera facts and figures )

( Opera pensions )

( marcheuses and figurants )

( Horses in the nineteenth-century theatre )