Catherine Sauvage (26 May 1929 – 20 March 1998) was a French singer and actress.

Early life

Born Marcelle Jeanine Saunier in

Nancy, France Nancy ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Nanzisch'' is the prefecture of the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was annexed by France under King Louis XV in 1766 and replaced by a pr ...

, she moved with her family in 1940 to the Free Zone in Annecy. After high school, she turned to the theater, performing under the name Janine Saulnier. After eight years of studying piano, singing and drama, in 1950 she met Léo Ferré and fell in love with his songs. In 1952 she sang his "Paris canaille", which became a hit. In 1954, she won the "Grand Prix du Disque", a famous French award, for the song "L'Homme", again by Ferré. On tour in Canada, she made the acquaintance of

Gilles Vigneault Gilles Vigneault (; born 27 October 1928) is a Canadian poet, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Quebec's unofficial anthems: " Mon pays" and " Gens du pays", ...

, who wrote "Mon Pays, Le Corbeau, la Manikoutai" for her.

Professional career

Arriving in Paris, she adopted the surname Sauvage, borrowed from a childhood friend, and, began studying drama: :I did my apprenticeship with

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundi ...

, with John Vilar,

Roger Blin Roger Blin (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 22 March 1907 – Évecquemont, France, 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director. He staged world premieres of Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'' in 1953 and ''Endgame'' in 1957.C. J. Ackerley ...

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldw ...

. ..The chance of life allowed me to be presented to Moyses, who was the director of the cabaret Le Boeuf sur le Toit. I sang him some stuff like that, recited two or three poems. As a result, Moyses hired me the next day. I used a directory with songs including

Marianne Oswald Marianne Oswald (January 9, 1901 – February 25, 1985) was the stage name of Sarah Alice Bloch, a French singer and actress born in Sarreguemines in Alsace-Lorraine. She took this stage name from a character she much admired, the unhappy Oswald ...

. I stayed two months at the Boeuf sur le Toit --- afterwards, I sang at the Quod Libet, a nightclub on 3 rue des Prés-At-Clerics. She also performed at the

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

s L'Arlequin at 131 bis, boulevard Saint-Germain, then at L'Écluse at 15, Quai des Grands Augustins, in the 6th arrondissement. She met Léo Ferré, whom she helped in bringing recognition to his music: "It was the meeting of my life. As a happiness never comes alone, they say, Jacques Canetti came to hear me a beautiful evening. He was always looking for artists for the record company of which he was the artistic director, as well as for he concert hallLes Trois Baudets that he had established." Jacques Canetti hired her in 1953 and 1954 to work at Les Trois Baudets. "So I visited that cabaret on Rue Coustou for two years. Later I was featured at the Olympia, and received a grand prize for record ''L'Homme'' with Léo Ferré." She died in 1998, aged 68, in Bry-sur-Marne,

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

Performance style

She has always given preference to poetry set to music. Léo Ferré and

have said they considered Sauvage their best performer.

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to so ...

, one of her favorite poets, wrote about her: "And suddenly with her voice, like a gift, every word makes complete sense."

Discography

Studio albums

* 1954: ''Catherine Sauvage chante ses derniers succès'' * 1954: ''Catherine Sauvage chante Léo Ferré'' * 1956: ''Ouvert la nuit'' * 1961: ''Catherine Sauvage chante Léo Ferré - volume 1'' * 1961: ''Catherine Sauvage chante Léo Ferré - volume 2'' * 1961: ''Catherine Sauvage chante

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review '' Littérature''. He w ...

'' * 1964: ''Catherine Sauvage chante

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

'' * 1964: ''Chansons d'amour et de tendresse, chansons des amours déchirantes'' * 1966: ''Chansons françaises du Canada'' * 1969: ''Le Miroir aux alouettes'' * 1969: ''Chansons libertines'' * 1970: ''Larguez les amarres'' * 1971: ''Avec le temps'' * 1973: ''J'ai tout vu, tout connu'' * 1992: ''

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

: Dialogues de bêtes'' * 1992: ''Démons et merveilles (Catherine Sauvage chante Prévert)''

Live albums

* 1961: ''Chansons de cœur… chansons de tête'' * 1968: ''Le Bonheur : Catherine Sauvage à Bobino 1968'' * 1979: ''25 ans de chansons de Léo Ferré - Volume 1'' * 1979: ''25 ans de chansons de Léo Ferré - Volume 2'' * 1983: ''Récital à Tokyo''

Compilations

* 2009: ''Le Siècle d'or : Toi qui disais'',

Le Chant du Monde Le Chant du Monde is a French music publishing house. It was created in 1938 by Léon Moussinac and was supported in the beginning by classical composers Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Charles Koechlin, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Albert ...

(2 CD) * 2011: ''Catherine Sauvage : Anthologie 1951-1959'', Frémeaux & Associés (2 CD).

Filmography

* 1956: ''Paris Mob'' * 1966: ''Two Hours to Kill'' * 1983: ''The Bride Who Came from the Cold'' * 1983: ''

Julien Fontanes, magistrat ''Julien Fontanes, magistrat'' is a French police television series. It has been distributed since 1980 on TF1 (France), the show remains active as of 1989. Plot This series features Julien Fontanes, judge by the Ministry of Justice to review t ...

'' (1 Episode) * 1988: ''The Shop on Main Street''

Theatre

* 1954: ''The Good Woman of Szechwan'' by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

, directed by Roger Planchon, Festival of Lyon, Lyon Comedy Theatre * 1956: ''St. Joan'' by Bernard Shaw, in French, directed by Gabriel Monnet, open air production August 1956, Chateau of Annecy.Contemporary press cuttings with photos, Dauphine Libere, August 1956. * 1958: ''The Good Woman of Szechwan'' by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Roger Planchon, Theatre de la Cite Villeurbanne * 1962: ''Frank V'' by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, directed by Claude Regy and André Barsacq, Theatre Workshop * 1963: ''Divine Lyrics'' by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, directed by

, the Odeon Theatre * 1977: ''The Night of the Iguana'' by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

, directed by

Andreas Voutsinas Andreas Voutsinas ( el, Ανδρέας Βουτσινάς; 22 August 1930 – 8 June 2010) was a Sudanese-Greek actor and theater director. In the English-speaking world, he was best known for his roles in three Mel Brooks films, '' The Producer ...

, Bouffes North

References

* ''The World'', 22 March 1998. * ''Le Figaro'', 18 May 1983. * Newspaper Radio TV, 29 August 1974. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauvage, Catherine 1929 births 1998 deaths French stage actresses French film actresses Musicians from Nancy, France 20th-century French actresses 20th-century French women singers Deaths from cancer in France