Léon Halévy was a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 civil servant, historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, and dramatist.

Born to a Jewish family, the son of the writer and chazzan Élie Halévy

Élie Halévy (Chalfan)

Élie Halévy , or Élie Halfon-Halévy was a French Hebrew poet and author. He is the father of Fromental and Léon Halévy.-Biography:...

, Léon was the younger brother of the composer Jacques François Fromenthal Halévy

Fromental Halévy

Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...

.

After finishing a course at the Lycée Charlemagne

Lycée Charlemagne

The Lycée Charlemagne is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France.Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Jesuits...

, Halévy became a disciple and collaborator of Saint-Simon

Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon

Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon was a French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably Marxism, positivism and the discipline of sociology...

, aiding in the foundation of his journal, Le Producteur, and writing the introduction to his work, Opinions Littéraires, Philosophiques et Industrielles, in which Rodrigues and Bailly

Bailly

Bailly may refer to:* Jean Sylvain Bailly , French astronomer and orator, one of the leaders of the early part of the French Revolution* Joseph Bailly , French-Canadian fur trader and pioneer...

 also assisted. In 1828 he wrote a History of the Jews in Modern Times, one of the earliest works on this topic.

Halévy became baptised

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 in order to marry the daughter of the architect Louis-Hippolyte Lebas

Louis-Hippolyte Lebas

Louis-Hippolyte Lebas was a French architect working in a rational and severe Neoclassical style, who was trained in the atelier of Percier and Fontaine, the favoured architects of Napoleon...

 and this enabled him in 1831 to become assistant professor of French literature

French literature

French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...

 at the Ecole Polytechnique

École Polytechnique

The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...

, where there was some discrimination against Jews. However he abandoned the position three years later.

In 1837 he 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.

Halévy's son Ludovic Halévy

Ludovic Halévy

Ludovic Halévy was a French author and playwright. He was half Jewish : his Jewish father had converted to Christianity prior to his birth, to marry his mother, née Alexandrine Lebas.-Biography:Ludovic Halévy was born in Paris...

 was one of the leading librettists

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 of mid-century France. Ludovic's own children, Élie Halévy

Élie Halévy

Élie Halévy was a French philosopher and historian who wrote studies of the British utilitarians, a history of 19th-century England and the acclaimed book of essays, Era of Tyrannies.-Biography:...

 and Daniel Halévy

Daniel Halévy

Daniel Halévy was a French historian.The son of Ludovic Halévy, Daniel was born and died in Paris...

, were noted academics. Another son, by Léon's irregular liaison with an opera singer, was the politician Lucien-Anatole Prevost-Paradol

Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol

Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol was a French journalist and essayist.Prevost-Paradol was born in Paris, France, the son of an irregular liaison between the opera singer Lucinde Paradol and the writer Léon Halévy...

.