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Leon Halevy (4 January 1802 – 2 September 1883) was a French civil servant, historian, and dramatist .

Early life [ edit ]

Born to a Jewish family in Paris, Leon was the son of the writer and chazzan Elie Halevy and the younger brother of the composer Jacques Francois Fromenthal Halevy . He was educated at the Lycee Charlemagne .

Career [ edit ]

Halevy became a disciple and collaborator of Saint-Simon , aiding in the foundation of his journal, Le Producteur, and writing the introduction to his work, Opinions Litteraires, Philosophiques et Industrielles, in which Olinde Rodrigues and Etienne-Martin Bailly also assisted. In 1828 he wrote a History of the Jews in Modern Times , one of the earliest works on this topic.

In 1831, Halevy became an assistant professor of French literature at the Ecole Polytechnique , where there was some discrimination against Jews. However he abandoned the position three years later.

In 1837, Halevy was attached to the Ministry of Public Instruction as chief of the bureau of scientific societies, and remained there until his retirement in 1853, after which he devoted the remainder of his life to literature, writing a large number of poems, translations, plays, and other works. Few of these are read today, although he was well regarded in his time. Amongst them was a biography of his brother Fromental, published after the latter's death in 1864.

Personal life and death [ edit ]

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Halevy became baptised in order to marry the daughter of the architect Louis-Hippolyte Lebas . Their son Ludovic Halevy was one of the leading librettists of mid-century France. Ludovic's own children, Elie Halevy and Daniel Halevy , were noted academics.

Another son, sired by Leon's liaison with an opera singer, was the politician Lucien-Anatole Prevost-Paradol .

Leon Halevy died, aged 81, at Saint Germain-en-Laye .

Bibliography [ edit ]

• La Grande Encyclopedie
• Larousse , Dict.

Sources [ edit ]

Profile , jewishencyclopedia.com. Accessed 15 February 2024.

External links [ edit ]

• Works by or about Leon Halevy at Internet Archive