Ludovic Halévy

Ludovic Halévy studied at Lycée Louis-le-Grand. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is French literature and music. Positions recorded include seat 22 of the Académie française. Work by Ludovic Halévy is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Legion of Honour.

• Born — 1 January 1834 • Died — 7 May 1908 • Birthplace — Paris • Place of death — Paris • Occupation — Author, librettist • Children — Élie and Daniel • Parents — Léon Halévy Alexandrine Lebas • Relatives — Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol (half-brother) Élie Halévy (paternal grandfather) Louis-Hippolyte Lebas (maternal grandfather) Fromental Halévy (paternal uncle)

Ludovic Halévy was born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris on 1 January 1834, the son of Léon Halévy and his wife, Louise Alexandrine, Lebas. Léon was descended from a German Jewish family (originally Lévy) but converted to Roman Catholicism before his marriage; his wife was a member of a well-known and influential family, daughter of Louis-Hippolyte Lebas, architect of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris. Léon, whose elder brother was the composer Fromental Halévy, was a senior civil servant and a well-respected author. In 1845 Halévy entered the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. He was an undistinguished scholar but he was well enough connected to secure admission to the French civil service after leaving school. His official career flourished but his chief interest was the theatre. Concerned that his career prospects would suffer if he were publicly associated with the theatre he adopted the pen-name Jules Servières, under which he first collaborated with the composer Jacques Offenbach. Their bouffe musicale called Madame Papillon, a one-act knockabout piece with a cast of two, opened at the Bouffes-Parisiens on 3 October 1855. Halévy abandoned the pseudonym the following January, when his real name was credited on bills for the duo's "chinoiserie musicale", Ba-ta-clan, but he returned to using it soon afterwards and did so for several years. In 1857 Offenbach organised a competition for young composers. A jury of French composers and playwrights including Daniel Auber, Fromental Halévy, Ambroise Thomas, Charles Gounod and Eugène Scribe considered seventy-eight entries; the six short-listed entrants were all asked to set the same libretto, Le docteur miracle, written by Halévy together with Léon Battu. The joint winners were Georges Bizet and Charles Lecocq, with both of whom Halévy was later to collaborate again. Still cautious about the effect a reputation for writing operettas might have on his career, Halévy declined to have his name on the bills for his first outstanding success with Offenbach – Orphée aux enfers – and insisted that his co-librettist, Hector Crémieux, should receive all the credit and the royalties. The piece opened on 21 October 1858 and ran for 228 performances, at a time when a run of 100 nights was considered a success.

In 1860 Halévy collaborated with his father on the libretto for Un mari sans le savoir ("A Husband Without Knowing It") with music by "Monsieur de Saint-Rémy" – in reality by the Duc de Morny who dabbled in operetta both as a librettist and as a composer. Morny's patronage worked to Halévy's advantage in his official career, and soon after the première of Un mari sans le savoir Morny arranged for Halévy's appointment as secretary to the Corps législatif. In 1864 Halévy began a collaboration with the author Henri Meilhac which was to last until the latter's death in 1897. The two had become friends when both at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, sharing a distaste for school life and a preference for escaping it. They were strikingly different – one biographer writes, "with Meilhac the more ebullient and fanciful, and Halévy the more staid and craftsmanlike" – but they remained close friends and now became inseparable collaborators. Accounts differ about how the partners divided the work between them. According to Siegfried Kracauer, it was always Meilhac who outlined the skeleton of the plot and sketched the big scenes and situations, which Halévy "filled in with witty comment and dialogue". Susan McClary writes, "In their collaborations, Meilhac wrote the prose dialogue, while Halévy provided the verse". • Illustration — Halévy later in his career. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians says of Halévy and Meilhac: The 1860s saw an unbroken series of eight opéras bouffes by Halévy, Meilhac and Offenbach. They started with a notable success, La belle Hélène, which opened on 17 December 1864. Despite some hostile criticism from Théophile Gautier ("To try to ridicule the heroes of Homer is almost to blaspheme") and Jules Janin ("perfidious Meilhac, treacherous Halévy, miserable Offenbach") the piece ran through most of 1865. The three followed this hit with two more: La vie parisienne (1866) and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867). Le château à Toto (1868) did less well, but La Périchole (1868) was another success. It was based on Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement, a comedy by Prosper Mérimée, who was to feature again in Halévy and Meilhac's work four years later. Their last two collaborations with Offenbach in the 1860s – La diva (1869) and Les brigands (1869) – were less successful. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 and the downfall of the Second Empire caused a strong reaction against Offenbach from the public, who identified him with the fallen regime. He left the country for a time, taking refuge in London and Vienna.

• Illustration — Poster for the première of Carmen Although the two librettists were known for their comedies, in 1872 they undertook what was, for them, an unusual assignment. Halévy's cousin Geneviève (daughter of Fromental) was married to Bizet, whom the directors of the Opéra-Comique invited to write an opera in collaboration with Halévy and Meilhac. The librettists were enthusiastic about the composer's preference for a plot based on Prosper Mérimée's story Carmen; they provided a libretto with the requisite tragic ending. Nonetheless, they regarded the piece as a side venture. Just before the premiere, Halévy wrote: There are some very, very lovely and charming things in the score, and I dare hope for a happy evening for Bizet. His interests alone matter in this instance. The thing has little importance for Meilhac and me. The management of the Opera Comique was uneasy about presenting a tragedy, and Meilhac unsuccessfully urged Bizet to resist killing Carmen off at the end of the last act. Their predictions of a failure proved accurate: the piece completed its scheduled run of forty-eight performances, but played to small audiences. This was the pair's only venture into tragedy. They wrote seven more libretti together, of which three were for Offenbach and four for Lecocq. Grove comments on their efforts for Carmen: "perhaps the most famous product of the Halévy-Meilhac collaboration, but not a very typical one... There is some justice in the complaint that the remarkable style of Mérimée’s original narrative is lost". When Offenbach returned to Paris from his voluntary exile he collaborated with Halévy, without Meilhac, on an opérette, Pomme d'api, and with both librettists on revised versions of La vie parisienne and La Perichole; the three collaborators' final work together was an opéra bouffe, La boulangère a des écus.(1875). Thereafter Halévy and Meilhac provided libretti for four opéras comiques with music by Lecocq: Le petit duc (1878), La petite mademoiselle (1879), Janot (1881) and La rousotte (1881), in the last of which there was also music by Herve and Marius Boullard. They were unwitting contributors to Johann Strauss's 1874 Die Fledermaus, which plagiarised the plot of their 1872 comedy Le Réveillon (New Year's Eve). They refused to allow the operetta to be produced in France. Halévy retired in 1882. Meilhac kept writing until shortly before his death in 1897. Halévy died in Paris on 8 May 1908.

In addition to his theatrical works, Halévy published novels, short stories and satirical studies. He and Meilhac worked together on numerous non-musical comedies, from Ce qui plait aux hommes ("What Men Like", 1860) to la Petite Mère ("The Little Mother", 1880).

• Title — Genre — Acts — Co-authors — Composer — Theatre — Date • Entrez, Messieurs, Mesdames — prologue — Joseph Méry — Jacques Offenbach — Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens — 5 Jul 1855 • Une pleine eau — opérette bouffe — 1 — Jules Costé and Comte d’Osmond — Bouffes — 28 Aug 1855 • Polichinelle dans le monde — ballet — 1 — William Busnach — Offenbach — Bouffes — 19 Sep 1855 • Madame Papillon — bouffe musicale — 1 — Offenbach — Bouffes — 3 Oct 1855 • Ba-ta-clan — chinoiserie musicale — 1 — Offenbach — Bouffes — 29 Dec 1855 • L'impresario — comic opera — 1 — Leon Battu — adapted from Mozart — Bouffes — 20 May 1856 • Le docteur Miracle — opérette — 1 — Battu (after Sheridan) — (i) Charles Lecocq (ii) Georges Bizet — Bouffes — (i) 8 Apr 1857 (ii) 9 Apr 1857 • L'opéra aux fenêtres — opérette — 1 — Leon Gastinel — Bouffes — 5 May 1857 • Rose-Rosette — drama-vaudeville — 3 — Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques — 8 May 1858 • Un fait Paris — comedy-vaudeville — 1 — Léon Halévy — Théâtre des Variétés — 23 July 1859 • Orphée aux enfers — opéra bouffon — 2 — Hector Crémieux — Offenbach — Bouffes — 21 Oct 1858 • Voici le jour — opéra bouffe — 1 — Jules Ward — Grand Théâtre de Lyon — 1859 • Le carnaval des revues — revue — 3 — Philippe Gille — Offenbach — Bouffes — 10 Feb 1860 • Titus and Bérénice — opérette — 1 — Gastinel — Bouffes — 12 May 1860 • Ce qui plait aux hommes (What Men Like) — comedy — 1 — Henri Meilhac — Variétés — 6 Oct 1860 • Un mari sans le savoir (A Husband Without Knowing It) — opéra-comique — 1 — Léon Halévy — M Saint-Rémy — Bouffes — 31 Dec 1860 • La chanson de Fortunio — opéra-comique — 1 — Crémieux — Offenbach — Bouffes — 5 Jan 1861 • Les deux buveurs (The Two Drinkers) — opéra-comique — 1 — Crémieux — Léo Delibes — Bouffes — 5 Jan 1861 • Les eaux d'Ems — opéra-comique — 1 — Crémieux — Delibes — Bouffes — 9 Apr 1861 • Le menuet de Danaé — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 20 Apr 1861 • Le pont des soupirs (The Bridge of Sighs) — opéra bouffon — 2 — Crémieux — Offenbach — Bouffes — 23 May 1861 • M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le... (M. Choufleury Will Remain at Home on...) — opéra-comique — 1 — Crémieux — Saint-Rémy — Bouffes — 14 Sep 1861 • La baronne de San Francisco — opéra-comique — 2 — Crémieux — Henri Caspers — Bouffes — 27 Nov 1861 • Le roman comique — opérette — 4 — Crémieux — Offenbach — Bouffes — 10 Dec 1861: • Une fin de bail (End Of Lease) — opéra-comique — 1 — Crémieux — Alphonse Varney — Bouffes — 29 Jan 1862 • Les moulins à vent — vaudeville — 3 — Meilhac — Variétés — 22 Feb 1862 • Jacqueline — opérette — 1 — Crémieux — Offenbach — Bouffes — 14 Oct 1862 • La clé de Métella (Metella's Key) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Théâtre du Vaudeville — 24 Nov 1862 • Les brebis de Panurge (Panurge's Sheep) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Vaudeville — 24 Nov 1862 • Le brésilien — vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Théâtre du Palais-Royal — 9 May 1863 • Le train de minuit (The Midnight Train) — comedy — 2 — Meilhac — Théâtre du Gymnase — 15 juin 1863 • Néméa — ballet — 5 — Meilhac and Arthur Saint-Léon — Ludwig Minkus — Salle Le Peletier — 14 Jul 1864 • La belle Hélène — opéra bouffe — 3 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Variétés — 17 Dec 1864 • Le photographe — comedy-vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 24 Dec 1864 • Le singe de Nicolet (Nicolet's Monkey) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 29 Jan 1865 • Les méprises de Lambinet (Lambinet at Cross-Purposes) — vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 3 Dec 1865 • Barbe-bleue (Bluebeard) — opéra bouffe — 3 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Variétés — Feb 1866 • La vie Parisienne — opéra bouffe — 5 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Palais-Royal — 31 Oct 1866 • La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein — opéra bouffe — 3 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Variétés — 12 Apr 1867 • Tout pour les Daines — vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 8 Sep 1867 • Le château à Toto — opéra bouffe — 3 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Palais-Royal — 6 May 1868 • Fanny Lear — comedy — 5 — Meilhac — Gymnase — 15 Aug 1868 • La Périchole — opéra bouffe — 2 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Variétés — 6 Oct 1868 • Le bouquet — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 23 Oct 1868 • La diva — opéra bouffe — 3 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Bouffes — 22 Mar 1869 • L'homme à la clé (The Man with the Key) — vaudeville — 1 — Variétés — 11 Aug 1869 • Froufrou — comedy — 5 — Meilhac — Gymnase — 30 Oct 1869 • Les brigands — opéra bouffe — 3 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Variétés — 10 Dec 1869 • Tricoche and Cacolet — vaudeville — 5 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 6 Dec 1871 • Madame attend Monsieur (Madame Is Waiting For Monsieur) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 8 Feb 1872 • Le réveillon (New Year's Eve) — comedy — 3 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 10 Sep 1872 • Les sonnettes (The Doorbells) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 15 Nov 1872 • Le roi candaule — vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 9 Apr 1873 • L'été de la St-Martin (Indian Summer) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Comédie-Française — 1 Jul 1873 • Toto chez Tata — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 25 Aug 1873 • Pomme d'api — opérette — 1 — Busnach — Offenbach — Théâtre de la Renaissance — 4 Sep 1873 • L'opéra aux italiens (Opera For Italians) — à-propos — 1 — Meilhac and Busnach — Variétés — 12 Feb 1874 • La petite marquise — comedy — 3 — Meilhac — Variétés — 13 Feb 1874 • La mi-carême (Mid-Lent) — vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 2 Apr 1871 • L'ingénue — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 24 Sep 1874 • Mme l'archiduc — opéra bouffe — 3 — Millaud — Offenbach — Bouffes — 31 Oct 1874 • La veuve — comedy — 5 — Meilhac — Gymnase — 5 Nov 1874 • La boule — comedy — 4 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 24 Nov 1873 • Carmen — opéra-comique — 4 — Meilhac (after Mérimée) — Bizet — Opéra-Comique — 5 Mar 1875 • Le passage de Vénus (The Transit of Venus) — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Variétés — 4 May 1875 • La boulangère a des écus (The Baker has Money) — opéra bouffe — 5 — Meilhac — Offenbach — Variétés — 19 Oct 1875 • La créole — opéra comique — 3 — Meilhac and Albert Millaud — Offenbach — Bouffes — 3 Nov 1875 • Loulou — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 31 Mar 1876 • Le prince — comedy — 4 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 25 Nov 1876 • La cigale (The Cricket) — comedy — 5 — Meilhac — Variétés — 6 Oct 1877 • Le fandango — ballet — 1 — Meilhac and Louis Mérante — Gaston Salvayre — Opéra — 26 Nov 1877 • Le je ne sais quoi — vaudeville — 1 — Meilhac — Renaissance — 21 Jan 1878 • Le petit duc — opéra-comique — 5 — Meilhac — Lecocq — Renaissance — 25 Jan 1878 • Le mari de la débutante (The Debutante's Husband) — comedy — 4 — Meilhac — Palais-Royal — 5 Feb 1879 • Le petit hôtel — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Comédie-Française — 21 Feb 1879 • La petite mademoiselle — opéra-comique — 3 — Meilhac — Lecocq — Renaissance — 12 Apr 1879 • Lolotte — comedy — 1 — Meilhac — Vaudeville — 4 Oct 1879 • La petite mère — comedy — 3 — Meilhac — Variétés — 6 Mar 1880 • Janot — opéra comique — 3 — Meilhac — Lecocq — Renaissance — 22 Jan 1881 • La roussotte (The Redhead) — vaudeville-opérette — 3 — Meilhac and Millaud — Lecocq, Hervé and Marius Boullard — Variétés — 26 Jan 81 • Source: Nos auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques.

The authorities additionally record the headings Ludovic Halevy, Lü-to-wei-k'o A-lai-wei and Jules Servières. His recorded language was French. He was the child of Léon Halévy. 2 children are recorded: Daniel Halévy and Élie Halévy.

Ludovic Halévy worked in French literature and music. Recorded position is seat 22 of the Académie française. He belonged to Académie Française.