Halévy, Fromental (1799-1862)

Halévy, Fromental

COMPOSER (FRANCE)

BORN 27 May 1799, Paris - DIED 17 Mar 1862, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes
BIRTH NAME Halévy, Jacques François Fromental Élie
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 03, ligne 05, numéro 25)

Fromental Halévy was the son of the cantor Élie Halfon Halévy, the secretary of the Jewish community in Paris. In 1809 he entered the Conservatory in Paris where Cazot, Lambert, Berton and Cherunini were his teachers. In 1819 he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata "Herminie". By 1827 he was a professor at the Conservatoire.

After several failed attempts he made himself a name with his Italian opera "Clari" (1829) with La Malibran performing. In 1835 his most famous opera "La Juive" was staged. It was admired by Richard Wagner who wrote about it in 1841. In 1836 he was elected into the Institut de France. Futher operas followed but they never matched the success of "La Juive". He became Secretary of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. his last opera "Noé" was unfinished when he died in Nice in 1862 and it was completed by Bizet, his former student.

Related persons
• was teacher of Bizet, Georges
• was teacher of Boulanger, Ernest
• was pupil of Cherubini, Luigi
• is brother/sister of Halévy, Léon
• was written about by Halévy, Léon
• was teacher of Mathias, Georges
• was teacher of Offenbach, Jacques
• was teacher of Saint-Saëns, Camille
• cooperated with Scribe, Eugène

Events

3/11/1827	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Le Roit et le Batelier" at the opéra comique in Paris. The music was written in collaboration with Victor Rifaut. Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges wrote the libretto. The opera ran for thirteen performances and wasn't revived afterwards.
19/12/1828	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Clari"at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. The libretto was based on a novella that was already made into an opera by Henry Bishop in London in 1823. It was Halévy's first oera in Italian. Maria Malibran sang the title part but the opera wasn't liked by the public and ran for only six performances. A revised version was staged in 1830. After that the opera wasn't performed until 2008, when Cecilia Bartoli performed the part of Clari in Zürich. [Malibran, Maria]
16/5/1833	Premiere of "Ludovic" by Ferdinand Hérold and Fromental Halévy at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Hérold died before he could complete the opera and Halévy finished it. Saint-Georges wrote the libretto. The singers included Louis-Augustin Lemonnier, Marie Massy and Félicité Pradher. The opera was a reasonable success and it was performed 70 times in 1833 and 1834.
23/2/1835	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Ja Juive" at the Opera in Paris. The librett owas written by Eugène Scribe. François Habeneck was the conductor. Performers were Asolphe Nourrit, Cornélie Falcon, Julie Dorus-Gras, Niclas Levasseur and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. [Falcon, Cornélie][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Nourrit, Adolphe][Scribe, Eugène]
16/12/1835	Premiere of "L'Éclair" by Fromental Halévy at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The libretto was written by Saint-Georges. The performers included Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc, Amélie Miro-Camoin, Jean-Baptiste Chollet and Félicité Pradher. Jacques Offenbach was a cellist in the orchestra. The opera was a success and on 16 February 1837 it was first performed in the USA in New Orleans. [Offenbach, Jacques]
25/8/1837	Rosine Stolz debuts at the Paris Opera in Halévy's "La Juive". She appeared next to Gilbert Duprez.
5/3/1838	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Guido et Ginevra" at the Salle Peletier in Paris. The librett owas written by Eugène Scribe. Performers included Nicolas Levasseur, Gilbert Duprez, Julie Aimée Dorus-Gras, Rosine Stolz, Ferdinand Prévôt, Eugène Massol and Maria Flécheux. It was a moderate success. [Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Scribe, Eugène]
2/9/1839	Premiere of "Le Shérif" by Fromental Halévy at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and it was based on a short story by Balzac. Performers included François-Louis Henry, Gustave-Hippolyte Roger and Laure Cinti-Damoreau. [Scribe, Eugène]
22/12/1841	Premiere of Halévy's "La reine de Chypre" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. The libretto was by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. Habeneck was the conductor. Rosine Stolz performed the title part of this grand opera and Gilbert Duprez was Gérard. Joseph Mazilier was the choreographer. Adéle Dumilâtre, Natalie Fitzjames and Pauline Leroux were in the ballet. Richard Wagner was in the audience and praised the opera. [Wagner, Richard]
15/3/1843	Premiere of Halévy's opera "Charles VI" at the Salle Peletier in Paris. The libretto was written by the brothers Casimir and Germain Delavigne. The performers included Gilbert Duprez, Paul Barroilhet, Nicolas Levasseur, Rosine Stoltz and Julie Dorus-Gras. [Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper]
29/3/1844	Premiere of "Le lazzarone" by Fromental Halévy at the Paris Opera. Saint-Georges wrote the libretto. The opera was written for Rosine Stolz, the mistress of Léon Pillet the director of the Opera. Stolz performed the part of Beppo. Other performers were Paul Barroilhet, Nicolas Levasseur and Julie Dorus-Gras. [Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper]
11/11/1848	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Le val d'Andorre" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. the libretto was written bt Saint-Georges. It was a great success and ran for 165 performances. In 1849 it was staged in Leipzig and in 1850 in London. Performers were Anne-Benoîte-Louise Lavoye and Charles-Amable Battaille.
8/6/1850	Premiere of Fromental Helévy's "La tempesta" at Her Majesty's theatre in London. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Performers were Filippo Coletti, Henriette Sontag, Carlotta Grisi and Luigi Lablanche. [Grisi, Carlotta][Scribe, Eugène]
23/4/1852	Premiere of Halévy's opera "Le Juif Errant" at the Salle Pelletier in Paris. The libetto was written by Eugène Scribe and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. Narcisse Giard was the conductor. Perofemers were Eugène Massol, Louis-Henri Obin, Gustave-Hippolyte Roger, Fortunata Tedesco and Emma la Grua. [Girard, Narcisse][Scribe, Eugène]
1/9/1853	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Le nabab" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and it was their last collaboration. The opera ran for 38 performances. Performers were Caroline Miolan-Carvalho, Charles-Auguste-Marie Ponchard and Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc. [Carvalho-Miolan, Caroline][Scribe, Eugène]
14/5/1855	Premiere of Fromental Helévy's "Jaguarita l'Indienne" at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris. The librett owas written by Henri Saint-Georges and Adolphe de Leuven. Marie Cabel performed the title role and was praised for it by Berlioz in a review.
26/4/1856	Premiere of Fromental Helévy's "Valentine d'Aubigny" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. The librett owas written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. The performers included Charles-Amable Battaille, Caroline Duprez (as Valentine), Toussaint-Eugène-Ernest Mocker and Caroline Lefebvre.
17/3/1858	Premiere of : La Magicienne" by Fromental Halévy at the Theâtre de l'Académie Impériale de Musique in Paris. The libretto was written by Henri Saint-Georges. It was the last opera that was finished by Haléy before he died. Adelaide Borghi-Mamo was Mélusine. Other performers were Louis Guéymard, Marc Bonnehée and Pauline Guéymard-Lauters. The opera was performed 45 times until 2 Febrary 1859. [Borghi-Mamo, Adelaide]