DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

686 LEVEEIDGE LEVEY
' Romeo.' He sang at Milan on the production
of Meyerbeer's ' Margherita d'Anjou,' Nov. 14,
1820. He reapjieared at the Aeadeniie as Moses
on tlie production of Rossini's opera there, March
26, 1827, a part whicli lie had previously played
attheltaiiens, Oct. 20, 1822 ; returned there per-
manently the next year, and remained until his
retirement, Oct. 29, 1853. He created tlie part
of Zacliarie in the ' Prophete ' at the request of
Meyerbeer, who admired his talent as nnich as
his noble character. He was appointed head of
a lyric class at the Conservatoire, June 1, 1841,
and on his retirement in 1869 was appointed a
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He died at
Paris, Dec. 5, 1871, having become blind a short
time before his death. ' It was in the produc-
tion of " Robert " that Levasseur created a class
of characters . . . in which he has had innumer-
able imitators, but not one single artist with his
peculiar physiognomy, his exceptionally toned
voice, his imposing presence and intellectual
gi'asp. His Bertram was a veritable creation.
. . . Next to Bertram must rank his delinea-
tion of Marcel and Zachariah.' ^
A. c.
LEVERIDGE, Ricuakd, a singer noted for
his deep and powerful bass voice, was born in
London about 1670. His name appears as one
of the singers in Dr. Blow's Te Deum and Jubi-
late for St. Cecilia's day 1695, [and he took part
in Motteux's ' Island Princess ' in 1699, com-
posing some of the music himself. In 1702
' Macbeth ' was given at Drury Lane, ' with music
by Leveridge. ' This has not been identified
(see Macbeth Music). Leveridge usually took
the part of Hecate. He appeared in various
operas, etc. of Purcell.] He sang in the Anglo-
Italian operas, 'Arsinoe,' 'Camilla,' 'Rosamond,
and 'Tliomyris, ' at Drury Lane Theatre in
1705-7. In 1708 he was engaged at the Queen's
Theatre and sang in ' The Temple of Love, ' etc.
and in Handel's 'Faithful Shepherd' (' II Pastor
Fido') on its production in 1712. He subsequently
transferred his services to Rich, and
sang in the masques and pantomimes at Lincoln's
Inn Fields and Covent Garden for nearly thirty
years. His voice remained unimpaired so long,
that in 1730, when sixty years old, he offered,
for a wager of 100 guineas, to sing a bass song
with any man in England. About 1726 he
opened a colfee-house in Tavistock Street, Covent
Garden. [He appeared in pantomimes, etc.
until 1751, taking his last benefit in that year.
He wrote a kind of opera, 'Brittaine's Happiness'
performed in 1704,] and 'Pyramus andThisbe,
a comic masque, in 1716, compiled
from
by him
' A Midsummer Night's Dream.' In 1727
he published his songs, with the music, in two
small 8vo vols. [The best known are ' All in
the Downs ' and ' The Roast Beef of Old
England.' Some of his songs are said to be
adaptations from Irish traditional tunes.] Many
others were published singly. In his old age
1 Athcn(Eum. Dec. 16, 1871.
he was maintained by an annual subscription
among his friends, promoted by a city physician.
He died March 22, 1758. Tliere is a good
mezzotint of him by Pether, from a painting
by Frye. w. H. h. ; additions from Diet, of
Nat, Biog., etc.
LEVEY, Richard MlCHAEL(whose real name
was O'Shaughnessy), was born in Dublin, Oct.
25, 1811, and was ajiprenticed to James Barton
in 1821, with whom he continued till 1826,
when he entered the Theatre Royal orchestra.
Balie, Wallace, and Levey were intimate friends.
Levey's earliest recollection was seeing Horn'a
opera, ' Lalla Rookh,' in Dublin, and he had
pleasant memories of G. A. Lee and G. F.
Stansbury as conductors of the ' old ' Royal, of
which he himself became leader in 1834. His
accounts of the 'stars' between 1827 and 1847
make capital reading (a summary of them is
given in his Annals of the Theatre Soyal), and
he often told the present writer stories of the
two Keans, Alfred Buim, Tyrone Power, Macready,
Cooke, Miss Smitlison (who married
Berlioz), Taglioni, Paganini, Ole Bull, Bochsa,
Lablache, and Grisi.
In all, from 1836 to 1880 (the 'Royal' was
burned on Feb. 9, 1880), Levey composed fifty
overtures, and he arranged the music for fortyfour
pantomimes. His first pantomime was
' O'Donoghue of the Lakes,' the book of which
was written by Alfred Howard (' Paddy Kelly ').
In 1839 he toured with Balfe's opera company
in Ireland, and in 1840 he conducted the first
performances in Dublin of ' The Maid of Artois
(with Balfe himself in the caste) and ' The Siege
of Rochelle.' Levey often alluded with pardonable
pride to Sir Robert Stewart and Sir Charles
Villiers Stanford as his pupils. The latter's
first appearance in public as a composer, at the
age of eight, was as the writer of incidental
music for the pantomime of ' Puss in Boots,'
duly performed at the Theatre Royal during
the Christmas of 1860, under Levey's baton.
In 1850, Levey was one of the founders of
the Royal Irish Academy of Music—the other
three being John Stanford, Joseph Robinson,
and Sir Francis Brady, K.C. (still living)— and
the infant institution was removed to more
suitable premises, at 36 Westland Row, in 1870.
In 1852-55 he was leaderof the 'Dublin Quartet
Concert Society'; in 1859-62 he formed and
led the 'Classical Quartet Union.' In spite of
the short duration of these enterjirises, he
helped to start the ' Monthly Popular Concerts '
in 1868, when the quartet was led by Joachim,
and the concerts lasted till 1871. He had a
'jubilee benefit,' April 20, 1876, and was presented
with 250 guineas. Sir Robert Stewart
conducted a new comic opera, ' The Rose and
the Ring,' for Levey's benefit, on March 23,
1878.
Levey lived to see the opening of the ' new
Theatre Royal on Dec. 13, 1897, and repeated