Léon Halévy (4 January 1802 – 2 September 1883) was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

Early life

Born to a Jewish family in Paris, Léon was the son of the writer and

chazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' (, plural ; ; ) is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term al ...

Élie Halévy Élie Halévy (; 6 September 1870 – 21 August 1937) was a French philosopher and historian who wrote studies of the British utilitarians, the book of essays '' Era of Tyrannies'', and a history of Britain from 1815 to 1914 that influenced Bri ...

and the younger brother of the composer Jacques François Fromenthal Halévy. He was educated at the

Lycée Charlemagne The Lycée Charlemagne () is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France. Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Je ...

Career

Halévy became a disciple and collaborator of Saint-Simon, aiding in the foundation of his journal, ''Le Producteur,'' and writing the introduction to his work, ''Opinions Littéraires, Philosophiques et Industrielles,'' in which

Olinde Rodrigues Benjamin Olinde Rodrigues (6 October 1795 – 17 December 1851), more commonly known as Olinde Rodrigues, was a French banker, mathematician, and social reformer. In mathematics Rodrigues is remembered for Rodrigues' rotation formula for vector ...

and Étienne-Martin Bailly also assisted. In 1828 he wrote a ''History of the Jews in Modern Times'', one of the earliest works on this topic. In 1831, Halévy became an assistant professor of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

at the Ecole Polytechnique, where there was some discrimination against Jews. However he abandoned the position three years later. In 1837, Halévy was attached to the Ministry of Public Instruction as chief of the bureau of scientific societies, and remained there until his retirement in 1853, after which he devoted the remainder of his life to literature, writing a large number of poems, translations, plays, and other works. Few of these are read today, although he was well regarded in his time. Amongst them was a biography of his brother Fromental, published after the latter's death in 1864.

Personal life and death

Halévy became

baptised Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

in order to marry the daughter of the architect

Louis-Hippolyte Lebas Louis-Hippolyte Lebas (31 March 1782 in Paris – 12 June 1867 in Paris) was a French architect working in a rational and severe Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style. Life and career He was trained in the atelier of Percier and Fontain ...

. Their son

Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French people, French author and playwright, known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on the libretto, libretti for Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and comic operas by Jacques Offenbach, inc ...

was one of the leading librettists of mid-century France. Ludovic's own children,

and

Daniel Halévy Daniel Halévy (; 12 December 1872 – 4 February 1962) was a French historian. Life The son of Ludovic Halévy, Daniel was born in and died in Paris. His family was of Jewish descent, but his parents were Protestant and he was brought up as a ...

, were noted academics. Another son, sired by Léon's liaison with an opera singer, was the politician Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol. Léon Halévy died, aged 81, at

Saint Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint- ...

Bibliography

* ''

La Grande Encyclopédie ''La Grande Encyclopédie, inventaire raisonné des sciences, des lettres, et des arts'' (''The Great Encyclopedia: a systematic inventory of science, letters, and the arts'') is a 31-volume encyclopedia published in France from 1886 to 1902 by H. ...

'' * Larousse, ''Dict.''

Sources

Profile
jewishencyclopedia.com. Accessed 15 February 2024.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halevy, Leon 1802 births 1883 deaths Writers from Paris 19th-century French Jews 19th-century French writers 19th-century French historians French literary critics Jewish French writers Jewish historians French people of German-Jewish descent French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers