The French school of light opera, founded by Givtry, reached its
greatest perfection in the authors of "La Dame Blanche" and "Fra
Diavolo," though to the former of these composers must be accorded the
peculiar distinction of having given the most perfect example of this
style of composition. François Adrien Boïeldieu, the scion of a Norman
family, was born at Rouen, December 16, 1775. He received his early
musical training at the hands of Broche, a great musician and the
cathedral organist, but a drunkard and brutal taskmaster. At the age of
sixteen he had become a good pianist and knew something of composition.
At all events his passionate love of the theatre prompted him to try his
hand at an opera, which was actually performed at Rouen. The revolution
which made such havoc with the clergy and their dependents ruined
the Boïeldieu family (the elder Boïeldieu had been secretary of the
archiépiscopal diocese), and young François, at the age of nineteen, was
set adrift on the world, his heart full of hope and his ambition bent
on Paris, whither he set his feet. Paris, however, proved a stern
stepmother at the outset, as she always has been to the struggling and
unsuccessful. He was obliged to tune pianos for his living, and was glad
to sell his brilliant _chansons_, which afterward made a fortune for his
publisher, for a few francs apiece.
Several years of hard work and bitter privation finally culminated in
the acceptance of an opera, "La Famille Suisse," at the Théâtre Faydeau
in 1796, where it was given on alternate nights with Cherubini's
"Médée." Other operas followed in rapid succession, among which may be
mentioned "La Dot de Suzette" (1798) and "Le Calife de Bagdad" (1800).
The latter of these was remarkably popular, and drew from the severe
Cherubim the following rebuke: "Malheureux! Are you not ashamed of such
undeserved triumph?" Boïeldieu took the brusque criticism meekly and
preferred a request for further instruction from Cherubini--a proof
of modesty and good sense quite remarkable in one who had attained
recognition as a favorite with the musical public. Boïeldieu's three
years' studies under the great Italian master were of much service, for
his next work, "Ma Tante Aurore," produced in 1803, showed noticeable
artistic progress.
It was during this year that Boïeldieu, goaded by domestic misery
(for he had married the danseuse Clotilde Mafleuray, whose notorious
infidelity made his name a byword), exiled himself to Russia, even then
looked on as an El Dorado for the musician, where he spent eight years
as conductor and composer of the Imperial Opera. This was all but a
total eclipse in his art-life, for he did little of note during the
period of his St. Petersburg career.
He returned to Paris in 1811, where he found great changes. Méhul and
Cherubini, disgusted with the public, kept an obstinate silence; and
Nicolo was not a dangerous rival. He set to work with fresh zeal, and
one of his most charming works, "Jean de Paris," produced in 1812, was
received with a storm of delight. This and "La Dame Blanche" are the two
masterpieces of the composer in refined humor, masterly delineation,
and sustained power both of melody and construction. The fourteen years
which elapsed before Boïeldieu's genius took a still higher flight
were occupied in writing works of little value except as names in a
catalogue. The long-expected opera "La Dame Blanche" saw the light in
1825, and it is to-day a stock opera in Europe, one Parisian theatre
alone having given it nearly 2,000 times. Boïeldieu's latter years were
uneventful and unfruitful. He died in 1834 of pulmonary disease, the
germs of which were planted by St. Petersburg winters. "Jean de Paris"
and "La Dame Blanche" are the two works, out of nearly thirty operas,
which the world cherishes as masterpieces.