Louis Véron

Independent activity 1798–1867 ○ Natural causes

Physician turned impresario and press owner who launched the age of grand opera at the Paris Opéra and owned Le Constitutionnel

Born in Paris in 1798 to a family of booksellers and stationers, he took his medical doctorate in 1823 but made a fortune from a cough paste and left medicine. In 1829 he founded the Revue de Paris, which ran serial novels. As director of the Paris Opéra from 1831 to 1835 he ran it on his own account, created grand opera with Meyerbeer's Robert le diable and withdrew with a large profit. From 1838 to 1852 he owned and directed Le Constitutionnel, serialising Eugène Sue's Wandering Jew and supporting Thiers; Sainte-Beuve's Causeries du lundi appeared there at his suggestion. He was elected to the Corps législatif in 1852 and 1857 and wrote the Mémoires d'un bourgeois de Paris. He died in Paris in 1867.

Also known as: Louis-Désiré Véron · Doctor Véron · Docteur Véron