From the Carnavalet Museum, Paris.
]
In addition to the production of this immense mass of operatic music,
Halévy was able to fill the part of one of the principal professors at
the Conservatoire. In 1831 he was made professor of counterpoint and
fugue, and in 1840 he became professor of composition. He wrote a book
of instruction, entitled, “Leçons de lecture musicale,” which first
appeared in 1857. It remains, in a revised form, the accepted text-book
for teaching solfeggio in the primary schools of Paris. Among his more
distinguished pupils were Gounod, Victor Massé, Bazin and Bizet, the
last-named of whom married Halévy’s daughter.
In 1854 he was made permanent secretary of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
It was a part of his duties in this office to pronounce eulogiums. These
he published, with additions, in 1869, under the title, “Souvenirs et
Portraits, études sur les beaux arts.” They are gracefully written, and
are entertaining and edifying reading. In 1861 the severe work to which
he had subjected himself, began to tell on his health. A southern
climate was ordered by his physicians. He selected Nice, whither he
departed with his family in December, 1861. It was too late, and
moreover, in the comparative quiet of his new abode he missed the
excitement to which he had been accustomed. His debility rendered work
almost impossible, and his depression in consequence was painfully
intensified. The end came March 17, 1862. His body was taken to Paris
and buried on the 24th of the same month, with great ceremony. “La
Juive” was revived at the Grand Opera in honor of his memory, on the
29th of May, and his bust, the work of his widow, was crowned on the
stage.
[Illustration: