Jean-Laurent Kopp (8 November 1812 – 23 September 1872) was a French actor and singer.
Career
Born in Paris, an orphan raised at the
Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital
The Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital (''Centre hospitalier national d’ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts'') is France's national ophthalmology hospital located in Paris, in the 12th arrondissement. The hospital gave its name to the ' ...
, Kopp made his debut at the
Théâtre de Belleville before moving, in the role of a comic actor, to the
Théâtre Beaumarchais.
After a brief stint at the
Théâtre de la Renaissance
The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on th ...
in 1841, he joined 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 ...
where he spent most of his career (except for a long tour of the provinces from 1855 to 1860). He appeared in numerous plays, including many by
Labiche including ''
The Italian Straw Hat'' and others but it was in the
opéras-bouffes by
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...
that he met his greatest successes: he was in turn Menelaus in ''
La belle Hélène
''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy, Helen's elopement with Paris (myt ...
'' (1864), King Bobêche in ''
Barbe-bleue'' (1866), Baron Puck in ''
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
''La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' (''The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein'') is an opéra bouffe (a form of operetta), in three acts and four tableaux by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The sto ...
'' (1867), Baptiste in ''
Le pont des soupirs
''Le pont des soupirs '' ("The Bridge of Sighs") is an opéra bouffe (or operetta) set in Venice, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1861. The French libretto was written by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. Plays, including ...
'' (1868) and Pietro in ''
Les Brigands
''Les brigands'' (''The Bandits'') is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Meilhac and Halévy's libretto lampoons both serious drama (Schiller's play ''The Robbers'') an ...
'' (1869).
Shortly after appearing in the premiere of ''
Les cent vierges
''Les cent vierges'' (The Hundred Maidens) is an opérette in three acts, with music by Charles Lecocq and a libretto by Clairville (Louis-François Nicolaïe), Clairville, Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. It was first produced at the Théâtre des ...
'' by
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 ...
he committed suicide, for unknown reasons. He was buried in the
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
Kopp Jean-Laurent
on Amis et Passionés du Père Lachaise
References
External links
POrtrait of Jean-Laurent Kopp
on Les musées de la ville de Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopp, Jean-Laurent
1812 births
1872 deaths
Male actors from Paris
19th-century French male actors
French male stage actors
19th-century French singers
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery