David, FÉLICIE

David, FÉLICIE, a French composer, was born 8th March 1810, at Cadenet, in the department of Vaucluse. He was first a chorister in the cathedral of Aix, then at the age of twenty entered the Paris Conservatoire. He threw himself earnestly into the social speculations of his day; became an ardent disciple of St Simon, and afterwards of Enfantin; and finally, on the break-up of the brotherhood in 1833, he betook himself, along with several of his fellow-dreamers, to the East. The little knot of enthusiasts reached Constantinople, whence they made their way to Smyrna and Cairo. As they had no means, they suffered greatly from want, sickness, and ill-usage. In 1835 he returned to Paris, and published his Mélodies Orientales for the pianoforte. They were unsuccessful; and David remained in obscurity till 1844, when he brought out at the Conservatoire his Désert, a grand Ode-symphonie, as he called it, the words of which were furnished by his friend and fellow-wanderer, Auguste Colin. Its success was sudden and complete. David was declared a master at once, and his Désert was performed in all the theatres. Subsequently, he travelled through Belgium and Germany, and was everywhere greeted with applause. Less successful works were—Moïse sur le Sinaï (1846), Christophe Colomb and Le Paradis (1847), La Perle du Brésil (1851), Herculaneum (1859), and Lalla Rookh (1862). He composed also a quartette for strings, a nonette, a symphony, and songs. Appointed an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1862, and in 1869 librarian to the Paris Conservatoire de Musique, David died 29th August 1876.