Léo Delibes
1836 - 1891 Chiefly remembered for his opera Lakmé, which includes The Flower Duet.
Life and Music
- Delibes was a member of the French nationalist school, along with Offenbach, Chabrier, Widor, Canteloube and Massenet.
- His father was in the postal service, and his mother, an able musician, the daughter of an opera singer and niece of the organist Edouard Batiste.
- Delibes studied music with his mother and uncle.
- His big composing break came with his ballet Coppélia, premiered in 1870.
- Delibes worked for both Berlioz and Bizet when he was chorus master at Paris' Théâtre Lyrique.
- Lakmé, written at a time when exoticism was fashionable, employs Oriental colouring.
Did you know?
The Flower Duet was used to great effect in a long-running British Airways advertising campaign.
Extracts taken from The Classic FM Friendly Guide to Music by Darren Henley.
