The 200th anniversary of Jacques Fromental Halévy's birth was celebrated on 27 May 1999. It is, therefore, only appropriate to prepare a new brief biography of the French master based on the latest research, and the latest revival.
The 50 plus years after the end of World War II have seen a tremendous revival of nineteenth century Italian operas, not only by composers already very well known at the start of the period (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi), but also by people with fairly familiar names, but whose music was largely unknown, such as Saverio Mercadante, Giovanni Pacini, and the Ricci brothers, but also others who were almost entirely forgotten, including Carlo Coccia, Giuseppe Apolloni, Nicola Vaccai, etc.
While this revival has been centered in Italy, great efforts have also been made in England, Eire and the United States by organizations such as Opera Rara, Opera Camerata of Washington, the Wexford Festival, OONY, etc. etc. On the other hand, the French seem to have had much less of an interest in their cultural heritage than their neighbors to the South. There has been some such activity in Compiègne, Montpellier, St. Etienne [for Massenet and Gounod], ORTF, even the Paris Opéra, but this has been far from comparable to what was accomplished in Italy.
If we look at the works of Auber, Halévy and Meyerbeer, we find that there has been some Auber in France (Gustave III, Manon Lescaut, Domino Noir, Cheval de Bronze, Diamans de la couronne, Haydée), less Meyerbeer (the Paris Robert le Diable and the Montpellier Huguenots and Crociato in Egitto), and even less Halévy. Thus the only available recordings of performances of Le prophète originated in Berlin, Italy and New York, those of L'Africaine in Italy, Munich or San Francisco, and those of La juive in New York, London, New Orleans and Vienna. There have also been studio recordings of Le Domino Noir, Dinorah, La juive, and Les Huguenots, all of which apparently took place in the United Kingdom.
Paradoxically, it almost seems as if there has been greater interest in these composers in Germany and Austria than in France, a phenomenon that took place not only in the post war period, but actually occurred throughout the century. The major grand operas of the period generally lasted as long or longer in France than they did elsewhere, although there were some exceptions. La juive, for instance, was last given in Vienna on Oct. 5, 1933, (it was given there in 1999 and later) in Paris on Apr. 9, 1934 at the Metropolitan Opera on Jan. 31, 1936, but in the French provinces (i. e. Rouen), as late as the 1938-39 season, and perhaps later.
But the lighter works from the 1830s and 1840s, and especially Halevy's L'éclair present a totally different state of affairs. The documentation of opera in French provincial cities and the lesser houses of Paris is far too weak to draw any significant conclusion, beyond there being no record of a performance of L'éclair in Paris after 1899, but it is known to have been given in Berlin (Stadt Theater) as recently as 1927, and again in Neuburg an der Donau in 1977. Then, finally, in Freiburg in 1989. A tape of the Freiburg production has now surfaced, which has been released on CD by the MFC for the use by its members. This will only be the second complete opera by Halévy to become available in this medium.
Actually three Halévy works, other than L'éclair and La juive are known to have survived into the 20th century in France. The first, Charles VI, was given in Marseille in 1901, and again in Compiègne in 2005. The other two were given at the Gaytée Lyrique in a season (1917-18) apparently devoted to neglected 19th century French repertory. One of these was La reine de Chypre with the legendary John O'Sullivan in the role of Gérard, and the second was Les mousquetaires de la reine. But, it would not be at all surprising if there were other productions of Halévy operas in Paris or the French provinces during the early part of the 20th century. The previously mentioned lack of documentation (chronologies of French theatres) needed to carry out the research also makes it impossible to know for sure.
Halévy was born in Paris on 27 May 1799 to a German Jewish father and a French Jewish mother. In spite of the celebrated Dreyfus case, anti-semitism wasn't as much of a problem in France as it was in neighboring countries, and it was quite possible for middle class Jews to succeed. And that's exactly what Halevy did. In fact, he turned out to be one of the most successful French opera composers of the mid nineteenth century. During his lifetime, his only serious rivals were Giacomo Meyerbeer (a German), Daniel François Auber (a fellow Frenchman, who, however was at his best in lighter works), Ambroise Thomas, and Charles Gounod. Hector Berlioz should also be mentioned, but his operas failed dismally at their premieres, and did not really come into their own until both he and Halévy were long dead.
Halévy entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1810, becoming a pupil and later protegé of Cherubini. He won the Prix de Rome in 1819. His first opera to be performed was L'artisan, at the Opéra Comique in 1827, but it, like his other early works was a failure. But he did become chef de chant at the Théâtre Italien from 1826 to 1829, later (1829-1845) holding the same post at the Opéra. While at the Théâtre Italien, he met Maria Malibran, for whom he wrote Clari , the first of his two Italian works. The great tenor, Domenico Donzelli, was also in the cast. Premiered in 1828, Clari was successful enough to be revived in the ensuing season, after which it disappeared. It had been given six times in its' first season, and four more during the second. The fact that it was not given in London, as so many works created at the Théâtre Italien were, was probably due to the popularity in the British Isles of Bishop's opera on the same subject. It is described as a triumph in that bible of French opera, the Dictionnaire des Operas. La dilettante d'Avignon was moderately successful, but Halévy did not achieve real recognition until he completed Herold's Ludovic in 1833.
With La juive, in 1835, he attained not only his first major, international triumph, but gave the world a work that was to be one of the cornerstones of the French repertory. It lasted for just over a century, during which time the role of Eléazar was one of the great favorites of tenors like Enrico Caruso, Enrico Tamberlick, Giovanni Martinelli, John O'Sullivan, Leon Escalais, Paul Franz, and Cesar Vezzani. After the war, it was most often revived for Tony Poncet and, especially, Richard Tucker. La juive was one of the grandest of grand operas, with a formal ballet, major choruses, a spectacular procession in Act I, and the most impressive of celebrations in Act III. It culminated with the heroine's being thrown into a vat of boiling oil in Act V in another public ceremony. Mahler admired it greatly, stating: "I am absolutely overwhelmed by this wonderful, majestic work. I regard it as one of the greatest operas ever created".
1835 proved to be a good year for Hal鶹, what with L'éclair following right on the heels of La juive. It is, in many ways, the complete antithesis of the earlier opera. While La juive had been the epitome of grand opera, perhaps the grandest spectacle offered at the Paris Opéra until then, L'éclair was the exact opposite. No crowd scenes, not even a chorus, no large scale ensembles, no dramatic confrontations between any of the four leading characters. These are a pair of sisters, one, Harriet, very sentimental by nature, and the other, Mrs. Darbel on the frivolous side, There are two tenors, George an Englishman from Oxford (who never lets you forget it), who has to marry either of the cousins to get his inheritance, and the other, Lionel, a sailor who is just passing by. The opera takes place in a country villa near Boston. But the sailor is blinded by lightning and helped by Harriet, the sentimental sister. They fall in love, but, being blind, he has no idea what she looks like. He is miraculously cured, sees the two sisters for the first time, and embraces the wrong one, breaking Harriet's heart. Harriet disappears, but is still heard from occasionally. She does send two letters, the first ordering Lionel and Mme. Darbel to marry, and the second asking George to wed her, and announcing that she will soon return for the ceremony. But Lionel still loves Harriet, and, when she returns, believing that the marriage has taken place, she finds out that it was all a sham, and we get the predictable double wedding: George and Mrs. Darbel, while Lionel marries Harriet.
The four roles were created by Jean Baptiste Chollet as Lionel, Felicité Pradher being Mrs. Darbel, Joseph Antoine Couderc was George, while Camoin created Harriet. All four were important singers, especially Chollet, the leading tenor of the Opera Comique who had already created the title roles in Auber's Fra Diavolo, and Herold's Zampa, and was to eventually be the first Postillon de Lonjumeau in Adam's opera under that title. Pradher had sung in Auber's Le cheval de Bronze earlier that year, while Couderc was to be the first Benedict in L'ambassadrice and the first Horace in Le domino noir. The libretto was by François Antoine Eugéne de Planard and Jules Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.
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