Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold, who played a conspicuous part in the
elevation and enrichment of the opera comique, though now principally
known by only two of his many operas, “Zampa” and “Le Pré aux Clercs,”
was born at Paris, Jan. 28, 1791. His father, François Joseph, an
Alsatian by birth, was a musician of more than ordinary ability. He had
been a pupil of Philip Emmanuel Bach, was a professor of the piano, and
also composed music for that instrument. Little is known of the mother
except that she sympathized with her son’s talent, which displayed
itself at a very tender age, for in his sixth year the precocious boy
was writing little pieces for the piano. Upon the advice of Grétry, the
composer, whom the parents consulted, he was sent to the Institution
Hix, where he had his first lessons in music. He made such rapid
progress that in 1806, the year in which his father died, he was
encouraged by Fétis and other competent critics to make music his
profession. He entered the Conservatory in the same year as a member of
the piano class of Louis Adam, his godfather, and won his first honor by
taking the piano prize in 1810. He subsequently extended his curriculum,
studying harmony with Catel, the violin with Kreutzer, and composition
with Méhul, who years afterward said of him on his deathbed: “I can die
now that I know I leave a musician to France.” The success which marked
his career in the Conservatory is indicated by his securing the Prix de
Rome in 1812 with his cantata, “Mlle. de la Vallière.” The coveted honor
opened wide the doors of music to him with the added advantages of
foreign travel. The next two years were spent by the young musician in
Italy, during which period there was a notable change in his style of
composition. His first works were a hymn for four voices, two symphonies
in C and D, and three quartets in D, C and G minor. The quality of these
works, which are now treasured in the Conservatory, gives ample promise
that he would have been a successful instrumental composer, but
circumstances ordered otherwise. During his stay in Naples he was
attached to the court of Queen Caroline as pianist, and to please her
majesty he devoted himself to dramatic composition with an enthusiasm
which soon aroused an ambition to excel in this class of writing. His
aspirations were still further heightened by the success of his first
dramatic work, “La Jeunesse de Henri V,” produced in 1815, and to the
opera he now devoted himself with an industry that never flagged. Well
schooled and practiced as he might have been in instrumental writing, it
evidently had limitations which were not agreeable to a composer of
strong emotions, vivid imagination and distinctly dramatic tendencies.
Hérold returned to Paris shortly after the successful production of his
first opera, stopping en route in Vienna, where he made many musical
acquaintances. Arrived at the French capital he at once made his
arrangements for an active and busy season of writing for the stage. His
first concern was to find a libretto adapted to his purpose, and it was
while engaged in this difficult search that good fortune came to him in
the request of Boieldieu that he would write the last half of an opera
upon which he was then engaged, “Charles de France,” and which was
brought forward in June, 1816. Collaboration of this kind was far from
being uncommon at that period, particularly in France. He not only wrote
“Charles de France” with Boieldieu, but “Vendome en Espagne” with Auber,
and “L’Auberge d’Auray” with Carafa, while in “La Marquise de
Brinvilliers” no less than nine composers of prominence were
represented—Hérold, Auber, Batton, Berton, Blangini, Boieldieu, Carafa,
Cherubini and Paër. The rage for collaboration also spread to literature
and has been continued even into our time by Erckmann-Chatrian. The
results of such work are more tolerable however in literature than in
music, where unity of style is one of the essentials. His association
with Boieldieu was of special advantage in introducing him to the
theatrical world of writers, and he soon was at no loss to find
libretti, good, bad and indifferent, many of them, it must be confessed,
of the last two sorts. His first opera after the Boieldieu collaboration
was “Les Rosières,” in three acts, (1817), which proved to be a success.
Flushed with the prestige of this work the young composer immediately
set about another, and before the year closed had finished “La
Clochette,” which not only was successful, but as its fresh and taking
airs caught the popular fancy, at once made him a favorite in the gay
city. His industry now became prodigious. He was seized with the very
demon of work and while in this mood he eagerly accepted everything that
was offered him in the way of a libretto as affording a new outlet for
his musical activity. The result was detrimental. Year after year he
produced operas for the stage, some of which had but one or two
hearings, while others were vigorously hissed, not on account of the
music, but by reason of the weakness and commonplaceness of the stories
and their utter lack of dramatic merit. Among such operas were “Le
premier Venu” (1818); “Les Troqueurs” (1819); “L’Auteur mort et vivant”
(1820); “Lasthénie” (1823); and “Le Lapin Blanc” (1825). Now and then,
however, an opera was produced which made compensation for so many
failures, and among these was “Le Muletier” (1823), which was highly
esteemed, especially by those whose opinions were of value. In fact
Hérold had no idle moments. During all of this period, and for two or
three years later (1820–29), he was actively connected with the stage.
In 1820 he accepted the position of piano accompanist for the Italian
Opera and held it for seven years. In 1821 he was dispatched to Italy
with a commission to engage artists, and from 1827 to 1829 was chorus
master at the Académie de Musique. All this was practical experience of
a valuable kind in the accessories and environments of his profession,
and undoubtedly contributed many of the elements which led up to his
ultimate success as an operatic composer by giving him a knowledge of
the details of the stage, the habits and peculiarities of singers, and
the limitations of the dramatic art which are so essential to the
complete equipment of the composer. During a portion of this period he
turned to other forms of composition. In 1827, he devoted himself to
ballets. Of these, “Astolphe et Joconde,” “La Sonnambule,” “La Fille mal
gardée,” “La Belle au bois dormant” and “Sylvie” are the most
conspicuous. All of them are characterized by the same graceful and
romantic style which is to be found so often in his operas. During this
same period he wrote a voluminous amount of piano music, such as
sonatas, caprices, rondos, fantasies, divertissements and variations,
the most notable being a sonata in A flat, the “L’Amante disperato”
sonata, the Rondo Dramatique, the “Pulcinella” caprice, variations on
“Au clair de la lune,” “Marlbrook,” an arrangement of the “Moses in
Egypt” of Rossini, whose music largely influenced his style, and
incidental music to the drama of “Missolonghi,” which was produced at
the Odeon. A letter written by his friend Chanlieu refers to this
period. In speaking of the failure of some of his operas, M. Chanlieu
says: “How many times in our solitary walks he lamented lost time and
forced inaction! Disgust mastered him and made itself felt even in his
piano music which, with the exception of two or three other works, was a
species of current money to which he attached no value. It was, however,
at that time that he wrote his fantasias on themes by Rossini, which had
a great sale and at which he was the first to laugh. The spirit of youth
still sustained him; he was gay and vivacious in private, but in public
morose and caustic.” Rossini not alone influenced his musical style. It
was through his courteous and kindly offices that Hérold received the
decoration of the Legion of Honor, Rossini going so far even as to
refuse it for himself unless it were also awarded to his friend.
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