Jacques Fromental Halévy

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Jacques Fromental Halévy

Jacques François Élie Fromental Halévy (born May 27, 1799 in Paris , † March 17, 1862 in Nice ) was a French composer and music teacher . He became widely known for his opera La Juive (The Jewess).

Origin, CV

Usually the composer is called fromental Halévy by his fourth first name; this nickname refers to the day name of his date of birth in the French revolutionary calendar . Halévy was a son of the cantor Élie Halfon Halévy . He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1809 at the age of nine and became a pupil and later protégé of Cherubini . After he had already achieved second place twice in the competition for the Rome Prize , in 1819 he won his third participation with his cantata Herminie . The price included a stay in Rome, but his mother's death forced him to postpone his departure.

The first composition with which he became known, Marche Funebre et De Profundis en hébreu for tenor, three-part choir and orchestra, was a commission for the Consistoire Israélite du Département de la Seine on the occasion of the public funeral service for the murdered Duke of Berry on December 24th March 1820. His brother Léon later recalled that De Profundis , “soaked in religious passion, created a sensation and attracted attention to the young laureate of the Institute”.

During his time as choirmaster at the Théâtre Italy in Paris , Halévy fought for the performance of one of his operas. Despite the mediocre acceptance of L'artisan at the Opéra-Comique in 1827, he became choirmaster at the Académie Royale de musique . In the same year he became professor for harmony and instrumental accompaniment at the Conservatory, in 1833 professor for counterpoint and fugue and in 1840 finally professor for composition. In 1836 he was admitted to the Institut de France .

La Juive

With the opera La juive (1835) Halévy achieved his first triumph. It is one of the most important works of the French genre of the grand opéra . The hallmarks of the Grand Opéra are so-called grands tableaux - large, sometimes static images with huge mass and choral scenes. Such a large opera usually has five acts, which are in the I. or III. Act to be interrupted by a ballet. The constantly changing triple constellations and conflicts (Rachel – Eudoxie – Léopold; Rachel – Eléazar – Brogny; Rachel – Léopold – Eléazar) are typical. The most famous aria of the opera is Éléazar's "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" (IV. Act). Berlioz mentioned her ritornello in his instrumentation theory (1844) as an unusual duet for two English horns . It is likely that this aria was inserted at the request of the tenor Adolphe Nourrit , who sang the role of Éléazar in the world premiere and who had also contributed the text. Éléazar was later a star role of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso .

Even Gustav Mahler was a great admirer of this opera: "[...] I am completely fascinated by this wonderful, great works and count it the highest that has ever been created." There were other admirers such. B. Richard Wagner , who wrote an enthusiastic review of the opera for the Dresdner Abend-Zeitung in 1842 .

Next life

After La Juive , Halévy had a few minor successes, but they could not come close to those of Juive . Three operas are mentioned here: L'éclair , La reine de Chypre and Charles VI . Heine said that Halévy was an artist, but “not in the least a genius”. Halévy became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1836 . Under his chairmanship, a committee determined the standard pitch of the orchestral concert pitch ( a ' ). The painter Delacroix noted in his diary on February 5, 1855 about Halévy:

“I went to Halévy's house where the stove gave off a stifling heat. His poor wife has filled his house with knickknacks and old furniture, and this new obsession will get him to the asylum. He has changed and looks much older, like a man who is dragged on against his will. How can he even do any serious work in this mess? His new position at the Académie will certainly take up a large part of his time and make it increasingly difficult for him to find the inner peace and tranquility that he needs for his work. I left this hell as soon as possible. The street air was a real blessing afterwards. "

Halévy's cantata Prométhée enchaîné was premiered at the Paris Conservatory in 1849 and is the first western orchestral composition to use quarter tones .

Halévy died withdrawn in Nice and left his last opera Noé unfinished. This was completed by his son-in-law Georges Bizet . It was premiered ten years after Bizet's death.

Halévy's family

Halévy's brother, the author and historian Léon Halévy , was the father of Ludovic Halévy , lyricist of many French operas, including Bizet's Carmen . Léon Halévy wrote a first biography about his brother ( F. Halévy. Sa vie et ses œuvres , 1863).

Jacques Fromental Halévy's wife, Léonie (1820–1884), who had serious mental health problems during their marriage, experienced a marked improvement after his death and became a talented sculptor. Their daughter Geneviève Halévy (1849-1926) married in 1869 the composer Georges Bizet, a student of Halévys. After Bizet's death, she was in a relationship with Élie-Miriam Delaborde, a presumed illegitimate son of Charles Valentin Alkan . In 1886 Geneviève married Émile Straus , a banker with ties to the Rothschild banking house . Geneviève Straus was a leading lady in Parisian society and her salon was one of the most important in the Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris. The young Marcel Proust was among the illustrious guests at their evening party . Geneviève served as a template for the character of the Duchess of Guermantes in his novel In Search of Lost Time .

Works

Halévy wrote a total of 40 operas, including:

  • L'artisan (1827)
  • Le roi et le batelier (1827)
  • Clari (1828), in Italian, a moderate success, but with Maria Malibran in the lead role
  • La dilettante d'Avignon (1828)
  • Attendre et courir (1830)
  • La langue musicale (1830)
  • La tentation (1832)
  • Les souvenirs de Lafleur (1833)
  • Ludovic (1833), completion of an opera that Hérold had left unfinished
  • La Juive (1835), his first success
  • L'éclair (1835), a second great success
  • Guido et Ginevra (1838)
  • Les Treize (1839)
  • Le shérif (1839), which Hector Berlioz describes as a "delightful comic opera"
  • Le drapier (1839)
  • Le guitarréro (1841; Richard Wagner arranged some of the usual arrangements for the publisher Maurice Schlesinger , see WWV 62D)
  • La rein de Chypre (1841; setting of the then popular Caterina Cornaro material, the plot of which is similar to that of Donizetti's later opera ; piano reduction and the usual arrangements by Richard Wagner, WWV 62E)
  • Charles VI. (1843; resumed in Compiègne in 2005)
  • Le lazzarone, ou Le bien vient en dormant (1844)
  • Les mousquetaires de la reine (1846)
  • Les premiers pas (1847)
  • Le val d'Andorre (1848)
  • La fée aux roses (1849)
  • La tempesta (1850), in Italian, after Shakespeare's The Tempest
  • La dame de pique (1850) (after Prosper Mérimée )
  • Le Juif errant (1852), based on the novel by Eugène Sue
  • Le nabab (1853)
  • Jaguarita l'Indienne (1855)
  • L'inconsolable (1855)
  • Valentine d'Aubigny (1856)
  • La magicienne (1858)
  • Noé (1858–1862), left incomplete after Halévy's death, completed by Georges Bizet

Halévy also wrote for the ballet , composed incidental music for the French version of Aeschylus ' Prometheus bound and cantatas.

Remarks

  1. ^ Fromental Halévy: Derniers souvenirs et portraits. Michel Lévy frères, Paris 1863, p. 167.
  2. ^ Letter of August 18, 1886 to Friedrich Löhr, quoted from: Herta Blaukopf: Gustav Mahler. Letters. New edition. Second edition. Zsolnay, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-552-04810-3 , p. 75.
  3. ↑ Richard Wagner: "Halévy and the French Opera." In: ders., Complete writings and poems. Popular edition. Volume 12. Sixth edition, Breitkopf & Härtel et al., Leipzig [o. J.], pp. 131-148.
  4. ↑ Cf. Fromental Halévy: "Le diapason". In: ders., Souvenirs et Portraits. Etudes sur les beaux-arts. Michel Lévy Frères, Paris 1861, pp. 339–371.
  5. ^ Translated from the English edition: Eugène Delacroix: The journal of Eugène Delacroix: a selection . Edited with an introduction by Hubert Wellington. Translated from the French by Lucy Norton. 3. Edition. Phaidon, London 1995, ISBN 0-7148-3359-2 , pp. 288-289 (English). The diary is available as a digitized version of the autograph from the Institut national d'histoire de l'art INHA .

literature

  • Léon Halévy: F. Halévy. Sa vie et ses œuvres. Récits et impressions personnelles - simple souvenirs . Seconde édition revue et augmentée avec autographes et portraits d'après Roller. Heugel, Paris 1863.
  • Ruth Jordan: Fromental Halévy. His Life and Music, 1799-1862. Kahn & Averill, London 1994, ISBN 1-871082-51-X .

Web links

Commons : Jacques Fromental Halévy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Halévy, Jacques Fromental
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Halévy, Jacques François Élie Fromental (full name); Lévy, Elias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1862
Place of death Nice , France