Boieldieu

Boieldieu, Francois Adrien, born at Rouen 1775, died 1834, a French composer of note. His musical talent having been remarked by Broche, organist of Rouen cathedral, this latter took charge of him and of his musical education. The master's severity drove the child to run away, and it was not till after four days that inquiries led to his being found on the road to Paris and to his being brought back. Returning to Broche, he soon after became enamoured of the theatre, and when he had not money enough to pay for his seat at the opera, he used to slip into the theatre, and remain hidden all day. He was one day discovered, and the director, learning who he was, made him free of the theatre. In 1793 he produced a piece at the theatre at Rouen, and its success led him to go and try his fortune in Paris. After many vicissitudes, he saw represented in 1801 the first of his popular operas, The Caliph of Bagdad. His most celebrated work is La Dame Blanche, the production of which, in spite of his habit of repeated revision and rewriting which made the appearance of his pieces a question of years, was finished, rehearsed and played in the space of twenty-one days.