Editing Léo Delibes (section)

==Life and career==

===Early years===

Delibes was born in Saint-Germain-du-Val, now part of [[La Flèche]] ([[Sarthe]]), on 21 February 1836;<ref>Curzon, p. 7</ref> his father worked for the French postal service and his mother was a talented amateur musician, the daughter of an opera singer and niece of the organist [[Édouard Batiste]].<ref name=grove>Macdonald, Hugh. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-000000746 "Delibes, (Clément Philibert) Léo"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2020</ref> Delibes was the couple's only child. His father died in 1847 and the family moved to Paris, where soon after his twelfth birthday Delibes was admitted to the [[Paris Conservatoire]].<ref name=f>Darcours, Charles. "Léo Delibes", ''Le Figaro'', 17 January 1891, p. 1 (in French)</ref> He studied first with Antoine-Jules Tariot (music theory), and then with [[Félix Le Couppey]] (piano), [[François Benoist]] (organ), [[François Bazin (composer)|François Bazin]] (harmony) and, at eighteen, [[Adolphe Adam]] (composition).<ref name=f/><ref name=c9>Curzon, p. 9</ref>

As a boy, Delibes had an unusually fine singing voice;<ref name=f/> he was a chorister at the church of [[La Madeleine, Paris|La Madeleine]] and sang in the première of [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer's]] ''[[Le prophète]]'' at the [[Paris Opéra]] in 1849.<ref name=c9/> While still a student Delibes became organist of {{Interlanguage link|St. Pierre de Chaillot|fr|3=Église Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot}} and accompanist at the [[Théâtre Lyrique]].<ref name=grove/><ref name=c9/> At the latter he took part in the preparation of most of the operas in the theatre's repertoire, including classics such as ''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]'' and ''[[Fidelio]]'' and new works such as [[Louis Clapisson]]'s ''La Fanchonnette'', [[Victor Massé]]'s ''La Reine Topaze'' and [[Charles Gounod|Gounod's]] ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]''.<ref name=f/>{{refn|Delibes made the piano reduction of the orchestra part for the vocal score of [[Charles Gounod|Gounod]]'s ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]'' in 1859.<ref>Giroud, p. 266</ref> A theory put forward in 1991 that Delibes wrote the ballet music for the opera when it was revised in 1869<ref>Johnson, E. "Gounod or Delibes? – authorship of the ballet music in Faust", ''Opera'', March 1991, p. 276</ref> has not been supported in subsequent studies of Gounod by Yves Bruley (2015) and Vincent Giroud (2019).<ref>Bruley, pp. 170–176; and Giroud, p. 270</ref>|group=n}} His biographer [[Hugh Macdonald (musicologist)|Hugh Macdonald]] writes that although Delibes remained a church organist until 1871 (he held several posts, the last of them at the church of Saint Jean-Saint François from 1862), he was "clearly drawn more to the theatre [and] found his métier at [[Hervé (composer)|Hervé]]'s highly successful [[Folies-Nouvelles]]".<ref name=grove/>

===Composer===

In 1856 Delibes' first stage work was premiered at the Folies-Nouvelles: ''Deux sous de charbon'' (Two [[Sou (coin)|sous-worth]] of coal), a one-act comic piece to a libretto by [[Jules Moinaux]], described as an "asphyxie lyrique".<ref>Curzon, p. 13</ref> Over the next fourteen years he produced more comic operas, at an average rate of about one a year. Many were written for the [[Bouffes-Parisiens]], the theatre run by [[Jacques Offenbach]], including ''Deux vieilles gardes'' ("Two Old Guards"), Delibes's second opera, which enjoyed enormous success, attributable in Macdonald's view to the composer's gift for "witty melody and lightness of touch".<ref name=grove/>
[[File:La-Source-Ballet.jpg|thumb|''[[La source (Saint-Léon)|La Source]]'', 1866]]
In addition to composing, Delibes earned a living as a critic (briefly in 1858); inspector of school music; and accompanist and later chorus master at the Opéra (from 1862 or 1863).{{refn|The obituary in ''Le Figaro'' gives the earlier date; ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', the later.<ref name=f/><ref name=j687/>|group=n}}. His appointment at the Opéra led to a new career as a composer of ballet music. In 1866 he was commissioned to compose two acts of ''[[La source (Saint-Léon)|La Source]]'', the other two being written by [[Ludwig Minkus]].<ref name=f/> In the view of the [[musicologist]] and critic Adolphe Jullien, Delibes "displayed such a wealth of melody as a composer of ballet music" that Minkus was "completely eclipsed".<ref name=j687>Jullien, p. 687</ref> Delibes was immediately invited to compose a waltz-[[divertissement]] called ''Le Pas de Fleurs'' to be introduced into the ballet of his former teacher Adam, ''[[Le Corsaire]]'', for a revival in 1867.<ref name=j687/> The piece was later incorporated into Delibes' music for ''La Source'' when it was revived.<ref>Grymes, James (2015). Notes to Hyperion CD CDA6796 {{oclc|904403063}}</ref>

In 1869 Delibes composed his last opérette, ''La Cour du roi Pétaud'', for the Variétés.<ref>Curzon, p. 88</ref> The following year he came to wider public notice with his score for the ballet ''[[Coppélia]]'', first performed at the Opéra in May 1870. It was an immediate success, and has remained among the most popular works in the classical ballet repertoire.<ref name=grove/> The following year he resigned from the musical staff of the Opéra and devoted himself wholly to composition. In that year he married Léontine Estelle Denain.<ref>Curzon, p. 118</ref>

Not wishing to be typecast as a ballet composer, Delibes next turned to ''[[mélodie]]s''.<ref name=j687/> In 1872 he published a collection including the songs "Myrto", "Les Filles de Cadiz" and "Bonjour Suzon".<ref>Johnson, p. 129; and Curzon, p. 53</ref> In 1873 he produced at the [[Opéra-Comique]] a comic opera in three acts, ''Le Roi l'a dit'' (The King has Said It). ''[[Le Figaro]]'' thought the libretto weak, but praised Delibes' music: "his melodic vein, his impeccable taste, his scenic skill, his beautiful humour saved a work which, without him, would have gone unnoticed".<ref name=f/> The work was a success in Paris and in German opera houses, but did not establish itself in the international repertory. Its first performances in Britain (1894) and the US (2016) were by students of, respectively, the [[Royal College of Music]] and the [[Manhattan School of Music]].<ref>"Le Roi l'a dit", ''The Era'', 15 December 1894, p. 7; and [https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/6/In_Review/NEW_YORK_CITY__Le_Roi_l%E2%80%99a_dit.html "Le Roi l'a dit"], ''Opera News'', June 2016</ref> Delibes returned to the Opéra in 1876, with a grand mythological ballet, ''[[Sylvia (ballet)|Sylvia]]'', which in Jullien's view confirmed Delibes' superiority in dance music. It was well received by the press and public. In 1877 Delibes was made a [[Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur]].<ref name=f/>

Despite the success of his two ballets, Delibes was still anxious to write a serious vocal work, and composed a grand scena, ''La Mort d'Orphée'' (The Death of Orpheus), given at the Trocadéro Concerts in 1878 during the [[Exposition Universelle (1878)|Exposition Universelle]].<ref name=mw>"Leo Delibes", ''The Musical World'', 24 January 1891, pp. 69–70</ref> He followed that with a serious opera, ''[[Jean de Nivelle]]'', a medieval patriotic romance, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1880. Reviewers found the piece too episodic but praised the composer for "the rare and precise quality" of his melodies and "the delicate style in his writing" for the public. The Parisian critic for ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'' considered it "the best opera, the one most likely to attain a world-wide popularity, since [[Georges Bizet|Bizet]]'s ...''[[Carmen]]''", premiered five years previously.<ref>"The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 14 March 1880, p. 7</ref>  The piece ran for more than a hundred performances,<ref name=f/> and was revived in Paris in 1908 but has not (in 2020) been staged there since then.<ref>Pottinger, Mark. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/254844 "Léo Delibes, Jean de Nivelle: Dossier de presse parisienne"], ''Music and Letters'', August 2008, pp. 434–435 {{subscription required}}</ref>

===Later years===

In 1881 Delibes succeeded [[Napoléon Henri Reber]] as professor of composition at the Conservatoire, despite his own admission that he knew nothing of [[fugue]] and [[counterpoint]].<ref name=grove/> He took his duties with great seriousness. The music critic Charles Darcours recalled Delibes' concern for his students and his anxiety for them to succeed in France's most prestigious musical award, the [[Prix de Rome]].<ref name=f/> In 1882 Delibes composed incidental music for a revival of [[Victor Hugo]]'s play ''[[Le Roi s'amuse]]'' at the [[Comédie-Française]], consisting of a suite of pastiche medieval dances for orchestra ("Six airs de danse dans le style ancien") and a song with mandolin accompaniment ("Quand Bourbon vit Marseille").<ref>Curzon, pp. 175–176</ref>

Delibes' opera ''[[Lakmé]]'' was premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 14 April 1883. [[Léon Carvalho]], the manager, was not known for extravagance in his productions, but for this opera he surprised his audiences by the lavish staging.<ref>"'Lakme' in Paris", ''The Era'', 21 April 1881, p. 7</ref> Macdonald writes:

{{blockquote|Its success was lasting; the oriental colour, the superb part for the title role, a well-constructed libretto and the real charm of the music, all contributed to a work on which, with the ballets, Delibes' fame has rested.<ref name=grove/>}}

[[File:Paris 18e - Cimetière de Montmartre - Tombe de Léo Delibes.jpg|thumb|upright|Grave in the [[Cimetière de Montmartre]]]]
''Lakmé'' was quickly taken up by opera houses across Europe, and productions followed in London (1885) and New York (1886); reviews of the American production were highly enthusiastic; those of the British production were less so, but in both cities it prospered at the box-office.<ref>"Lakmé at the Gaiety", ''The Musical World'', 13 June 1885, p. 364</ref><ref>"'Lakmé' in New York", ''The Orchestra Musical Review'', 27 March 1886, p. 620</ref>

Delibes' last years were financially comfortable and socially secure. In 1884 he was elected to the [[Institut de France]]. His last work, incomplete when he died, was another opera, ''[[Kassya (opera)|Kassya]]''. Delibes, who had been intermittently ill for some time, died at his home in Paris after a sudden collapse shortly before his 55th birthday. He was buried in the [[Cimetière de Montmartre]] in Paris.<ref name=f/>