Léon Carvalho (18 January 1825 – 29 December 1897) was a French impresario and stage director.

Biography

Born Léon Carvaille in Port Louis, British Mauritius, he came to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at an early age. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and sang as a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

at the Opéra-Comique (1850–55), where he met the soprano Marie Caroline Miolan, whom he married in 1853. He then gave up singing and took on the direction of the Théâtre Lyrique in 1856, where he presented works by Beethoven,

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, Rossini, Weber, but most importantly opened his doors to new French composers turned down by the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique, such as Berlioz (he staged the first, very incomplete, performance of '' Les Troyens'' in 1863), Gounod, Bizet, Saint-Saëns and Delibes. He also staged the premiere of the revised version in a French translation of Verdi's ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' in 1865. In early 1868 Carvalho started another operatic venture at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. However he was declared bankrupt on 6 May 1868, forcing him out from both theatres. Walsh TJ. ''Second Empire Opera – The Théâtre-Lyrique Paris 1851–1870.'' John Calder Ltd, London, 1981. Carvalho then moved to manage the Théâtre du Vaudeville. Although the principal focus was straight plays, he revived the melodrama – a play with incidental music. He commissioned Bizet to write music for a production of Daudet’s '' L'Arlésienne'' on 1 October 1872.Dean W. ''Bizet.'' London, J M Dent & Sons, 1978. He became director of the Opéra-Comique in 1876, and although he promoted many new works, his choice of repertory became somewhat conservative, emphasising the traditional French repertoire. However, he also produced the premieres of '' Les Contes d'Hoffmann'', '' Lakmé'', '' Manon'' and '' Le roi malgré lui'', and in his second tenure from 1891 ''Le Reve'' and '' L'attaque du moulin''.Huebner S. ''French Opera at the Fin de Siecle.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999. Carvalho also brought '' Carmen'' back to the Opera-Comique in 1883, firstly in an expurgated version, and then with the creator of the title-role, Galli-Marié, and some of the more earthy elements restored. In 1884 he prepared to bring '' Lohengrin'' to the Parisian stage, visiting Vienna to study a production there, but was eventually forced by a virulent press campaign to abandon his plan in early 1886. After the burning of the Salle Favart in 1887, which caused the death of 84 persons, he was held responsible, condemned for negligence and imprisoned. However, after an appeal he was acquitted, and reinstated as director of the theatre in 1891, where he continued promoting new talent. His extravagant nature, both personal and in his work as an impresario, led to debt and a succession of bankruptcies. He died in Paris.

References

Sources

* ''Le guide de l'opéra'', Mancini & Rouveroux, (Fayard, 1986), . {{DEFAULTSORT:Carvalho, Leon 1825 births 1897 deaths French opera managers French operatic baritones Conservatoire de Paris alumni People from Port Louis District French impresarios French theatre directors 19th-century French male opera singers Immigrants to France British Mauritius people