Delibes,  Léo

(1836-1891)

French composer, born in Saint-Germaine-du-Val. He studied music at the Paris Conservatoire and from 1855 to 1869 wrote operettas and comic operas for the French commercial theatre.

In 1866, while serving as second chorus master at the Paris Opéra, he established his reputation as a writer of ballet music with La source, on which he collaborated with the Austro-Russian composer Léon Minkus. Delibes composed the ballet Coppélia, his masterpiece, in 1870 and the mythological ballet Sylvia in 1876.

He also composed a number of grand operas, one of which, Lakmé (1883), is still regularly performed. His works also include a book of songs (1872), which contains “Bonjour, Suzon” and “Les filles de Cadiz”.