Jacques François Fromental Elias Halévy was born in Paris, May 27, 1799,
of Jewish parents, whose family name was Lévi. The same considerations
of expediency that induced Meyerbeer to change his name from Beer to
that which he afterwards made famous, proved similarly potent with
Halévy. His father was by birth a Bavarian, his mother was born in
Lorraine. The former was greatly honored among French Israelites for his
upright character and as a Hebrew scholar profoundly versed in the
Talmud. While yet very young, Halévy developed such remarkable musical
precocity that he was sent to the Conservatory when only ten years of
age. He was at once placed in the class of Berton, then in the full
flush of his triumph as the composer of “Montano et Stéphanie,” his
masterpiece. Berton outlived his fame, and his music is now forgotten.
It may be mentioned in passing, that Berton was greatly piqued by the
success of Rossini, and published two acrimonious pamphlets attacking
the Italian composer. One of these was entitled, “De la Musique
Mécanique et de la Musique Philosophique,” and the other, “Epître à un
célèbre compositeur Français précédée de quelques observations sur la
Musique Mécanique et la Musique Philosophique.” Of course, “la musique
mécanique” was the music of Rossini, and “la musique philosophique” was
that of Berton. The “célèbre compositeur” was Boieldieu, who was greatly
mortified by a dedication that identified him with sentiments wholly in
conflict with those he entertained toward Rossini.
Halévy prosecuted his studies so industriously under the guidance of
Berton, who was an admirable musician, and progressed so rapidly, that
one year after he entered the Conservatory, he won a prize in solfeggio,
and the year following, the second prize in harmony was bestowed on him.
From Berton’s instruction he passed to that of Cherubini, who subjected
him to a rigid course of counterpoint, fugue and composition. Here
again, he advanced with such speed that at the end of seven years, and
while yet a boy of seventeen, he competed for the Grand Prix de Rome,
obtaining the second prize for his cantata, “Les dernières moments de
Tasse.” The next year the second prize again fell to his lot, and the
year following, 1819, he reached the height of his ambition, carrying
off the Grand Prix itself for his “Herminie.”
This much-coveted distinction is awarded at the annual competitive
examinations of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. The successful candidates
become government pensioners for four years, and as such are sent to
Rome, where they reside in the Villa Medici, in the Académie de France.
The prize composition was, at first, a cantata for one voice and
orchestra, and after, for one male and one female voice and orchestra.
The prize was established in 1803, and since then, a winner has been
sent, at the cost of the government, to Rome, every year, except in
those years when no composition was considered worthy the prize. It is
somewhat curious that of the sixty and odd students whose achievements
and future promise won for them this honor, so few attained to permanent
fame. The only prize-winners whose names have made the tour of the world
are Hérold, Halévy, Berlioz, A. Thomas, Gounod, Bizet, and Massenet.
Before his departure for Rome, he composed a Funeral March and a “De
Profondis” on the death of the Duc de Berri (1820), for three voices and
orchestra. He dedicated it to Cherubini, and it was performed in the
synagogue in Rue St. Avoye. In Italy he devoted himself with his
accustomed energy to serious and unflagging study; wrote an opera, which
was not performed, and some works for the church, which remain
unpublished. At the end of his prescribed term abroad, he returned home,
eager to prove to his fellow countrymen that he had not studied in vain.
He turned his eyes in the direction of the opera stage, but experienced
the usual disappointments, in his early attempts to obtain a hearing,
and was almost in despair at the discouraging difficulties that stood in
his way. He composed “Les Bohémiennes” and offered it to the Grand
Opera, but it was not accepted. He was more successful with “Pygmalion,”
which was received and placed in rehearsal, but it was suddenly
withdrawn and never performed. An opera comique, “Les deux Pavillons,”
met the same depressing fate. Halévy began to lose hope, when in 1827,
and when he was twenty-eight years of age, the Théâtre Feydeau accepted
his “L’Artisan,” which was produced in the same year without making any
very marked impression. It is an unambitious work of no special
interest, except for some piquant couplets, and a well-written chorus.
The following year he collaborated with Rifaut in the score of “Le Roi
et le Batelier,” written for the fête of Charles X. In the same year
“Clari” was given at the Théâtre Italien. This was a three-act opera,
and up to that time, his most important work. Malibran sung the
principal part, and for the first time the young composer experienced
the intoxication of success. There is, however, nothing in the score to
indicate the Halévy of “La Juive” and of “L’Eclair.”
In 1829 he was appointed, at the Théâtre Italien, to share with Hérold
the duties of chef du chant. In that year was produced, at the Opera
Comique, his “Le Dilletante d’Avignon,” a parody on Italian opera
librettos, which was heartily applauded, and of which the chorus, “Vive,
vive l’Italie,” was hummed and whistled and attained to the honor of
adoption by vaudeville writers. His next work was “La Langue Musicale,”
which, despite some pretty music, failed, owing to the silliness of the
libretto. In the spring of 1830, “Manon Lescaut,” a ballet, charming in
melody and brilliant in orchestration, was produced with great success,
and was published. Then came in 1832 the ballet-opera, “La Tentation,”
written in collaboration with Casimir Gide, and though it was well
received it brought no fame to Halévy. He had worked faithfully and
indefatigably, but as yet without winning the recognition for which he
so fervently hoped. Opera after opera was composed with remarkable
rapidity, to meet with no greater prosperity than a _succès d’estime_. A
one-act comic opera, “Les Souvenirs de Lafleur,” brought him no better
fortune. Hérold dying in 1833, and leaving his opera, “Ludovic,”
unfinished, Halévy completed it, composing for the first act a fine
quartet that was always encored, and writing the whole of the second
act. Still, the composer failed to win fame; but the clouds were about
to dissipate suddenly and to display his sun at once, in its fullest
glory.
In 1835, “La Juive” was given at the Grand Opera, and Halévy was hailed
as a master composer. The work was received with a frenzy of delight,
and in the wild enthusiasm it aroused, the composer enjoyed all that
follows recognized genius and well-earned fame in the capital of France.
This work opened to him every opera house in Europe, and a career of
brilliant success. In the same year in which this masterpiece saw the
light, he produced a work of a character so wholly different as to
excite wonder that it could have come from the same composer. It is,
however, no less great in its way, and was no less overwhelmingly
successful. This was “L’Eclair,” a musical comedy for two tenors and two
sopranos only, and without choruses. It is exquisitely charming, a model
of artistic skill and profound knowledge gracefully employed. These
works won for him admission to the Institute, where he succeeded Reiche.
Halévy was then thirty-seven years old, and had reached his highest
point of greatness, for though he wrote many more operas, he never again
equalled “La Juive” and “L’Eclair.”
The year after “La Juive” was produced, Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots”
appeared and proved to be an epoch-making opera. Its instant and
enormous success had an unfavorable effect on Halévy, for he abandoned
his own peculiar individuality of style, and became a follower, if not
an imitator of Meyerbeer. Still worse, for in his eagerness to compose,
he was not particular in his choice of librettos, and accepted any to
which music could be written. The result was a series of opera books,
mostly of a gloomy turn, that no music could deprive of their
tiresomeness or make interesting. Under this unwise course of action he
soon exhausted his musical invention and became nearly as dull as were
his librettos. “Les Mousquetaires de la Reine,” and “Le Val d’Andorre,”
two fine operas, must be excepted.
His industry was astonishing, as will be seen by the following complete
list of the works that succeed his two crowning triumphs: “Guido et
Ginevra,” grand opera, five acts, 1838; “Les Treize,” comic opera, three
acts, and “Le Shérif,” comic opera, three acts, 1839; “Le Drapier,”
comic opera, three acts, 1840; “Le Guiterrara,” comic opera, three acts,
and “La Reine de Chypre,” grand opera, five acts, 1843; “Le Lazzarone,”
comic opera, two acts, 1844; “Les Mousquetaires de la Reine,” comic
opera, three acts, 1846; “Le Val d’Andorre,” comic opera, three acts,
1848; incidental music for “Prométhée Enchainé,” and “La Fée aux Roses,”
comic opera, three acts, 1849; “La Tempesta,” grand opera, three acts,
and “La Dame de Pique,” comic opera, three acts, 1850; “Le Juif Errant,”
grand opera, five acts, 1852; “Le Nabab,” comic opera, three acts, 1853;
“Jaquarita l’Indienne,” comic opera, three acts, 1855; “Valentine
d’Aubigny,” comic opera, three acts, 1856; “La Magicienne,” grand opera,
five acts, 1858; “Noé,” grand opera, five acts (unfinished); “Les Plages
du Nil,” cantata with chorus and orchestra, besides numerous vocal
pieces and some music for the pianoforte. Of all these operas only “Les
Mousquetaires” and “Le Val d’Andorre” survive through occasional
performances. The latter, when originally produced, saved the Opéra
Comique from bankruptcy, and ten years later relieved the
Théâtre-Lyrique from pecuniary difficulties against which it then
struggled.
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