Elisa Frandin (7 April 1859 – 24 January 1911) was a Finnish-French opera singer.

Early life

Elisabeth Frandin was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, the daughter of Joseph-Hippolyte-Eugène Frandin and Pauline Lemagne. Her parents were French; her father was the French consul in Helsinki when she was born. Her older brother Joseph-Hippolyte Frandin (1852–1926), was a French diplomat in China, Korea, Colombia, and Ecuador. Elisa Frandin studied voice at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

with Joseph-Théodore-Désiré Barbot and

Louis-Henri Obin Louis-Henri Obin, born in Ascq, near Lille on 4 August 1820, died in Paris on 9 November 1895, was a French operatic bass. He created some of the most notable roles in French grand opera at the Paris Opera, including the part of King Philip II in ...

. She won several awards as a Conservatoire student.

Career

Frandin, who sang soprano and mezzo-soprano parts, made her professional debut in Paris in 1881, in Grissart's ''Les Poupées de l'Infante''. Frandin sang in operas in Cairo, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Berlin, and many Italian cities. Her repertoire included roles in '' Lakmé'' by Delibes (1883), Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', Verdi's '' Aida'', Maillart's '' Les dragons de Villars'', Auber's ''

Le Domino Noir ''Le domino noir'' (''The Black Domino'') is an ''opéra comique'' by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed on 2 December 1837 by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris.Wild and Charlton (2005), p. 226. The libre ...

'', Boito's '' Mefistofele'', Mascagni's '' Cavalleria rusticana'', Massenet's ''

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...

'' and ''

La Navarraise ''La Navarraise'' (, "The Woman of Navarre") is an opera in two acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Jules Claretie and Henri Cain, based on Claretie's short story ''La cigarette'' (1890). It was first performed at Covent Garden in ...

'' (1895–1896), and Leoncavallo's '' La bohème'' (1897). She and

Marie van Zandt Marie van Zandt (October 8, 1858 – December 31, 1919) was an American soprano. Early years Born in Manhattan, New York City, van Zandt was the daughter of Jennie van Zandt, who had sung at La Scala and at New York's Academy of Music. Sh ...

were the first to sing the well-known Flower Duet from ''Lakmé'', in Paris in 1883. Frandin survived a train accident in 1893, but lost all her theatrical luggage, including costumes and jewelry; she was compensated with ₤500,000 by the railway company. She retired from the stage when she married in 1897, and opened a music school in Milan.

Personal life

Frandin married Italian journalist Carlo Combi in 1897. They had a son, Mario Combi, born in 1898. She died in 1911, aged 51 years, in Milan.

References

External links

Manuscript letters by Lison Frandin, 1884–1885
from the Archivio Storico Ricordi, Collezione Digitale. {{DEFAULTSORT:Frandin, Elisa 1859 births 1911 deaths 19th-century Finnish women opera singers Conservatoire de Paris alumni Singers from Helsinki Finnish people of French descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire Immigrants to Italy Immigrants to France