Cécile Gilly (known on the stage as Cecile Roma, born approximately 1891"Dinh Gilly", in ''New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924'' on ''FamilySearch.org'', image 68 of 830.
/ref>) was a French

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

and singing teacher. A well-known pedagogue in the 1920s and 1930s, she is known primarily as being the

voice teacher A voice teacher or singing teacher is a musical instructor who assists adults and children in the development of their abilities in singing. Typical work A voice teacher works with a student singer to improve the various skills involved in singi ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Marjorie Lawrence Marjorie Florence Lawrence CBE (17 February 190713 January 1979) was an Australian soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas. She was the first Metropolitan Opera soprano to perform the immolation scene in ''Göt ...

Biography

Cécile Marie Puyo was the daughter of Armand Crosper Puyo and Guerite Lydie Legall."Cécile Marie Puyo" in "Perfitt Family Tree" on ''Ancestry.com'' Dinh Gilly's marriage to Edith Furmedge also states that Cécile's original surname was Puyo. (access with subscription)
/ref> She married the baritone

Dinh Gilly Dinh Gilly (19 July 1877 – 19 May 1940) was a French-Algerian operatic baritone and teacher. Biography He studied in Toulouse, Rome (with Antonio Cotogni), and at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won a first prize in 1902. That same year ...

on 20 July 1902. On the manifest for Cécile and Dinh Gilly's voyage to New York (to prepare for their debuts at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

), the manifest states that they were living in Paris on Villa Reine-Henriette Colombe.

Singing career

Cécile and Dinh Gilly arrived in New York on 23 October 1909. Under the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Cecile Roma, Cécile made her Met Opera company debut on December 14, 1909 in the role of Amarante of

Charles Lecocq Alexandre Charles Lecocq (3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéra comique, opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable succ ...

's ''

La fille de Madame Angot ''La fille de Madame Angot'' (''Madame Angot's Daughter'') is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Lecocq with words by Clairville, Paul Siraudin and Victor Koning. It was premiered in Brussels in December 1872 and soon became a success in ...

'', the company appearing at the New Theatre. Other roles with the company included the Priestess in ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' and Lola in ''

Cavalleria Rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...

''. When the Met appeared in Paris on tour, Cécile appeared with the company and stayed in France, while Dinh continued his American career and began an affair with soprano

Emmy Destinn Emmy Destinn ( (); 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Biography Destinn was born Emíl ...

Teaching career

Marjorie Lawrence's autobiography, ''Interrupted Melody'' is the main source of information on Gilly's approach to vocal pedagogy. Ironically, it was John Brownlee, student of Dinh Gilly, who suggested that Lawrence study with his former wife. By the time Marjorie Lawrence became her student in 1928, Cécile Gilly had developed a noted reputation as a singing teacher. Lawrence described starting her study with Gilly with "nothing but scales and exercises." This continued for "day after day for many weeks." When she was ready to take on repertoire, Gilly had Lawrence start with arias by Rossini and Mozart "calculated still further to strengthen my technque." Lawrence summarized "...Madame Gilly never was satisfied. Any pupil with possibilities who studied with her had her nose kept to the grindstone." Lawrence also wrote about Gilly's

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...

approach to becoming a professional singer and did much to steer Lawrence in the direction of gaining cultural and social education. Lawrence briefly mentioned Gilly's difficult life through giving up a potential singing career in order to have children, only to have her husband abandon her and thus having to support herself as a voice teacher. It was with such empathy that Lawrence recounts that Gilly had to take on students with substandard talent. This included one of Gilly's more notorious students,

Ganna Walska Ganna Walska (born Hanna Puacz on June 26, 1887 – March 2, 1984) was a Polish opera singer and garden enthusiast who created the Lotusland botanical gardens at her mansion in Montecito, California. She was married six times, four times to we ...

. In an unintentionally humorous page, Lawrence described the extremely affluent Walska as almost completely lacking musical talent, but Gilly maintaining her as a student due to significant financial remuneration. In his biography of Marjorie Lawrence, Richard Harding Davis provides additional detail underscoring Cécile Gilly's difficult life. The estrangement between Cécile and Dinh was not total. Occasionally Dinh would show up at Cécile's house, resulting in two additional children. During the World War II occupation of Paris, she lived at her estate in Euse. Her son Max was a prisoner of war, and her daughter Yvonne had recently died of blood poisoning, leaving Yvonne's three children (one of whom was only four months old) to be cared for by Cécile. Another one of Cecile's children, Paulette, had left the care of her twins to Cécile; another daughter, Renée, had left one child with Cécile. This put Cécile in charge of six grandchildren.

Students

Cécile Gilly's students included: *Morva Davies *Dorothy Gadsden *

Renée Gilly Renée Gilly (19 April 1906 – 31 March 1977) was a French operatic mezzo-soprano. She was a long-time principal member of the Opéra-Comique, where she performed leading roles such as Massenet's Charlotte, Mascagni's Santuzza, and Bizet's ...

*Gertrude Hutton *Doris Irwin *Marjorie Lawrence *Rita Miller *Gladys Petrie *Clarence Russell *Sam Waagenaar *

Dedication

Composer Philippe Gaubert dedicated his song "Musique sur l'eau" from the cycle ''Au jardin de l'infante'' to Gilly.Philippe Gaubert, ''Au jardin de l'infante'' (Paris: Heugel, 1912).

References

Works consulted

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilly, Cécile 1890s births Voice teachers 20th-century French women opera singers French operatic mezzo-sopranos Women music educators Year of death missing