We continue our digitization of 19th-century French opera with a set of vocal scores from the lengthy catalogue of Fromental Halévy (1799-1862). As a student of Cherubini at the Paris Conservatoire, Halévy twice won the second prize in the Prix de Rome, followed in 1819 by the premier prix. After his return to Paris, Halévy took a teaching position in the Conservatoire, where he was made professor in 1827.
Simultaneously, he held positions as chef du chant, first at the Théâtre-Italien (1826-1829), and then the Opéra (1829-1845). At the Opéra, Halévy managed budgets, rehearsal schedules, and some personnel, audition, and casting decisions in addition to his work directing the chorus; his influence helped to shape the sound and repertoire of the institution, and he was sometimes accused of promoting his operas at the expense of Donizetti and other composers (Hallman 2009, 40-43). While Halévy was surpassed in popularity on the grand opera stage by composers like Meyerbeer and Auber, his name was nonetheless familiar to the public: he contributed a stream of grand operas and opéras-comiques to the Paris scene from the late 1820s through the 1850s, to which the always-exuberant French musical press responded with reviews of the productions (sometimes positive, often tepid or even scathing), commentary on his place in the theatrical world, and gossip (displaying varying degrees of antisemitism).
Fromental Halévy, hand-colored title page, L’éclair, Mus 693.4.610.3 (click to enlarge)
Included in this set of scores are Halévy’s only work for the Théâtre-Italien, Clari (1828), written for Maria Malibran, as well as four works for the Opéra-Comique: Le Dilettante d’Avignon (1829), La Langue Musicale (1830), L’Éclair (1835), and Le Guitarrero (1841). We have not yet digitized our copies of La Juive (1835), Halévy’s greatest success and first opera for the Académie Royale de Musique, but his compositions for the Opéra are represented by the grand operas Guido et Ginevra (1838), La Reine de Chypre (1841), Charles VI (1843) and Le Lazzarone (1844).
- [Clari. Vocal score]
Clary : opera semi seria / musica del Signor Maestro F. Halévy. Parigi, Richault [183-?].
Merritt Room Mus 693.4.670 - [Dilettante d’Avignon. Vocal score]
Le dilettante d’Avignon : opéra comique en un acte / [paroles] de feu Hoffmann et Léon Halévy ; musique de F. Halévy. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1829?].
Mus 693.4.607 - [Langue musicale. Vocal score]
La langue musicale : opéra en un acte / musique de F. Halévy ; paroles de Mr. Snt. Yves avec accompt. de piano par V. Rifaut. Paris : Schlesinger, [1830].
Mus 693.4.607 - [Éclair. Vocal score]
L’eclair : opéra comique en trois actes / paroles de M.M. de Planard et de St. Georges ; musique de F. Halévy ; partition de piano arrangée par H. Potier. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1836].
Mus 693.4.610.3 - [Guido et Ginevra. Vocal score]
Guido et Ginévra, ou, La peste de Florence : opéra en 5 actes / paroles de Mr. E. Scribe ; musique de F. Halévy ; avec accompagt. de piano par Ch. Schwencke. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1838?].
Mus 693.4.616.3 - [Guido et Ginevra. Vocal score]
Guido et Ginévra : opéra en cinq actes / paroles de Mr. E. Scribe … ; musique de F. Halévy … ; partition de piano arrangée par Schwencke. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1838].
Mus 693.4.616.5 - [Le Guitarrero. Vocal score]
Le guitarrero : opéra comique en 3 actes / paroles de Mr. E. Scribe ; musique de F. Halévy ; … avec accompt. de piano. Paris : Maurice Schlesinger, [1841?].
Mus 693.4.617.5 - [Reine de Chypre. Vocal score]
La reine de Chypre : opéra en 5 actes / paroles de Mr. de St. Georges ; musique de F. Halévy ; partition avec acct. de piano, arrangée par R. Wagner. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1841?].
Mus 693.4.646.1 - [Charles VI. Vocal score]
Charles VI : opéra en 5 actes / paroles de Mrs. Germain et Casimir Delavigne ; musique de F. Halévy ; partition avec acct. de piano, arrangée par Ch. Schwencke. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1843?].
Mus 693.4.650.5 - [Le Lazzarone. Vocal score]
Le lazzarone : opéra en deux actes / paroles de mr. de St. Georges ; musique de F. Halévy ; partition avec acct. de piano. Paris : M. Schlesinger, [1844?].
Mus 693.4.625
-Kerry Masteller
Further Reading
On Halévy’s career at the Opéra and his reception in the press, see Diana R. Hallman, “Fromental Halévy with the Paris Opéra: Composition and Control,” in Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer: Paris, 1830-1914, ed. Annegret Fauser and Mark Everist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 29-48. Loeb Music Library ML1727.8.P2 M85 2009
On the early development of Halévy’s compositional style, see Mark Everist, “Fromental Halévy: From Opéra Comique to Grand Opera,” in Giacomo Meyerbeer and Music Drama in Nineteenth-Century Paris (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), 215-240. Loeb Music Library ML1727.8.P2 .E929 2005
On Halévy’s grand operas, see Diana R. Hallman, “The grand operas of Fromental Halévy,” in The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera, ed. David Charlton (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003), 233-257. http://dx.doi.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1017/CCOL9780521641180.014 (full text available to Harvard users)