The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-23 00:00:00

-4 , if

[PRICE SD.

M. 11,A,LEVY.
For the last fifteen years this great composer has
enjoyed thigh reputation in England, whether froth;
the.success of his-works in France_, or from their re-
production-on our own stage. Circumstances have,
however, lately combined .on all sides to attract ge7
neral attention towards him. The French compcsers
have lately SuPersoded the Italian maestri, and at tile
opening of the theatrical campaign in London this
year two of his minor works %%ere given with signal
success at the St James's Theatre; another was no
CleossveisiuteG-ec3arselfeuil '
i esit the
tablishnlr
ie'nire tirsist:osuVelidd.thwebilstth
produc-
tion of two of his serious opera, it was found likes i.e
that he been engaged, in conjunction with M:
Scribe, in writing another, of the most impor ant anti
prothising Character, on the subject of Shakspere'S
Tempest. On the eve of the production of this work;
on account of its authors and of its actors equally the
object of general curiosity, some account of the life
of M. Halevy cagnot fail to prove interesting.
• Fromental Halevy; was born in Paris at the begin-
ning of the present century. His father was -a Ger-
man, his mother a French lady. As the. boy phowed
a precocious understanding, and his father, like 'nest
of his countrymen, was devotedly fond of philosophy
and belles lettres, the young Halevy was ut an un•,
usually early age.sent to an academy. ilow*ver, a
few lessons on the piano-forte having been given him;
with a view to employ 'his leisure- moments, And to
vary and relieve his attendee, an invincible love of
the musical-art absorbed all his thoughts. His father
finding at list that he could not suriribunt this pro
peasity, wisely gave: way, and placed his soni, at ten
years of age, at the great Conservatoire. There, so
rapid was.his progress, that being only twelie years
of-age, he won'the grand prize-of harmony against all
his seniors. Soon afterwards he had the still greater
good fortune of attracting the attention of one
whose name and worki). will endure as long as
the art of music—at thirteen he studied composition
under Cherubini. Only two years afterwards,
when that great master was obliged to • visit London
(in 1815), so high an opinion did be entertain of the
young Halevy, that he chose him as his temporary'sub
stitute to:direct his class at the Conservatoire. From

. r.

this moment the great object of ambition with the young
artist was to follow the example of Mozart, and visit
the schools of Italy. A new triumph afforded him
this opportunity. In 1819, having won the grand
prize for composition at the Institute, he was sent by
the Academy of France to Rome. He spent three
years in Italy, travelling from one great musical city
to the other, examining the works of such old
composers as Marcello and Palestrina, studying
under such renowned masters as Galieri and
Zingarelli. From Italy he went to Vienna, pur7
posely to. visit one who' was the peculiar object
of his reverence—one who like him had been
a favourite pupil of Claerubini—Beethoven.. This

sublimecomioser received him kindly, but gave him
a melancholy proof that be had lost one—his most
perfect and exquisite sense—that of hearing; for, to
give him a sample of his inspiration he played on a
harpsichord with broken strings, and so totally out of
tune as to produce nothing but clashing discords,
although the unconscious performer did not per-
perceive it. The time was now come' when
the young Halevy must return to Paris, and
shsw " the mettle of his pasture." His first compo-
sition • was Pygmalion, a work which he offered to
the Grande Academie de Musique. It was immedi-
ately accepted, and its combination of Italian melody
with German harmony created a great sensation
amongst the critics. Political troubles, however,
soon interfered to prevent the production of his opera.
Halevy resumed his studies until 1827 ; at the be-
ginning of this year he gave the Opera Comique a
work entitled Phideas. Its success was such that
another was immediately demanded. This was the
Artisan, which fully sustained the opinion enter.
tained of his abilities.

Passing over minor works, we most particularly
notice an opera which he subiequently gave at the
Italian in 1829. This was an Italian opera buffo,
entitled Ii
.Dilettante. It was performed for two con •
secutive seasons with immense success by Malibran,
Zuchelli, Donzeili, In 1830, he produced at
the Academie de MUsique, a ballet, Marion l'Escaut,
and in 1831, at the same theatre, a ballet' opera, La
7entation' which was peifermed not only in Paris,
but in all parts of Europe; its catching, sprightly,
popular, and highly original melodies being repro-
duced on every hand•organ then manufactured, for
the peripatetic musicians of the streets In 1832,
Herold having suddenly died in all th-e fliish 'of his
triumphs, leaving his score of Ludovie. irnperfect,
Hatevy undertook the piou4 duty of fini.hing and
producing•it on the stage; and this year he like-
wise composed Les Souvenirs de la Fleur, for the
re-appearance of the celebrated Martin. In 1835
he produced,:at the Academie de Nlusique, an opera
of the highest pretensions—La Juive, whose suc-
cess was such that it was immediately brought out
in every capital in Europe. As if to show the ver •
motility of his genius, he next produced, at the Opera
Comique, L' Eclair, which has remained ever since
one of the .lorightest gems of that theatre's repertoire.
In 1837 it was the turn of the Academie de Mu-
sique to enjoy one, of his chef- d' ceuvres There he
produced his grand opera, Guido et GineVra, of
which.one song, " Apres la filte," 'has become the
cheval de bataille of every tenor who has since ap-
peared in the musical world. He successively
produced works whose titles alone suffice for an
eulogy. In 1838, a successful piece at the Opera
Comique; in 1842, La Reim de Chypre, at the
Academie; in 1843, Charles VI., at the same
theatre. In 1844 he produced the Guitarero, and in
1846 Les Mousquetaires de la Reine, at the Opera
Comique. In 1848, owing to those revolutioas with-
out precedent which then perislred the very existence
of society, Wand 'seemed to render every enjoyment
and every solace impossible in Paris, at the earnest
prayers of the director of the Opera Comique, whose
theatre had been nearly forsaken, he gave Le Val
d'Andorre, which was performed 165 nights running,
and restored at once, and in spite of every inauspicious
circumstance, the vogue and fortunes of that theatre.
Last year he was equally successful at the Opera
Comique with La Fee aux Roses, of which a transla-
tion is at this moment performed in London. Halevy
has long since received the highest rewards his country
could confer on him. At the Court of Louis Philippe
he enjoyed the highest favour. The unfortunate
Duke of Orleads, and his noble-minded widow, the
Duchess of Orleans, had placed him at the head of
their Chapelle. The Conservatoire conferred on him
the title of Professeur de haute Composition. He is
an officer of the Legion of Honour, and of a number
of foreign.' orders conferred on him by the different
sovereigns who have listened to his compositions, and
ha enjoys the highest title that can reward exalted
merit in France, that of Member of the Institute.

SOCIETY OF ARTS.
The twentieth ordinary meeting of the session was
held last evening at the society's rooms. The meet-
ing was numerously attended; Mr. F. Cooke, vice-
president in the chair.
Mr. ROBERT HUNT delivered an interesting lecture li
on the application of electro-magnetism as a motive
power. After briefly describing the various disco-
veries made and experiments tried in electro-mag-
netism, both in this country and on the Continent, and
more especially the great series of experiments con-
ducted, by command of the Emperor 'of Russia, by
t'rofessor Jacobi, at St. PeterAburg, and which had
been abandoned after an expenditure of more than
30,0001., Mr. Hunt proceeded to state that the reason
of his having.been askedoantnoandfpeoilrinnvilenernr aewvlheeincetihnugre,on this
d°lllB.ll that room he had
to the
eesffxubeicreetesttsheat the attempts made in the present
. state of
the science to employ electro-ma
tive power would end failure.
manner thginiee
tittraen adsesacrimbed
in a highly interesting
the electro-motive force is produced, and ainneditehebyla' whichwa
b y
which
which its
inducedaeti on
hiismgetovertnheindk. that Amongt.hia thine3gsrteoruinndu:
agency must fail in practice as afomcontive poWer, were
the following :—The magnetic diminishes,
.d.t ac-
cording to distance, with the greatestr r
when the force .was 220 lbs ,with theapairmi yat.urelluisn,
contact, it was, at a distance. of one 250th part of
an inch, only capable of sustaining 90 lbs. ;. at the
84th part of an inch 47 lbs., at the 60th part ‘f au
inch 40 lbs., and at the 50th part of an inch, which
would be a necessary distance for auy practical pur-
pose, it was but 36 lbs. Again, the moment motion
was communicated the power was reduced from
2,232 to 920, or more than one-half. Thus, when
they got a weight of 80 lbs. raised by tbe de-
composition of one grain of zinc, they could
only raise 40 lbs. by the. same waste when the
magnet became rotary. This he thought was caused
by the secondary or induced current moving in a
contrary direction to the primary current. lie con-
sidered great intensity of action necessary, even in
point of economy, to produce strong motive power.
Thus, with Groves' battery, which is the strongest,
one-horse power for 24 hours was theoretically ob-
tained with 451bs. of zinc, whereas, in Daniel's bat-
tery, which.is more constant and durable, the same
power requires the destruction of 751bs. of zinc. - A
loifuzainecoiarniiseashBOaltbesa.ma-efnogoitnehigrhai,,a,,whii4lealabsg.rtanine gofraciogin
same height- . the other baud,, a hundred weight