Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis
Engraving by Jules Porreau (1849)
Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis (4 July 1769 – 20 December 1819) was a French violinist, conductor, choirmaster, teacher, composer, and theatre director.
After commencing his studies of music in his hometown of Metz, Persuis moved to Paris in 1787, and entered the orchestra of the Opéra in 1793. His entire career was within this institution; he became choirmaster in 1803, then conductor in 1810, replacing Jean-Baptiste Rey. He simultaneously worked in administrative rôles, as manager, musical inspector-general (1816), stage manager (1817), then chief director from 3 September 1817 until 13 November 1819, on which date illness forced him to resign.
Persuis composed ballets, operas, and opéras-comiques. His greatest success was Le Triomphe de Trajan (1807), written in collaboration with Le Sueur. From 1810 to 1815, Persuis was the most performed composer at the Opéra, with 157 performances, largely due to Trajan. His opéra-comiques found favour at the Théâtre Favart. He also adapted others' works, for example the oratorio Les Croisés (Die Befreyung von Jerusalem, 1813) by Maximilian Stadler.
Persuis taught singing at the Conservatoire de Paris until 1802. His name was proposed for a singing school at the Opéra, but the school was not established, although he continued to teach choristers informally.
Works
- La Nuit espagnole (opéra-comique, 1791)
- Estelle (opéra-comique, 1794)
- Phanoret Angela (opéra-comique, 1798)
- Léonidas ou les Spartiates (opera, with Gresnick, 1799)
- Le Retour d’Ulysse (ballet, 1806)
- Le Triomphe de Trajan (opera, with Le Sueur, 1807)
- La Jérusalem délivrée (opera, 1812)
- Nina ou la Folle par amour (ballet, 1813)
- L’Épreuve villageoise (ballet, 1815)
- L’Heureux retour (opera, with Berton and Kreutzer, 1815)
Bibliography
- Jean Gourret, Ces hommes qui ont fait l’Opéra, 1984, pp111-112.
- Dictionnaire de la musique en France au XIXe siècle, 2003, p958. Article by Joël-Marie Fauquet.
- David Chaillou, Napoléon et l'Opéra, 2004, pp82-84.