ABSTRACT
For many, Fromental Halevy's career begins with La Juive of 1835. His first opera for the Académie Royale de Musique, to a libretto by Scribe, placed the composer among the first rank of French artists of his generation alongside Auber and Meyerbeer, and for the first time projected his reputation all over Europe. This success has the appearance of a sudden change of compositional direction with at first sight little to do with Halevy's musical ambitions before 1835. Even in the 1820s, a substantial degree of collaboration might be seen as an impediment to establishing a successful career as a composer of opera comique. By 1832, Halevy had produced a body of work in three distinct fields: a single work for the Theatre Italien, two choreographed works for the Academie Royale de Musique, and six one-act operas comiques.
