CROWNED BY THE FRENCH ACADEMY Ludovic Halevy was a French dramatist and novelist, the son of Leon Halevy and a nephew of Jacques Francois Fromenthal Halevy. He was educated at the Lycee Louis le Grand in Paris, and after graduating he entered the service of the government. During this period he wrote several comic operas under the nom de plume of "Jules Servieres." His success with these induced him to resign his position, and devote himself entirely to the drama in association with Henri Meilhac. The operas written by Halevy and Meilhac were successfully produced on nearly all the stages of Europe and America. In addition to dramas Halevy produced novels and stories.

Author Biography

Ludovic Halevy (1834 - 1908) was a French author and playwright. In 1865, Ludovic Halevy's increasing popularity as an author enabled him to retire from the public service. Ten years earlier, he had become acquainted with the musician Offenbach, who was about to start a small theatre of his own in the Champs-Elysees and he wrote a sort of prologue, Entrez, messieurs, mesdames, for the opening night. Other little productions followed, Ba-ta-clan being the most noticeable among them. They were produced under the pseudonym of Jules Servieres. The name of Ludovic Halevy appeared for the first time on the bills on 1 January 1856. Soon afterwards, the unprecedented run of Orphee aux enfers, a musical parody, written in collaboration with Hector Cremieux, made his name famous. In the spring of 1860, he was commissioned to write a play for the manager of the Varietes in conjunction with another vaudevillist, Lambert-Thiboust. Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouve (1807 - 1903) was a French dramatist. As early as 1829 he carried away a prize of the Academie francaise for a poem on the discovery of printing; and in 1832 he published a curious little volume of verses, entitled Les Morts Bizarres. In those early days Legouve brought out a succession of novels, of which Edith de Falsen enjoyed a considerable success. In 1847 he began the work by which he is best remembered, his contributions to the development and education of the female mind, by lecturing at the College of France on the moral history of women; these discourses were collected into a volume in 1848 and enjoyed a great success.