Hervé was a singer, composer, librettist, conductor, and scene painter. In 1842, he wrote the one act "opérette", "L'Ours et le pacha", based on the popular vaudeville by Eugène Scribe and X. B. Saintine. In 1848, Hervé made his first notable appearance on the Parisian stage, with "Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança" (after Cervantes), which can be considered the starting point for the new French musical theatre tradition. Hervé's most famous works are the Gounod parody "Le petit Faust" (1869) and "Mam'zelle Nitouche" (1883).