![Hector Dufranne in Henri Rabaud's La Fille de Roland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Hector_Dufranne_in_Henri_Rabaud%27s_La_Fille_de_Roland.jpg)
Hector Dufranne (25 October 1870 – 4 May 1951) was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
tic
bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thr ...
who enjoyed a long career that took him to
opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
s throughout
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and the United States for more than four decades. Admired for both his
singing
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
and his
acting
Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode.
Acting involves a broad r ...
, Dufranne appeared in a large number of world premieres, most notably the role Golaud in the original
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 ...
production of
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
's ''
Pelléas et Mélisande'' at the
Salle Favart
The Salle Favart, officially the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, is a Paris opera house and theatre, the current home of the Opéra-Comique. It was built from 1893 to 1898 in a neo-Baroque style to the designs of the French architect Louis Bernie ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1902, which he went on to sing 120 times at that house.
[Pelléas et Mélisande. L’Avant-Scène Opera. 9, March–April 1977.] He had an excellent singing technique which maintained the quality of his voice even into the latter part of his career. His wide vocal range and rich resonant voice enabled him to sing a variety of roles which encompassed French, German, and Italian opera.
J.B. Steane
John Barry Steane (12 April 1928 – 17 March 2011) was an English music critic, musicologist, literary scholar and teacher, with a particular interest in singing and the human voice. His 36-year career as a schoolmaster overlapped with his caree ...
: "Hector Dufranne", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 5 February 2009)
(subscription access)
Biography
Dufranne was born in
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
. He studied at the
Brussels Conservatory
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...
with
Désiré Demest before making his professional opera debut in 1896 at
La Monnaie
The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...
as Valentin in
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
's ''
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
''.
He returned to that opera house several times to sing such roles as Grymping in
Vincent d'Indy
Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...
's ''
Fervaal
''Fervaal'', Op. 40, is an opera (''action musicale'' or lyric drama) in three acts with a prologue by the French composer Vincent d'Indy. The composer wrote his own libretto, based in part on the lyric poem ''Axel'' by the Swedish author Esaias ...
'' (1897), Alberich in
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''
Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...
'' (1898), Thomas in
Jan Blockx
Jan Blockx (25 January 1851 – 26 May 1912) was a Belgian composer, pianist and teacher. He was a leader of the Flemish nationalist school in music.
Biography
Born in Antwerp, Blockx studied the piano with Frans Aerts, the organ with Joseph ...
's ''Thyl Uylenspiegel'' (1900), Thoas in
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
's ''
Iphigénie en Tauride
''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (, ''Iphigenia in Tauris'') is a 1779 opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard.
With ''Iphigénie,'' Gluck took ...
'' (1902), the Innkeeper in
Engelbert Humperdinck's ''
Königskinder
' (German for ''King's Children'' or “Royal Children”) is a stage work by Engelbert Humperdinck that exists in two versions: as a melodrama and as an opera or more precisely a '' Märchenoper''. The libretto was written by Ernst Rosmer (pen n ...
'' (1912), and Rocco in
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948) was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as '' Il segreto di Susanna'' (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by ...
's ''
I gioielli della Madonna
''I gioielli della Madonna'' (English: ''The Jewels of the Madonna'') is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to an Italian libretto by and Enrico Golisciani, based on news accounts of a real event.
It was first performed at the on 23 ...
'' (1913).
Computerised Archival Retrieval in Multimedia Enhanced Networking' – The digital opera archives of La Monnaie. Accessed 3 January 2009.
/ref>
Dufranne sang 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 ...
in Paris from 1900 to 1912, making his first appearance as Thoas. He appeared in several world premieres with the company including creating the roles of Saluces in '' Griselidis'' (1901), the title role in Alfred Bruneau
Louis Charles Bonaventure Alfred Bruneau (3 March 1857 – 15 June 1934) was a French composer who played a key role in the introduction of realism in French opera.
Life
Born in Paris, Bruneau studied the cello as a youth at the Paris Conservator ...
's '' L' Ouragan'' (1901), Golaud in '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' (1902), Amaury-Ganelon in '' La Fille de Roland'' by Henri Rabaud
Henri Benjamin Rabaud (10 November 187311 September 1949) was a French conductor, composer and pedagogue, who held important posts in the French musical establishment and upheld mainly conservative trends in French music in the first half of t ...
(1904), Koebi in Gustave Doret
Gustave Doret (20 September 1866 – 19 April 1943) was a Swiss composer and conductor.
Career
Doret was born in 1866 in Aigle, Switzerland. He studied at the Berlin Academy of Music with Joseph Joachim, and then at the Conservatoire de Paris ...
's '' Les Armaillis'' (1906), the title role in Xavier Leroux
Xavier Henry Napoleón Leroux (11 October 1863 – 2 February 1919) was a French composer and a teacher at the Paris Conservatory. He was married to the famous soprano Meyrianne Héglon (1867–1942).
Life
Born in Italy at Velletri, 30 k ...
's '' Le Chemineau'', Clavaroche in '' Fortunio'' by André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager (; 30 December 1853 – 24 February 1929) was a French composer, organist, pianist and conductor. His compositions include eight ballets and thirty opéra comique, opéras comiques, opérettes and other stage wo ...
(1907), the fiancé in Raoul Laparra
Raoul Laparra (13 May 1876 – 4 April 1943) was a French composer.
Life
Born in Bordeaux, Laparra studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with André Gedalge, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré and Albert Lavignac. In 1903 he won the Premier Gran ...
's '' La Habanéra'' (1908), and Don Iñigo Gomez in Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
's ''L'Heure espagnole
''L'heure espagnole'' is a French one-act opera from 1911, described as a ''comédie musicale'', with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on Franc-Nohain's 1904 play ('comédie-bouffe') of the same nameStoullig E. '' ...
'' (1911). He also sang Scarpia in the Opéra-Comique's first production of Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
's ''Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...
'' (1909).
Dufranne also appeared periodically at the Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
beginning in 1907. He notably portrayed the role of John the Baptist in their first production of Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
's ''Salome
Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, an ...
'' (1910). He also sang at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo
The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Principality of Monaco.
With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des ba ...
in 1907 where he took part in the creation of two world premieres, the role of André Thorel in Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...
's '' Thérèse'' and the title role in Bruneau's '' Naïs Micoulin''. In 1914 he sang the role of Golaud in his only appearance at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
In 1908 Dufranne went to the United States for the first time to sing with the Manhattan Opera Company The Manhattan Opera Company was an opera company based in New York City. Active from 1906 until 1910, it was founded by Oscar Hammerstein I.
History
The company began operations in 1906 at the Manhattan Opera House on 34th Street in New York City ...
in the American premiere of ''Pelléas et Mélisande''. He returned for several more productions through 1910, appearing as le Prieur in '' Le jongleur de Notre-Dame'' (1909), Caoudal in '' Sapho'' (1909), Rabo in Jan Blockx
Jan Blockx (25 January 1851 – 26 May 1912) was a Belgian composer, pianist and teacher. He was a leader of the Flemish nationalist school in music.
Biography
Born in Antwerp, Blockx studied the piano with Frans Aerts, the organ with Joseph ...
's '' Herbergprinses'' (performed in Italian as ''La Princesse d'Auberge'', 1909), John the Baptist in Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
's ''Salome
Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, an ...
'' (1910), and Saluces in Massenet's ''Griselidis'' (1910). He also sang with the Chicago Grand Opera Company
Two grand opera companies in Chicago, Illinois, have gone by the name Chicago Grand Opera Company during the first half of the 20th century. Like many opera ventures in Chicago, both succumbed to financial difficulties within a few years, and i ...
and the Chicago Opera Association
The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financi ...
from 1910 to 1922, creating there Léandre in ''The Love for Three Oranges
''The Love for Three Oranges'', Op. 33, also known by its French language title ' (russian: Любовь к трём апельсинам, links=no, ''Lyubov' k tryom apel'sinam''), is a satirical opera by Sergei Prokofiev. Its French libretto ...
'' (in French) by Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
, in 1921.[Biography of Hector Dufranne](_blank)
on Operissimo.com (in German). Accessed 5 February 2009.
In 1922, Dufranne returned to Paris where he continued to appear in operas in all the major houses in addition to appearing in other opera houses in France. He also spent a brief time performing in Amsterdam in 1935. In 1923 he created the part of Don Quixote in the stage première of ''El retablo de maese Pedro
' (''Master Peter's Puppet Show'') is a puppet-opera in one act with a prologue and epilogue, composed by Manuel de Falla to a Spanish libretto based on an episode from ''Don Quixote'' by Miguel de Cervantes. The libretto is an abbreviation of ch ...
'' under the baton of the composer, Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...
. The performance was for a private audience and was held in the private theatre of Winnaretta Singer, Princess Edmond de Polignac; he repeated the role in a Falla triple-bill at the Opéra-Comique in 1928. In 1924, he appeared at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...
in the world premiere of Léon Sachs's ''Les Burgraves
''Les Burgraves'' is a historical play by Victor Hugo, first performed by the Comédie-Française on 7 March 1843. It takes place along the Rhine and features the return of Emperor Barbarossa. The play failed commercially and was the last of Hugo ...
''.[
With the outbreak of ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1939, Dufranne retired from the stage, with his last performance being the role of Golaud at the opera house in Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...
. He lived in Paris where he taught singing for many years before his death in 1951. His voice is preserved on a number of historic CD recordings made between 1904 and 1928 which have been issued on CYP 3612. He can also be heard on the first full recording of ''L’heure espagnole'' (1931), and in extracts from ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' (1927).
Sources
* Klaus Ulrich Spiegel: "Noblesse vocale – Der L'Âge d'or-barytone Hector Dufranne – Hamburger Archiv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufranne, Hector
1870 births
1951 deaths
Belgian opera singers
Operatic bass-baritones
People from Mons