1791-1833
Composer Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold was born was on this date in France, he was of Alsatian descent, and came from a family of well known musicians. His paternal grandfather was on organist, and his father--François-Joseph Hérold was a pianist and a composer in his own right. At the age of six, he was already in enrolled in the prominent Hix Institute, and while there, studied music theory with Belgian composer and musicologist François-Joseph Fétis. By the age of seven, he could play the piano well enough to actually compose some pieces for the instrument. He became most well known as a operatic composer, though he also composed ballets as well. His music was used for the first time in a motion picture in 1929, with the Fox Film produced Happy Days--a riverboat revue, which they billed as an extravaganza--emblazoning it with the all-caps tagline THE ALL STAR...ALL TALKING...MUSICAL ROMANCE! The sound was MovieTone and the special black and white "widescreen" film stock was by Grandeur. The piece of music used in the soundtrack was his Zampa Overture. That same piece was used again the following year a short film simply entitled Zampa. In fact, this is the only of his compositions to be used in film, with the only other use coming in the 1957 comedy musical Les Girls, directed by George Cukor. Hérold had long suffered from tuberculosis, and succumbed to the disease on January 18th, just ten days shy of is 42nd birthday. He was laid to rest in the very famous Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris--it is located in Division 13.
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| His the tomb to the right. The bottom of the tomb has since been modernized. |
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| [Source: David Conway (Find a Grave)] |
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