Léon Halévy (4 January 1802 – 2 September 1883) was a French civil servant, historian, and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Early life

Born to a Jewish family in Paris, Léon was the son of the writer and

chazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer. In English, thi ...

Élie Halévy Élie Halévy (6 September 1870 – 21 August 1937) was a French philosopher and historian who wrote studies of the British utilitarians, the book of essays '' Era of Tyrannies'', and a history of Britain from 1815 to 1914 that influenced Britis ...

and the younger brother of the composer Jacques François Fromenthal Halévy. He was educated at the

Lycée Charlemagne The Lycée Charlemagne is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France. Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Jesui ...

Career

Halévy became a disciple and collaborator of Saint-Simon, aiding in the foundation of his journal, ''Le Producteur,'' and writing the introduction to his work, ''Opinions Littéraires, Philosophiques et Industrielles,'' in which

Olinde Rodrigues Benjamin Olinde Rodrigues (6 October 1795 – 17 December 1851), more commonly known as Olinde Rodrigues, was a French banker, mathematician, and social reformer. In mathematics Rodrigues is remembered for Rodrigues' rotation formula for vectors, ...

and Étienne-Martin Bailly also assisted. In 1828 he wrote a ''History of the Jews in Modern Times'', one of the earliest works on this topic. In 1831, Halévy became an assistant professor of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

at the Ecole Polytechnique, where there was some discrimination against Jews. However he abandoned the position three years later. In 1837, Halévy was attached to the Ministry of Public Instruction as chief of the bureau of scientific societies, and remained there until his retirement in 1853, after which he devoted the remainder of his life to literature, writing a large number of poems, translations, plays, and other works. Few of these are read today, although he was well regarded in his time. Amongst them was a biography of his brother Fromental, published after the latter's death in 1864.

Personal life and death

Halévy became

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

in order to marry the daughter of the architect Louis-Hippolyte Lebas. Their son

Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French author and playwright, best known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on Georges Bizet's '' Carmen'' and on the works of Jacques Offenbach. Biography Ludovic Halévy was born in ...

was one of the leading librettists of mid-century France. Ludovic's own children,

and

Daniel Halévy Daniel Halévy (12 December 1872 – 4 February 1962) was a French historian. Life The son of Ludovic Halévy, Daniel was born in and died in Paris. His family was of Jewish descent, but his parents were Protestant and he was brought up as a Pr ...

, were noted academics. Another son, by Léon's irregular liaison with an opera singer, was the politician Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol. Halévy died, aged 81, at

Saint Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...

Bibliography

* ''

La Grande Encyclopédie ''La Grande Encyclopédie, inventaire raisonné des sciences, des lettres, et des arts'' (''The Great Encyclopedia: a systematic inventory of science, letters, and the arts'') is a 31-volume encyclopedia published in France from 1886 to 1902 by H. ...

'' * Larousse, ''Dict.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halevy, Leon 1802 births 1883 deaths Writers from Paris 19th-century French Jews 19th-century French writers 19th-century French historians French literary critics Jewish French writers Jewish historians French people of German-Jewish descent French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers