HALEVY, LUDOVIC (1834-1908), French author, was born in Paris. His father, Leon Halevy (1802-83), was a clever and versatile writer, who tried almost every branch of literature —prose and verse, vaudeville, drama, history—without, however, achieving decisive success in any. His uncle, J. F. Fromental E. Halevy (q.v.), was for many years associated with the opera; hence the double and early connection of Ludovic Halevy with the Parisian stage. At 18 he entered the civil service, and held various posts, the last being that of secretaire-redacteur to the Corps Legislatif. . In 1865 he retired. 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, produced under the pseudonym of Jules Servieres, followed. The name of Ludovic Halevy appeared for the first time on the bills on Jan. 1, 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 186o he was commis sioned to write a play for the manager of the Varietes in con junction with another vaudevillist, Lambert Thiboust. The latter having abruptly retired from the collaboration, Halevy met on the steps of the theatre Henri Meilhac (1831-97), then compara tively a stranger to him. There and then began a connection which was to last over 20 years. Their joint works may be divided into three classes: the operettes, the farces, the comedies. Amongst the most celebrated works of the joint authors were La Belle Helene (1864), Barbe Bleue La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein (1867), and La Perichole (1868). After 1870 the vogue of parody rapidly declined. The decadence became still more apparent when Offenbach was no longer at hand to assist the two authors with his quaint musical irony. They then wrote farces of the old type, consisting of complicated intrigues, with which they cleverly interwove the representation of contemporary whims and social oddities. A serious effort was Frou- f rou (5869), which, owing perhaps to the admirable talent of Aimee Desclee, remains their unique maces de larmes.
Meilhac and Halevy will be found at their best in light sketches of Parisian life, Les Sonnettes, Le Roi Candaule, Madame attend Monsieur, Toto cltez Tata. Both men had wit, humour, observa tion of character. Meilhac had a ready imagination, a rich and whimsical fancy; Halevy had taste, refinement and pathos of a certain kind. Not less clever than his brilliant comrade, he was more human. Of this he gave evidence in two delightful books, Monsieur et Madame Cardinal (18 73) and Les Petites Cardinal, in which the lowest orders of the Parisian middle class are faith fully described. Halevy's peculiar qualities are even more visible in the simple and striking scenes of the Invasion, published soon after the conclusion of the Franco-German War, in Criquette (1883) and L'A bbe Constantin (1882), two novels, the latter of which went through innumerable editions. Zola had presented to the public an almost exclusive combination of bad men and women; in L'Abbe Constantin all are kind and good, and the change was eagerly welcomed by the public. Some enthusiasts rank the Abbe with the Vicar of Wakefield.
Halevy remained an assiduous frequenter of the Academy, to which he was elected in 1884, the Conservatoire, the Comedie Francaise, and the Society of Dramatic Authors, but, when he died in Paris on May 8, 1908, he had produced practically noth ing for many years.
The Theatre of Meilhac and Halevy was published in 8 vols. (19oo-o2).