Edmée Favart (1879 – 29 October 1941) was a French soprano who had a varied and major career in opera and

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

and left many recordings of songs from roles she performed on stage.

Life and career

Favart was born in Paris, the daughter of the baritone Edmond Favart and Zelie Weil, and appeared on stage with her father as a child in Algiers. She sang the Duchess in a 1904 revival of ''

Le petit duc ''Le petit duc'' (''The little duke'') is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Lecocq. The French language, French libretto was by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Performance history The opera was first presented at the Théâtre de la R ...

'' at the

Théâtre des Variétés The Théâtre des Variétés is a theatre and "salle de spectacles" at 7–8, boulevard Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement, in Paris. It was declared a monument historique in 1974. History It owes its creation to the theatre director Mademoiselle ...

in Paris. In 1907 she joined the company of the Théâtre des Nouveautés in Brussels. By 1912, she had returned to Paris, and appeared at the Gaîté in ''

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 ...

'' and ''

La fille du tambour-major ''La fille du tambour-major'' (''The Drum Major's Daughter'') is an opéra comique in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. It was one of the composer's last works, premiered less than a year befor ...

''.Gänzl, K. ''The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre.'' Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Favart made her debut at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

on 20 June 1915 in ''Mignon'' (later singing the title role in the 1,500th performance of the opera at the theatre on 25 May 1919). She went on to sing Delphine (''Cosi fan tutte''), Clairette ''La fille de Madame Angot'', Colette (''

La Basoche ''La Basoche'' is an opéra comique in three acts, with music by André Messager and words by Albert Carré. The opera is set in Paris in 1514 and depicts the complications that arise when the elected "king" of the student guild, the Basoche, is ...

''), Rose Friquet (''

Les dragons de Villars ''Les dragons de Villars'' (''The Dragoons of Villars'') is an opéra-comique in three acts by Aimé Maillart to a libretto by Lockroy and Eugène Cormon. The story of the opera was said to have been borrowed from ''La Petite Fadette'' by George ...

''), Micaëla (''Carmen''), Cherubino (''The marriage of Figaro''), Rosenn (''

Le roi d'Ys ' (''The King of Ys'') is an opera in three acts and five tableaux by the French composer Édouard Lalo, to a libretto by Édouard Blau, based on the old Breton legend of the drowned city of Ys. That city was, according to the legend, the capita ...

''), and Mimi (''La boheme'') at the Salle Favart.Wolff, Stéphane. ''Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique 1900–1950.'' Paris: André Bonne, 1953. Favart created leading roles in ''

La petite fonctionnaire LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' in 1921 and ''

Ciboulette ''Ciboulette'' is a French opérette in three acts, music by Reynaldo Hahn, libretto by Robert de Flers and Francis de Croisset, first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés, in Paris, on 7 April 1923. One of the most elegant and refined compo ...

'' in 1923 ; she also appeared in revivals of '' Véronique'', '' Madame l'archiduc'' and ''Le petit duc'' at the

Théâtre Mogador Théâtre Mogador, founded in 1913 with design by Bertie Crewe, is a Parisian music hall theatre located at 25, rue de Mogador in the 9th district. It seats 1,800 people on three tiers. In 1913 financier Sir Alfred Butt rented an area in Paris. ...

. She returned to the Opéra-Comique in 1925 for a single charity performance of ''Véronique''. She also sang in the premieres of ''Monsieur Dumollet'' (1922), ''Pépète'' (1925), ''Quand on est trois'' (1925), ''Mannequins'' (1925), ''Le Diable à Paris'' (1927), ''Une nuit au Louvre'' (1928), ''Boulard et ses filles'' (1929) and ''Sidonie Panache'' (1930). Favart retired in 1935, as Mme Paul Gazagne. She died in Marseille.

Recordings

Favart recorded two excerpts from ''

Phi-Phi ''Phi-Phi'' is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar. The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the la ...

'' in 1919 (Pathé) and various songs from ''Ciboulette'' from the year of its premiere (Pathé 1919, with Henry Defreyn and

André Baugé André Gaston Baugé (4 January 1893, Toulouse - 25 May 1966, Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, Clichy-la-Garenne) was a French baritone, active in opera and operetta, who also appeared in films in the 1930s.Steane JB. André Baugé. In: ''The New Grove Dic ...

). She set down records of numbers from ''Mannequins'', ''Quand on est trois'', ''

No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''. The farcical story involves th ...

'', ''Le Diable à Paris'', ''Boulard et ses filles'', '' Le Chant du désert'' and ''Sidonie Panache''. Two more Messager operettas appear on her discography ; ''

Coups de roulis ''Coups de roulis'' is an opérette in three acts with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz, based on the 1925 novel by Maurice Larrouy. Performance history ''Coups de roulis'' was first performed at Théâtre Marigny ...

'' (Polydor, 1932), and '' Passionément'' (Pathé 1932). Her recordings also include songs from ''Le petit duc'', ''Les travaux d'Hercule'', ''Les charbonniers'' and ''Madame Favart'' (Pathé, 1934).Recordings taken from http://comedie-musicale.jgana.fr/index.htm and the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music accessed 28 November 2010 website http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/index.html.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Favart, Edmee 1879 births 1941 deaths Musicians from Paris French operatic sopranos