Composer to the court of Tsar Alexander, he brought the fantastic into opéra-comique with “La Dame blanche” in 1825. Cancer of the larynx robbed him of speech. His tomb, raised by national subscription, lacks the musician's heart, laid in 1834 in a heart-tomb in Rouen.
The story
François Adrien Boieldieu was born at Rouen on 16 December 1775, the son of a clerk to the archbishop. His first opera, “La Fille coupable”, on a libretto by his father, was given at the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen on 2 November 1793.
“Le Calife de Bagdad” made his name in Paris in 1800. From 1803 to 1810 he was court composer to Tsar Alexander in Saint Petersburg, where he wrote nine operas, before succeeding Méhul at the Académie des beaux-arts in 1817.
“La Dame blanche”, in 1825, is his masterpiece and a first: the supernatural entered the opéra-comique, with its Scottish castles and its apparitions. “Les Deux Nuits”, in 1829, would win Wagner's admiration.
Cancer of the larynx took away his speech; Thiers had a pension of six thousand francs granted to him. He died at Varennes-Jarcy on 8 October 1834.
A national subscription raised him a tomb at Père-Lachaise that the City of Paris maintains. But on 13 November 1834 his heart was laid separately at Rouen, in a carditaph in the monumental cemetery: the composer is divided between two cities, as he had been between two careers.
The grave
The tomb was raised by national subscription — the inscription says so — and the City of Paris maintains it. It is adorned with a portrait set on laurels, a lyre and a scroll of score, with no sculptor's name. The titles of his works cover the stone. Yet something is missing from this grave: the composer's heart, laid on 13 November 1834 in a heart-tomb in the monumental cemetery of Rouen. The native city kept the organ; the capital kept the body.
On site, do not miss
The portrait on laurels, the lyre and the scroll of score, then the list of his operas engraved beneath the mention of the national subscription.
Visitors' questions
Where is Boieldieu's grave?
In Division 11, Chemin Méhul, fifth row — the division of Chopin, of Cherubini and of Bellini's cenotaph. The tomb is decorated with a portrait on laurels, a lyre and a scroll of music.
Luigi CherubiniWhere is Boieldieu's heart?
In Rouen, his native city, in a heart-tomb at the Cimetière monumental, where it was placed on 13 November 1834, five weeks after his death. His body, for its part, rests at Père-Lachaise in Division 11.
Vincenzo BelliniWhat is his most famous opera?
“La Dame blanche” — The White Lady — first performed in 1825: the first French opéra-comique to make room for the supernatural, with a Scottish castle and a ghost. “Les Deux Nuits”, in 1829, was admired by Wagner.
Georges BizetWho paid for his tomb?
A national subscription, as the inscription states: “élevé à sa mémoire par une souscription nationale” — raised to his memory by national subscription. The City of Paris maintains it to this day, and the stone lists the titles of his works.
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