Halevi, Frommental

Halevi was the son of a Parisian cantor and a teacher of the Hebrew language. Brother Halevy, writer and historian Leon Halevy ^[5] , was the father of Louis Halevy , librettist Jacques Offenbach, author of the libretto for many famous operas, including Georges Bizet's Carmen.

At the age of nine or ten years (information varies), Halevi entered the Paris Conservatory . There he became a student and subsequently protégé of Luigi Cherubini ^[6] .

In 1819 he received the Roman Prize for the cantata, and at the age of 20 he was in the center of attention of the music world. In the history of French music, he was one of the youngest winners of the Roman Prize.

Since 1816 he taught at the Paris Conservatory, since 1827 - professor. Among the students are Charles Gounod , Georges Bizet , Camille Saint-Saens , Antoine Marmontel , Victor Masset . In 1835, Jacques Offenbach took private lessons in composition from Halevi. ^[7] Halevi was the artistic director of the Parisian Theater Italien , then the Paris Opera. Member of the Institute of France (since 1836), permanent secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts (since 1854).

Halevi died in Nice , leaving his last opera, Noah , unfinished. The score was completed by his brother-in-law and student George Bizet . The premiere took place ten years after the death of Bizet himself.

• Father - Jewish poet and synagogue cantor Eli Halfon Halevi (until 1807 - Levy , English , 1760 - 1826 ), of Bavarian origin. Mother nee Julie Meyer was from Nancy .
• Brother - French historian, playwright and publicist Leon Halevy ( English , 1802 - 1883 ). Since 1831 he was married to Alexandrine Le Bass , daughter of the famous architect Louis-Hippolytus Le Bass ( English , 1782 - 1867 ). Their son is the French playwright and librettist Louis Halevy ( 1834 - 1908 ). Grandchildren - philosopher, historian and essayist Eli Galevi ( Eng. , 1870 - 1937 ), historian and essayist Daniel Galevi ( Eng. , 1872 - 1962 , friend and correspondent of Marcel Proust ) and journalist Lucien Anatole Prevost Paradol ( Eng. , 1829 - 1870 ) ^[8] .
• Wife (from 1842 ) - sculptor and art collector Leoni Halevi (née Hannah Leoni Rodriguez-Henriques , 1820 - 1884 ), from a wealthy and influential Sephardic family (her father, Isaac Rodriguez-Henriques , 1769 - 1836 , was a banker from the house " Abraham Rodriguez and Sons "in Bordeaux ; mother - Esther Gradis , also came from a family of bankers in Bordeaux ; her older sister Eugenia Foa , English , 1796 - 1852 , was a famous writer and children's author).
• Daughter - Genevieve Galevi (in her second marriage from 1886 - Genevieve Galevi Bizet Straus , 1849 - 1926 ) - from 1869 she was married to composer Georges Bizet , and after his death she kept the famous salon on the corner of rue de Messine and Boulevard Haussmann.
• Grandson - Jacques Bizet ( 1872 - 1922 ), named after his grandfather, was a close friend, classmate and confidant of Marcel Proust .
• Daughter - Esther Halevi ( 1843 - 1864 ), was a musician.

Opera

Halevi’s most famous opera, Ж Zhidovka ’(first staged at the Paris Opera in 1835 ), is in full compliance with the canons of the big opera . In total, Halevi wrote about forty operas, most of them comic , among which:

• January 30, 1827 , Opera Comic - “ ”, comic opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges (withstood 14 performances)
• November 8, 1827 , Opera Comic - “ ”, one-act comic opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges (withstood 13 performances)
• December 19, 1828 , Comedy-Italien - “ ”, three-act opera on the libretto by Pietro Giannone , the main part was performed by Maria Malibran (withstood 6 performances)
• November 7, 1829 , Opera Comic - “The ”, one-act comic opera on the libretto of Leon Halevy (withstood 119 performances)
• March 12 or June 20, 1832 , - “ ”, five-act opera ballet based on the libretto by and , ballet scenes by composer Casimir Gide , choreographer - Jean Coralli ( withstood 46 performances, 60 times were given in separate acts)
• May 16, 1833 , Opera-Comedian, Hall de la Bource - “ ”, two-act comic opera by Ferdinan Gerold on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges, completed by Halevy (withstood 70 performances)
• February 23, 1835 , Opera Le Peletier - " идовidovka ", a large opera in five acts on the libretto by Eugene Scribe (had great success)
• December 16, 1835 , Opera-Comic, Hall de la Bource - “ ”, three-act comic opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges (had great success)
• March 5, 1838 , Opera Le Petetier - “ ”, a large opera in five acts (truncated to 4 with the resumption of 1840) according to the libretto by Eugene Scribe
• September 2, 1839 , Opera-Comedian, Hall de la Bource - “The ”, three-act comic opera on the libretto by Eugene Scribe on a plot from Balzac (withstood 14 performances)
• December 22, 1841 , Opera Le Petetier - “ ” grand opera in five acts on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges, choreography by Joseph Mazilier
• March 15, 1843 , Opera Le Peletier - “ ” by the libretto by Germain and Casimir Delavigne (resumed several times, withstood 61 performances)
• February 3, 1846 , Opera Comic, Favard Hall - The 's , three-act comic opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges
• November 11, 1848 - “ ”, comic opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges (had great success, withstood 165 performances)
• 1850 - The Tempest (according to the Italian libretto based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare )
• 1850 - The Queen of Spades ( French: La dame de pique ^d , based on the novel by Alexander Pushkin , translated by Prosper Merimet )
• April 23, 1852 , Opera Le Peletier - "The ", a large opera on the libretto by Eugène Scribe and Henri de Saint-Georges (withstood 49 performances)
• September 1, 1853 , Opera-Comic, Favard Hall - “ ”, three-act comic opera based on Eugene Scribe's libretto (withstood 38 performances)
• May 14, 1855 , Lyric Theater - “ ”, three-act comic opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges and Adolphe de Leuven
• April 26, 1856 , Opera Comic, Favard Hall - “ ”, three-act comic opera on the libretto by Jules Barbier and Michelle Carré , the last comic opera of the composer
• March 17, 1858 , Opera Le Peletier - “ ”, a large opera in five acts on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges based on legends of Melusine (withstood 45 performances)
• 1858-1862 - Noah , a five-act opera on the libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges, was completed after the death of the composer by his son-in-law, Georges Bizet , but was not accepted for production.

In other genres

The composer also wrote ballets: the premiere of " " was held at the Le Peletier Theater on May 3, 1830 (choreographer - J.-P. Omer ).

In 1849 , Halevi wrote the cantata “Chained Prometheus” ( French: Prométhée enchaîné ; libretto by Aeschylus ), where in the Choir the oceanid experimented with quarter tones , which, however, did not produce the expected effect on the public ^[9] .

• Halevy, Jacques Francois Fromanthal Ely // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
• E. Enskaya “Queen of Cyprus” F. Halevi (on the pages of the Paris periodical of the 19th century)
• Halevi / A.V. Bulycheva // Eightfold Path - Germans. - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia, 2006. - P. 306. - ( Big Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 vols.] / Ch. Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004—2017, vol. 6). - ISBN 5-85270-335-4 .
• Jacques Fromental Galevy - biography / Special Radio, 2009