Halévy, Marche Heroique

FROMENTAL HALÉVY
Marche Heroique
for the return of the remains of Napoleon to Paris, 1840
Modern edition by David Whitwell

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Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy (27 May 1799 – 17 March 1862) was a French composer remembered mainly for his opera La Juive, which was praised highly by Mahler and Wagner. After studying at the Conservatoire with Cherubini he became an active choral conductor, composer and was elected to the Institut de France in 1836. His son-in-law and former student was the composer Georges Bizet.

The Marche heroique was composed for the great occasion when the remains of Napoleon were returned to Paris in 1840. A great procession carried the remains across Paris in the fashion of the great processions of the French Revolution. One observer of this solemn procession was the writer, Victor Hugo, who gave his impressions as follows:

The whole possesses a grandeur. It is an enormous mass, gilded all over, whose stages rise in a pyramid atop the four huge gilded wheels that bear it [...] The actual coffin is invisible. It has been placed in the base of the carriage, which diminishes the emotion. This is the carriage’s grave defect. It hides what one wants to see: that which France has re-claimed, what the people are awaiting, what all eyes were looking for the coffin of Napoleon.

The procession occurred on December 15, 1840, the day after Halévy finished his score. Despite very cold weather thousands of persons watched the procession as it passed from Pont de Neuilly to the Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon. Contemporary accounts recalled much cannon fire and rolling drums along the way. Judging by the nature of the Halévy score, which captures the grandeur of the day rather than sadness, we would judge it must have been intended for the arrival of the procession at the Invalides. The pauses in the score, where only the small ceremonial ensemble plays, may have been intended for the recognition of the arrival of government officials.

David Whitwell