Léon Carvalho
Léon Carvalho ( Léon Carvaille ; born January 18, 1825 in Port Louis , Mauritius , † December 29, 1897 in Paris ) was a French singer and opera director.
Life
Carvalho studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and was a singer ( baritone ) at the Opéra-Comique from 1850 to 1855 . Here he met the singer Marie Miolan , whom he married in 1853. In 1856 he took over the management of the Théâtre-Lyrique . In 1868 he also took over the Théâtre de la Renaissance , but went bankrupt in the same year and lost both positions.
From 1872 to 1874 Carvalho directed the Théâtre du Vaudeville , for which he a. a. Bizet's incidental music commissioned L'Arlésienne for Alphonse Daudet's play of the same name , which premiered in 1872. From 1876 he was director of the Opéra-Comique. Under his leadership, u. a. the world premiere of Offenbach's stories by Hoffmann , Delibes' Lakmé , Massenet's Manon and Chabrier's Le roi malgré lui .
On May 25, 1885, caused by a fault in the lighting, a devastating fire broke out at the Opéra-Comique during a performance of Ambroise Thomas ' opera Mignon , which killed more than a hundred people. Carvalho was held responsible for the accident and sentenced to imprisonment and a fine, but was acquitted on appeal.
At the end of 1890 he was again directed at the Opéra-Comique, where he premiered Alfred Bruneau's L'attaque du moulin and Massenet's Sapho (based on Alphonse Daudet). Carvalho was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Carvalho, Léon |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Carvaille, Léon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French singer and opera director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 18, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Port Louis , Mauritius |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 29, 1897 |
| Place of death | Paris |