Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a
French author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
and
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just
Readin ...
, known for his collaborations with
Henri Meilhac on the
libretti for
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...
's ''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
'' and comic operas by
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...
, including ''
La belle Hélène
''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy's elopement with Paris (mythology ...
'' (1864), ''
La vie parisienne'' (1866), ''
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' (1867) and ''
La Périchole
''La Périchole'' () is an opéra bouffe in three acts with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The opera depicts the mutual love of two impoverished Peruvian street singers – too poor to afford a marriage ...
'' (1868)
Born in Paris to a musical and artistic family, Halévy worked as a civil servant after leaving school, and continued to do so, while pursuing a parallel career as a playwright, librettist and novelist. He generally wrote with collaborators, including
Hector Crémieux, and on two occasions, his father, but his partnership with Meilhac, an old schoolfriend, produced the works for which he is chiefly remembered.
Life and career
Early years
Ludovic Halévy was born in the
10th arrondissement of Paris on 1 January 1834, the son of
Léon Halévy and his wife, Louise Alexandrine, Lebas. Léon was descended from a German Jewish family (originally Lévy) but converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
before his marriage; his wife was a member of a well-known and influential famiy, daughter of
Louis-Hippolyte Lebas, architect of
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris. Léon, whose elder brother was the composer
Fromental Halévy, was a senior civil servant and a well-respected author.
[Smith, Christopher]
"Halévy, Ludovic"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2002
In 1845 Halévy entered the
Lycée Louis-le-Grand
The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...
. He was an undistinguished scholar but he was well enough connected to secure admission to the French civil service after leaving school. His official career flourished but his chief interest was the theatre.
[ Concerned that his career prospects would suffer if he were publicly associated with the theatre he adopted the pen-name Jules Servières, under which he first collaborated with the composer ]Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...
. Their called ''Madame Papillon'', a one-act knockabout piece with a cast of two, opened at the Bouffes-Parisiens on 3 October 1855. Halévy abandoned the pseudonym the following January, when his real name was credited on bills for the duo's "chinoiserie musicale", '' Ba-ta-clan'', but he returned to using it soon afterwards and did so for several years.[
In 1857 Offenbach organised a competition for young composers. A jury of French composers and playwrights including ]Daniel Auber
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (; 29 January 178212 May 1871) was a French composer and director of the Paris Conservatoire.
Born into an artistic family, Auber was at first an amateur composer before he took up writing operas professionally whe ...
, Fromental Halévy, Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet (opera), Hamlet'' (1868).
Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the C ...
, Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
and Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...
considered seventy-eight entries; the six short-listed entrants were all asked to set the same libretto, , written by Halévy together with Léon Battu. The joint winners were Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...
and Charles Lecocq, with both of whom Halévy was later to collaborate again.[
Still cautious about the effect a reputation for writing operettas might have on his career, Halévy declined to have his name on the bills for his first outstanding success with Offenbach – '']Orphée aux enfers
''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act " opéra bouffon" at the Th ...
'' – and insisted that his co-librettist, Hector Crémieux, should receive all the credit and the royalties. The piece opened on 21 October 1858 and ran for 228 performances, at a time when a run of 100 nights was considered a success.
1860–1870
In 1860 Halévy collaborated with his father on the libretto for ("A Husband Without Knowing It") with music by "Monsieur de Saint-Rémy" – in reality by the Duc de Morny who dabbled in operetta both as a librettist and as a composer. Morny's patronage worked to Halévy's advantage in his official career, and soon after the première of Morny arranged for Halévy's appointment as secretary to the Corps législatif
The was a part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. It is also the generic French term used to refer to any legislative body.
History
Under Napoleon's Consulate, the Constitution of the Year VIII (1799) set up ...
.
In 1864 Halévy began a collaboration with the author Henri Meilhac which was to last until the latter's death in 1897. The two had become friends when both at the , sharing a distaste for school life and a preference for escaping it. They were strikingly different – one biographer writes, "with Meilhac the more ebullient and fanciful, and Halévy the more staid and craftsmanlike"[ – but they remained close friends and now became inseparable collaborators. Accounts differ about how the partners divided the work between them. According to Siegfried Kracauer, it was always Meilhac who outlined the skeleton of the plot and sketched the big scenes and situations, which Halévy "filled in with witty comment and dialogue". Susan McClary writes, "In their collaborations, Meilhac wrote the prose dialogue, while Halévy provided the verse".
'']Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...
'' says of Halévy and Meilhac:
The 1860s saw an unbroken series of eight by Halévy, Meilhac and Offenbach. They started with a notable success, ''La belle Hélène
''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy's elopement with Paris (mythology ...
'', which opened on 17 December 1864. Despite some hostile criticism from Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic.
While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
("To try to ridicule the heroes of Homer is almost to blaspheme") and Jules Janin ("perfidious Meilhac, treacherous Halévy, miserable Offenbach") the piece ran through most of 1865. The three followed this hit with two more: '' La vie parisienne'' (1866) and '' La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' (1867). '' Le château à Toto'' (1868) did less well, but ''La Périchole
''La Périchole'' () is an opéra bouffe in three acts with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The opera depicts the mutual love of two impoverished Peruvian street singers – too poor to afford a marriage ...
'' (1868) was another success. It was based on '' Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement'', a comedy by Prosper Mérimée, who was to feature again in Halévy and Meilhac's work four years later.[ Their last two collaborations with Offenbach in the 1860s – ''La diva'' (1869) and '' Les brigands'' (1869) – were less successful.][Faris, p. 160] The Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
of 1870–71 and the downfall of the Second Empire caused a strong reaction against Offenbach from the public, who identified him with the fallen regime. He left the country for a time, taking refuge in London and Vienna.
''Carmen'' and later
Although the two librettists were known for their comedies, in 1872 they undertook what was, for them, an unusual assignment. Halévy's cousin Geneviève (daughter of Fromental) was married to Bizet, whom the directors of the Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...
invited to write an opera in collaboration with Halévy and Meilhac. The librettists were enthusiastic about the composer's preference for a plot based on Prosper Mérimée's story ''Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
''; they provided a libretto with the requisite tragic ending. Nonetheless, they regarded the piece as a side venture. Just before the premiere, Halévy wrote:
The management of the Opera Comique was uneasy about presenting a tragedy, and Meilhac unsuccessfully urged Bizet to resist killing Carmen off at the end of the last act. Their predictions of a failure proved accurate: the piece completed its scheduled run of forty-eight performances, but played to small audiences.[McClary p. 28]
This was the pair's only venture into tragedy. They wrote seven more libretti together, of which three were for Offenbach and four for Lecocq.[ ''Grove'' comments on their efforts for ''Carmen'': "perhaps the most famous product of the Halévy-Meilhac collaboration, but not a very typical one ... There is some justice in the complaint that the remarkable style of Mérimée’s original narrative is lost".][
When Offenbach returned to Paris from his voluntary exile he collaborated with Halévy, without Meilhac, on an opérette, '' Pomme d'api'', and with both librettists on revised versions of ''La vie parisienne'' and ''La Perichole''; the three collaborators' final work together was an opéra bouffe, ''La boulangère a des écus''.(1875). Thereafter Halévy and Meilhac provided libretti for four opéras comiques with music by Lecocq: '' Le petit duc'' (1878), ''La petite mademoiselle'' (1879), ''Janot'' (1881) and ''La rousotte'' (1881), in the last of which there was also music by Herve and Marius Boullard.][ They were unwitting contributors to Johann Strauss's 1874 '']Die Fledermaus
' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874.
Background
The original literary source for ' was ...
'', which plagiarised the plot of their 1872 comedy ''Le Réveillon'' (New Year's Eve).[Harewood, pp. 410 and 748] They refused to allow the operetta to be produced in France.[Lamb, Andrew. "Meilhac, Halévy and Viennese Operetta", ''Opera'', December 1972, p. 1066]
Halévy retired in 1882. Meilhac kept writing until shortly before his death in 1897.[Saint-Albin, Albert and Henri Fouquier. "Mort de Henri Meilhac", ''Le Figaro'', 7 July 1897, p. 1] Halévy died in Paris on 8 May 1908.[
]
Other works
In addition to his theatrical works, Halévy published novels, short stories and satirical studies. He and Meilhac worked together on numerous non-musical comedies, from ("What Men Like", 1860) to ("The Little Mother", 1880).[Martin, pp. 271–274]
Honours
Halévy was elected as a member of the Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
in 1881; he was appointed vice-president of the Society of Authors in 1882, and became an Officer of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
in 1890.[
]
Stage works
:Source: ''Nos auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques''.[
]
Notes, references and sources
Notes
References
Sources
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JewishEncyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halevy, Ludovic
1834 births
1908 deaths
French Christians
Writers from Paris
Members of the Académie Française
French musical theatre lyricists
French opera librettists
French people of German-Jewish descent
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights
19th-century French male writers