Léo Delibes
21 février 1836 - La Flèche (France) — 16 janvier 1891 - Paris (France)
About
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes, known as Léo Delibes, was a 19th century French composer whose ballets and lyric pieces are emblematic of Romanticism and French musical style. He was born on 21 February 1836 in the village of Saint-Germain-du-Val (now part of La Flèche) in the Sarthe region of France. Most of his family were musically minded: his mother (Élisabeth Clémence Batiste) was a gifted amateur musician, his father was a postal worker, his maternal grandfather sang as an operatic countertenor (Jean-Matias Batiste), and his uncle was an organist. The latter, Antoine Édouard Batiste, played an influential role in young Léo’s education after his father died prematurely when Léo was just 11 years old. His uncle taught him musical theory which allowed him to enrol the following year at the Conservatoire de Paris, known at the time as the École Royale de Chant et de Déclamation on rue de Bergère in Paris. He studied composition, under the tutelage of Adolphe Adam, and keyboards (piano, organ, harmonium). In 1850, the conservatoire awarded him the Premier Prix de Solfège. Parallel to his studies, Léo Delibes joined the Maîtrise de la Madeleine, an experience that paved the way for his entry into the Opéra de Paris choir as choirmaster. Three years later, Léo Delibes was appointed organist at Saint-Pierre de Chaillot church, then accompanist at the Théâtre-Lyrique in 1855, at only 20 years of age. It was around this time that he started to write his first compositions and attend performances such as Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles. Around ten years later, he became second chorus master at the Opéra de Paris, while retaining his role as organist. In 1881, he also became professor of composition at the Conservatoire de Paris and, two years later, a member of the Fine Arts Academy. In 1872, Delibes settled in Clichy, just outside Paris, with his young wife Léontine Denain, born Léontine Estelle Mesnage. In 1891, Léo Delibes died in Paris at the age of 55 and was buried at Montmartre cemetery.