Editing Daniel Auber (section)

==Life and career==

===Early years===
[[File:Jean-Baptiste-Daniel-Auber-c.1805.jpg|thumb|upright|Auber's father, c. 1806|alt=left profile portrait engraving of young white man clean shaven, with neat curly dark hair in early 19th-century costume]]

Auber was born on 29 January 1782 in [[Caen]] in Normandy, where his mother was visiting.<ref name=grove2>Hueffer, pp. 128–129</ref> The family was of Norman extraction but was based in Paris.<ref>Malherbe, p. 7</ref> Auber's grandfather had been "peintre du Roi" – the king's painter – responsible for sculpting and gilding the royal coaches, and Auber's father, Jean-Baptiste Daniel, was an officer of the royal hunt, based at the "petites écuries du Roi" – the king's small stables – in the [[Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis|Faubourg Saint-Denis]] in Paris.<ref>Malherbe, p. 8</ref> He and his wife, Françoise Adelaïde Esprit, ''née'' Vincent, had three sons and a daughter.<ref name=recueil>[https://archive.org/details/recueildesinscri00pari/page/206/mode/2up?q=%22Daniel+Auber%22 "Recueil des inscriptions parisiennes (1881–1891)"], Comité des inscriptions parisiennes; and Malherbe, p. 15</ref> When Auber was seven the [[French Revolution]] began, and his father had to find another occupation to allow him to go on providing for his family. He set up as a publisher, and opened a print shop in the [[rue Saint-Lazare]], where he survived the [[Reign of Terror]] and prospered under the [[French Directory|Directory]] and the [[French Consulate|Consulate]]. He had a [[Salon (gathering)|salon]], attended by artists of all kinds, where the young Auber sometimes performed: he was, by his teens, an accomplished violinist, pianist and singer.<ref name=grove/>

Although his father encouraged his musical talent, Auber expected to go into the family's print-selling business, and after the [[Treaty of Amiens]] (1802) ended the war between France and Britain he went to London to study commerce and learn English. In ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', Charles Schneider writes that Auber evidently had some success in London as a performer and as a composer.<ref name=grove/> An earlier biographer, [[Charles Malherbe]], writes that although Auber did not gain any great insight into trade and finance during his sixteen months in London, he admired and emulated British reserve and understatement, which suited his own innate modesty.<ref>Malherbe, p. 13</ref> His shyness became well known. He never appeared before the public as a conductor, and throughout his career he was too nervous to attend his own first nights.<ref>Hueffer, p. 129</ref>{{refn|Auber's biographer [[Robert Letellier]] believes this generally held view of Auber to be only partly correct, commenting that in his maturity Auber had a confident and easy social manner.<ref>Letellier, pp. 4–5</ref>|group=n}} He never married.<ref name=recueil/>

===Return to Paris===

[[File:D.F.E. Auber (Boston Public Library).jpg|thumb|Auber, c. 1830|alt=youngish white man with neat dark hair and side whiskers]]
In 1803 the fragile peace between France and Britain ended; the [[Napoleonic Wars]] began, and Auber left London for Paris, where he remained for the rest of his life.<ref name=grove>Schneider, Herbert. [https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.01489 "Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001. {{subscription required}}</ref> There, he was admitted to the Société académique des Enfants d'Apollon, a prestigious association of musicians and music-loving painters, of which his father had been a member since 1784.<ref>Goncourt, p. 120; and Malherbe, pp. 8–9</ref> Among Auber's compositions from this period were five cello concertos premiered by the soloist [[Jacques-Michel Hurel de Lamare|Lamare]], in whose name at least three of them were originally published, although their real authorship soon emerged.<ref name=grove5/> The praise given to Auber's violin concerto (1808) encouraged him to undertake a new setting of an old comic opera, ''Julie'', for an amateur society in 1811.<ref>Malherbe, p. 32</ref> The orchestra consisted of two violins, two violas, cello, and double-bass, but Auber made effective use of the small forces, and the piece was well received. [[Luigi Cherubini]], the dominant figure in Parisian operatic circles, was in the audience, and recognising the powerful though untrained talent of the young composer, he took him as a private pupil.<ref name=grove2/>

Accounts differ about Auber's first professionally-staged opera, ''Le Séjour militaire'' (1813). Some older sources state that it had an "unfavourable reception",<ref name=EB1911>[https://archive.org/details/vol02/page/n935/mode/2up "Auber, Daniel François Esprit"], ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' 1911, p. 889</ref> and was "a failure".<ref name=grove5>Hueffer ''et al'', pp. 252–255</ref> Schneider (2001) writes that it had "a satisfactory 16 performances, and was revived in 1826 and staged in the provinces".<ref name=grove/> Schneider adds that for the next seven years, Auber lived a carefree life, until a sharp decline in the Aubers' financial circumstances and the death of his father in 1820 obliged him to secure an income to support the family. He devoted himself to composition, particularly of operas. ''La bergère châtelaine'' (1820) and ''Emma'' (1821), to librettos by [[Eugène de Planard]], did well both in France and in Germany.<ref name=grove/>

===Operatic success===
In 1822 Auber began a collaboration with the [[libretto|librettist]] [[Eugène Scribe]] that lasted for 41 years and produced 39 operas.<ref>Hueffer ''et al'', pp. 253–254; and Schneider in ''Grove''</ref> Auber's biographer [[Robert Letellier]] writes that the names of Scribe and Auber became as linked in French minds as those of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] later were in British ones.<ref>Letellier, p. 5</ref> The partners' first collaboration was ''Leicester, ou Le château de Kenilworth'', a three-act [[opéra comique]], with a plot derived by Scribe, in collaboration with [[Mélesville]], from [[Walter Scott]]'s [[historical romance]] ''[[Kenilworth (novel)|Kenilworth]]''.{{refn|Scribe frequently wrote his librettos in collaboration with other writers. For Auber he worked with, among others, [[X. B. Saintine]], [[Édouard-Joseph-Ennemond Mazères|E.-J.-E. Mazères]] and [[Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges]] as well as [[Mélesville]] and [[Germain Delavigne]].<ref>Malherbe, pp. 42, 47 and 51</ref>|group=n}} It was given by the [[Opéra-Comique]] company at the [[Théâtre Feydeau|Salle Feydeau]] in January 1823 with [[Antoine Ponchard]] and [[Antoinette Lemonnier]] in the leading roles, and received 60 performances over the next five seasons.<ref>Malherbe, p. 36</ref> Schneider writes of the collaboration:
[[File:Eugène-Scribe-anonymous-c1820.png|thumb|left|upright=.6|[[Eugène Scribe]], Auber's principal librettist from 1822 to 1860|alt=dark-haired, clean-shaven young white man in early 19th-century costume]]
{{blockindent|Scribe and Auber became the leading exponents of opéra comique in France, enjoying success in the German-speaking states, Denmark and England as well – reflected in the numbers of vocal scores, piano arrangements and translations of the librettos.<ref name=grove/>|}}

During the rest of the 1820s Auber's collaborations with Scribe were mostly successful, with long runs by the standards of the day.<ref>Malherbe, pp. 36–40</ref> By contrast, his only opera without Scribe from this period ran for seven performances.{{refn|''Vendôme en Espagne'', with words by [[Adolphe-Simonis Empis]] and Edouard Mennechet and music co-written with [[Ferdinand Hérold]], was given at the [[Paris Opéra]] at the [[Salle Le Peletier]] in 1823.<ref>Malherbe, p. 37</ref>|group=n}} By 1825 Auber was eminent enough in his profession to be made a chevalier of the [[Legion of Honour]] by the government of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]].{{refn|He was promoted successively within the order to officier (1835), commandeur (1847) and grand officier (1861).<ref name=m70/>|group=n}}

Although most of Auber's operas from this period were in the established genre of [[opéra comique]] – works with spoken dialogue, usually in three acts – in 1825 he wrote the first French [[grand opera]], ''[[La muette de Portici|La Muette de Portici]]'', a five-act piece, with extensive ballet numbers, and [[recitative]] instead of spoken dialogue. The original libretto was by [[Germain Delavigne]], adapted and revised by Scribe. After the premiere at the [[Paris Opéra]] in February 1828, productions opened in London in May 1829 and New York in November of the same year.<ref name=m7/> By 1882 the piece had been given more than 500 times in Paris, and was performed in translated versions throughout Europe.<ref>Malherbe, p. 40; and Schneider in ''Grove''</ref> A spectacular ballet, ''Masaniello'', with the same story, using Auber's music, was popular in London in the later 1820s.<ref>"King's Theatre", ''The Morning Post'', 8 June 1829, p. 2</ref> Schneider writes that Auber consolidated his international reputation with ''La Fiancée'' (1829) and ''[[Fra Diavolo (opera)|Fra Diavolo]]'' (1830), both with Scribe.<ref name=grove/>

===Institut and Conservatoire===
[[File:Le-cheval-de-bronze-Auber-poster.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''[[Le cheval de bronze|Le Cheval de bronze]]'', 1835|alt=Young woman in oriental costume riding bareback and sidesaddle on a flying bronze horse]]
In 1829 Auber was elected as one of the six members of the [[Académie des Beaux-Arts]] of the [[Institut de France]] in succession to [[François-Joseph Gossec]], joining the joint doyens, Cherubini and [[Jean-François Le Sueur]], and their colleagues [[Henri-Montan Berton|Henri Berton]], [[François-Adrien Boieldieu]] and [[Charles-Simon Catel|Charles Catel]].<ref name=institut>[https://www.academiedesbeauxarts.fr/academiciens-depuis-1795?field_chair_target_id=106&field_election_date_value=&field_death_date_value=&year= " Académiciens depuis 1795"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214621/https://www.academiedesbeauxarts.fr/academiciens-depuis-1795?field_chair_target_id=106&field_election_date_value=&field_death_date_value=&year= |date=2 June 2021 }}, Académie des Beaux-Arts. Retrieved 30 May 2021</ref> During his 42 years as a member he was joined by composers including [[Adolphe Adam]], [[Hector Berlioz]], [[Charles Gounod]] and [[Ambroise Thomas]].<ref name=institut/> Under the government of [[Louis Philippe I|King Louis-Philippe]], Auber was appointed director of court concerts in 1839, and, when Cherubini retired in 1842, director of the Conservatoire.<ref name=m70>Malherbe, p. 70</ref> Schneider writes that in the latter post Auber's term of office was marked by:
{{blockindent|special emphasis on vocal tuition, the separation of classes for male and female singers, provision of boarding accommodation for students, performances of opera in costume, and performances in the Conservatoire of music-theatre works by winners of the [[Prix de Rome]].<ref name=grove/>|}}
In the 1830s Auber wrote twelve operas with Scribe, half of them opéras comiques, and half more serious works for the Opéra: ''Le Dieu et la bayadère'' (1830), ''Le Philtre'' (1831), ''Le Serment ou les Faux monnayeurs'' (1832), ''[[Gustave III (Auber)|Gustave III ou le Bal masqué]]'' (1833), ''[[Le cheval de bronze|Le Cheval de bronze]]'' (1835) and ''[[Le lac des fées|Le Lac des fées]]'' (1839).{{refn|Respectively, in English, The God and the Dancing Girl, The Potion, The Oath or the Counterfeiters, Gustave III or the Masked Ball, The Bronze Horse and the Fairy Lake.|group=n}}

===Later years===

[[File:Postcard-1910 Daniel Fransois Auber.jpg|Auber by [[Nadar]], late 1860s|thumb|upright=.7|alt=old white man, with white hair and side whiskers, otherwise clean shaven]]
Auber was a much-loved and conscientious director of the Conservatoire;<ref>Martinet, p. 100; and Ferris, p. 277</ref> he ran a less conservative regime than his predecessor, and introduced changes such as permitting applause at Conservatoire concerts, and giving members of the faculty more freedom in what they taught their students.<ref>Martinet, pp. 158 and 166</ref> He enlarged the composition, piano and orchestral instrument departments.<ref>Letellier, p. 22</ref> His customary modesty extended to banning any of his works from being performed at the Conservatoire during the whole of his directorship.<ref>Martinet, pp. 157 and 230</ref> Several winners of the [[Prix de Rome]] – France's premier music prize – trained under him, including [[Georges Bizet]],  
[[Ernest Guiraud]], [[Théodore Dubois]] and [[Jules Massenet]].

Auber's productivity as an opera composer slowed somewhat in the years after his appointment to the Conservatoire, but he completed 13 new operas between 1843 and 1869, including ''[[La part du diable]]'' (The Devil's Share, 1943), ''[[Haydée, ou Le secret]]'' (1847), ''[[L'enfant prodigue (Auber)|L'enfant prodigue]]'' (The Prodigal Son. 1850), ''[[Manon Lescaut (Auber)|Manon Lescaut]]'' (1856 – 28 years before [[Manon|Massenet's version]] and 37 years before [[Manon Lescaut (Puccini)|Puccini's]]), and his last collaboration with Scribe, ''[[La circassienne|La Circassienne]]'' (The Circassian Woman, 1861). After Scribe's death in 1861, Auber composed only two more operas, both with librettos by [[Adolphe d'Ennery]] and [[Eugène Cormon]]: ''[[Le premier jour de bonheur]]'' (The First Day of Happiness, 1868) and ''Rêve d'amour'' (Dream of Love, 1869).<ref name=grove/>
[[File:Le-premier-jour-de-bonheur.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Le premier jour de bonheur]]'' (1868)|alt=sketches of scenes from operatic performances in vaguely 18th-century costumes]]
''Le premier jour de bonheur'' was a considerable success, and reviewers remarked on the freshness of the octogenarian composer's score: "Its music is, for the greater part, as fresh and sparkling as the best gems of ''Masaniello'' or ''The Crown Diamonds''".<ref>"France", ''The Examiner'', 29 February 1868, pp. 130–131</ref><ref name=l42>Letellier, p. 42</ref> It was an exceptional box-office success,<ref>"France", ''The Morning Post'', 31 March 1868, p. 5</ref> given 167 times in Paris over the next few seasons and staged in Vienna, Berlin, Budapest and other European cities.<ref>Letellier, p. 6</ref>

Under the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]] Auber was appointed director of the chapelle impériale by [[Napoleon III]] in 1852,<ref name=m70/> and composed a considerable amount of music for the emperor's chapel in the [[Louvre]]. The musical forces there were substantial, the choir and orchestra comprising 40 musicians each. They performed under the direction of conductors from the Opéra, rather than the composer.<ref>Malherbe, pp. 78–79</ref>

By the time of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870, Auber was old and ailing. He refused to leave Paris, and remained there during the [[Siege of Paris (1870–1871)|siege of Paris]] and the subsequent rise of the [[Paris Commune]]. He resigned as director of the Conservatoire so that the building could be used as a hospital.<ref>Letellier, pp. 22–23</ref> He was briefly succeeded as director by [[Francisco Salvador-Daniel]] – appointed by the Communards and shot by the French government eleven days later – and more permanently by [[Ambroise Thomas]], who held the post from 1871 to 1896.<ref>Bourligueux, Guy, and Kristy Barbacane. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000007169 "Daniel, Francisco (Alberto Clemente) Salvador"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213921/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000007169 |date=2 June 2021 }}, and Smith, Richard Langham. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-000002 "Thomas, (Charles Louis) Ambroise"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001. {{subscription required}}</ref>

Auber's health deteriorated and in May 1871 he took to his bed. Two friends  – Thomas and his fellow composer [[Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin]] – took turns watching over him.<ref>Malherbe, p. 86</ref> In the early hours of 12 May he died at his house in the Rue Saint-Georges, aged 89.<ref name=recueil/> He was buried at the [[Père Lachaise]] cemetery.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213701/https://www.paristoric.com/index.php/musees-et-religions/pere-lachaise/3629-les-tombes-du-pere-lachaise-esprit-auber "Les tombes du Père Lachaise"]}}, Paristoric. Retrieved 30 May 2021</ref>