Genres Classical Role Composer Occupation(s) Composer Siblings Michel Delibes | Instruments Piano, Organ Nephews Adolfo Delibes Name Leo Delibes | |
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Born 21 February 1836Saint-Germain-du-Val ( 1836-02-21 ) Died January 16, 1891, Paris, France Spouse Leontine Estelle Denain (m. 1871) Compositions Lakme, Lakme, Flower Duet, Flower Duet, Coppelia, Coppelia, Le roi l\'a dit, Le roi l\'a dit, Le Rossignol, Le Rossignol, Bonjour - Suzon !, Bonjour - Suzon !, The Maids of Cadiz, The Maids of Cadiz, Lakme: Acte III, Lakme: Acte III, Jean de Nivelle, Jean de Nivelle, Lakme: Acte II, Lakme: Acte II, Lakme: Act II Scene & chœur « Au milieu des chants d\'allegresse », Lakme: Act II Scene & chœur « Au milieu des chants d\'allegresse », Coppelia: Tableau III Danse de Fete, Coppelia: Tableau III Danse de Fete, Coppelia: Tableau III - No 20f La discorde et la guerre, Coppelia: Tableau III - No 20f La discorde et la guerre, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 11a Musique des automates, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 11a Musique des automates, La Source - Suite no 3: Finale, La Source - Suite no 3: Finale, Lakme: Acte I Entr\'acte, Lakme: Acte I Entr\'acte, Lakme: Acte I Scene « Viens ! la ! la ! », Lakme: Acte I Scene « Viens ! la ! la ! », Lakme: Acte I Scene « Non ! Je ne veux pas toucher », Lakme: Acte I Scene « Non ! Je ne veux pas toucher », Coppelia: Tableau I - no 7b Sortie, Coppelia: Tableau I - no 7b Sortie, Lakme: Act III Finale « C\'est lui! C\'est lui! », Lakme: Act III Finale « C\'est lui! C\'est lui! », Sylvia: Act II No 10: Pas des Ethiopiens, Sylvia: Act II No 10: Pas des Ethiopiens, Lakme: Act III Scene & chœur « La - je pourrai t\'entendre », Lakme: Act III Scene & chœur « La - je pourrai t\'entendre », Lakme: Atto II "Dov\' e l\'Indiana bruna?", Lakme: Atto II "Dov\' e l\'Indiana bruna?", Sylvia: Act III No 16d: Variation Valse, Sylvia: Act III No 16d: Variation Valse, Coppelia: Ballet Suite: Music of the Automata and Waltz, Coppelia: Ballet Suite: Music of the Automata and Waltz, Sylvia: Ballet Suite: Cortege de Bacchus, Sylvia: Ballet Suite: Cortege de Bacchus, Lakme: Acte I Quintette & couplets « Quand une femme est si jolie », Lakme: Acte I Quintette & couplets « Quand une femme est si jolie », Lakme: Acte I Scene « Lakme - c\'est toi qui nous proteges ! », Lakme: Acte I Scene « Lakme - c\'est toi qui nous proteges ! », Lakme: Act II Finale « O Dourga - toi qui renais », Lakme: Act II Finale « O Dourga - toi qui renais », Lakme: Acte I Priere « Blanche Dourga », Lakme: Acte I Priere « Blanche Dourga », Coppelia: Tableau II - No 18 Scene (Final), Coppelia: Tableau II - No 18 Scene (Final), Sylvia: Act II No 12: Scene et danse de la bacchante, Sylvia: Act II No 12: Scene et danse de la bacchante, Sylvia, Sylvia, La Source: Ballet Suite: Sash Dance: III Variation, La Source: Ballet Suite: Sash Dance: III Variation, La Source - Suite no 2: Scene dansee, La Source - Suite no 2: Scene dansee, Coppelia: Ballet Suite: Notturno, Coppelia: Ballet Suite: Notturno, Coppelia: Ballet Suite: Festival of the Clocks and Dance of the Hours, Coppelia: Ballet Suite: Festival of the Clocks and Dance of the Hours, La Source - Suite no 3: Romance, La Source - Suite no 3: Romance, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 15 Scene, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 15 Scene, Sylvia: Act I No 6: Cortege rustique, Sylvia: Act I No 6: Cortege rustique, Regrets !, Regrets !, Lakme: Acte II Chœur & scene du marche « Allons - avant que midi sonne », Lakme: Acte II Chœur & scene du marche « Allons - avant que midi sonne », Sylvia: Act I No 4: Valse lente, Sylvia: Act I No 4: Valse lente, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 17 Gigue, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 17 Gigue, Coppelia: Tableau III - No 20a Valse des heures, Coppelia: Tableau III - No 20a Valse des heures, Lakme: Act III Berceuse « Sous le ciel tout etoile », Lakme: Act III Berceuse « Sous le ciel tout etoile », Coppelia: Tableau II - No 14 Scene et Valse de la Poupee, Coppelia: Tableau II - No 14 Scene et Valse de la Poupee, Coppelia: Tableau I - no 2 Scene (Swanhilde et Frantz), Coppelia: Tableau I - no 2 Scene (Swanhilde et Frantz), Kassya: Trepak, Kassya: Trepak, Coppelia: Tableau III - No 19 Marche de la cloche / No 20 Fete de la cloche - Divertissement, Coppelia: Tableau III - No 19 Marche de la cloche / No 20 Fete de la cloche - Divertissement, Sylvia: Act III No 14b: Scene, Sylvia: Act III No 14b: Scene Similar People | ||
Leo Delibes - The Flower Duet [HD]
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes ([klemɑ̃ filibɛʁ leo dəlib]; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French composer of the Romantic era (1815–1910), who specialised in ballets, operas, and other works for the stage. His most notable works include the ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876), as well as the operas Le roi l'a dit (1873) and Lakmé (1883).
Contents
L o delibes pizzicato
Life and career
The composer was born in Saint-Germain-du-Val, now part of La Flèche (Sarthe), France, in 1836; his father was a mailman, and his mother a talented amateur musician. His grandfather had been an opera singer. He was raised mainly by his mother and uncle following his father's early death. In 1871, at the age of 35, the composer married Léontine Estelle Denain. His brother Michel Delibes migrated to Spain; he was the grandfather of Spanish writer Miguel Delibes.
Starting in 1847, Delibes studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire as a student of Adolphe Adam. A year later he began taking voice lessons, though he would end up a much better organ player than singer. He held positions as a rehearsal accompanist and chorus master at the Théâtre Lyrique, as second chorus master at the Paris Opéra (in 1864), and as organist at Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot (1865–71). The first of his many operettas was Deux sous de charbon, ou Le suicide de Bigorneau ("Two sous-worth of coal"), written in 1856 for the Folies-Nouvelles.
A ceremonial cantata, Algers, for Napoleon III on the theme of Algiers, brought him to official attention; a collaboration with Ludwig Minkus resulted, in which Delibes composed music jointly for the ballet La source (1866), which brought him into the milieu of ballet. In 1867 Delibes composed the divertissement Le jardin animé for a revival of the Joseph Mazilier/Adolphe Adam ballet Le corsaire. He wrote a mass, his Messe brève, and composed operettas almost yearly and occasional music for the theater, such as dances and antique airs for the 1882 revival of Victor Hugo's Le roi s'amuse, the play that Verdi had turned into Rigoletto.
Delibes achieved true fame in 1870 with the success of his ballet Coppélia; its title referred to a mechanical dancing doll that distracts a village swain from his beloved and appears to come to life. His other ballet is Sylvia (1876).
Never in robust health, Delibes died little more than a month before his 55th birthday. He was buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris.
Compositions
It has been suggested that Delibes also wrote the ballet music for Gounod's Faust which had been inserted ten years after the original performance of the opera.
Of Delibes's various operas, the last and most important was the lush orientalizing Lakmé (1883), which contains the famous coloratura showpiece known as the Légende du Paria or Bell Song ("Où va la jeune Indoue?") and The Flower Duet ("Sous le dôme épais"), a barcarolle that Patricia Rozema made famous in her film "I've Heard the Mermaids Singing" and later used by British Airways commercials. At the time, his operas impressed Tchaikovsky enough for the composer to rate Delibes more highly than Brahms—although this may seem faint praise when one considers that the Russian composer considered Brahms "a giftless bastard."
His work is known to have been a great influence on composers such as Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns and Debussy. His ballet Sylvia was of special interest to Tchaikovsky, who wrote of Delibes' score: "... what charm, what wealth of melody! It brought me to shame, for had I known of this music, I would have never written Swan Lake."