Ferdinand Hérold
Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold ( born January 28, 1791 in Paris, † January 19, 1833 in Thernes ) was a French composer of Alsatian origin. His most famous works are the overture to the opera Zampa and the ballet La Fille mal gardée.
Biography
Ferdinand Herold was the only child of François -Joseph Herold, a pianist and composer, and Jeanne -Gabrielle Pascal, and grandson of the organist Nicolas Herold. At the age of six, he attended the Hix Institute, where he already excelled in his studies. At the same time he was by François- Joseph Fétis ( which later became the magazine La Revue Musicale published ) taught in music theory. At the age of seven, he played piano and did first compositions for this instrument to paper.
His father did not intend to open up to him a musical career, he himself suggested this way after his death in 1802. He enrolled in 1806 at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he was taught by Louis Adam, the father of Adolphe Adam, on the piano. Other teachers were Charles Simon Catel (harmony ), Rodolphe Kreutzer ( violin) and Etienne- Nicolas Mehul (composition). Herold was a virtuoso on the piano and the violin at this time.
In 1810 he won with an own composition first prize in a piano competition, a combination that had not been given. In 1812 he won the first prize at the Prix de Rome. In the spring of 1813 he composed, as all the winners of the Prix de Rome, his first symphony, to put his academic progress test.
In 1815 he retired for health reasons from Rome to Naples. Here he has composed his second symphony and three string quartets. His first opera La Gioventú di Enrico quinto was presented here under the pseudonym Landriani and the audience - unlike many other French composers - friendly welcome, however, not by their colleagues. He received 5,000 lire to teach the daughters of King Joachim Murat. After the execution of Murat he had left Italy and went to Austria, where he was employed for two months in Vienna by Prince Metternich and additional composition took lessons with Antonio Salieri. He then returned via Munich and Switzerland to Paris.
In 1816 he worked with Boïeldieu at the Opera Charles de France, a work which made his name known. In the same year he composed the successful opera Les Rosières, which he dedicated to his friend and former teacher Mehul. This was followed by about 30 operas, which largely were unsuccessful. 1817 had the opera La Clochette Premiere, which was a huge improvement over Les Rosières. For the Vienna premiere, which took place in the translation by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1821, Franz Schubert composed two insert numbers. After a long search for a suitable libretto he wrote Premier Venu, a work of inferior quality and without much success. Even Les Troqueurs (1819 ) fell through.
Hérold urge to compose forced him every libretto, which fell into his finger, and set to music, which led to his next operas ( L' Amour L' Auteur platonique and mort et vivant ) not achieved success, prompting Herold discouraged three years long no further operas wrote. He was singing chef and choir director of the Opéra- Comique.
In 1821 he became an assistant at the Théâtre Italy and traveled to Italy to recruit singers for this facility, which not only his inspiration but also his health zugutekam. In 1823 he returned with Le Muletier successful return to the stage. His next opera, Lasthénie was, in turn received only moderate. At the same time he worked with at Vendôme en Espagne Auber (1823 ), with which he processed French victory in Spain.
In 1824 he was commissioned by the Opéra -Comique to write Le Roi René. In the same year he was attendant at the Théâtre Italien, two years later [ choir director ]. In 1825 he wrote the failure of Le Lapin blanc - his libretti not helped him to write good music.
Marie, however, his next opera (1826 ), was a great success, but his commitments at the Théâtre Italy prevented him from making his way to continue on, so he was limited the next three years to write ballet music - though including a new version of the still often played La Fille mal gardée. In 1827 he became the most important new appointments at the Paris Opera. On November 3, 1828, he was Knight of the Legion of Honour. His next opera, L' Illusion ( 1829) was successful, the next but one, Emmeline ( 1830), it was not.
On May 3rd 1831 had his most famous opera, Zampa, premiere, which enjoyed great success in France and Germany and is occasionally still performed today. On Zampa was followed by La Marquise de Brinvilliers; a joint effort of the next Herold Daniel -François- Esprit Auber, Désiré Alexandre Batton, Henri Montan Berton, Felice Blangini, François -Adrien Boïeldieu, Michele Carafa, Luigi Cherubini and Ferdinando Paër with responsible recorded.
He wrote in 1832 La Médecine sans médecin and Le Pré aux Clerc, the latter also one of his known works, which in 1871 celebrated its thousandth performance in Paris. A month after the premiere Herold died of tuberculosis, from which he suffered for a long time. His opera Ludovic, which he could not finish was completed by Jacques Fromental Halévy.
Herold was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. The house in the Rue Herold 10 is his birthplace, the street was named after him in 1881.