Marguerite Vaillant-Couturier (12 May 1855 – 5 May 1930) was a French

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 ...

who made her debut in Brussels at La Monnaie in 1880 in the title role of Gounod's ''

Mireille Mireille () is a French given name, derived from the Provençal Occitan name ''Mirèio'' (or ''Mirèlha'' in the classical norm of Occitan, ). It could be related to the Occitan verb ''mirar'' "to look, to admire" or to the given names ''Miriam'' " ...

''. After appearing in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

the following year, she sang in operettas in Paris in the early 1880s. On 19 October 1882, she created the role of Micaëla in Lecocq's '' Le cœur et la main'' at the Théâtre des Nouveautés in Paris. In 1888, she gained success in the title role of 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 ...

'' 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 ...

. She also appeared in Buenos Aires and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Early life, family and education

Born in Paris on 12 May 1855, Marguerite Vaillant was the daughter of the civil engineer Paul Louis Vaillant (1818–74) and his wife Caroline Adèle Emma née Isot (1829–97). One of the family's four children, she attended 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 ...

where in 1878 she was awarded first prizes in singing for both opera and

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

. On 22 February 1879 in Brussels, Marguerite Vaillant married the baritone Félix Couturier (1854–1914) with whom she had a son, Paul, who became a politician.

Career

Vaillant made her debut in September 1878 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in the title role of Gounod's ''

''. As she had not made herself available to the Paris theatres under the terms of her conservatory prizes, she had to pay a fine of 20,000 francs to the French authorities. In Brussels, she appeared as Juliette in '' Roméo et Juliette'', Catharina in Meyerbeer's ''

L'étoile du nord ' (''The North Star'') is an opéra comique in three acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe. The work had its first performance at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, on 16 February 1854. Much of the material, ...

'' and the title role of Victor Massé's '' Galathée'' before moving to Marseille where she was particularly successful in Offenbach's ''

Madame Favart ''Madame Favart'' is an opéra comique, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. Performance history After defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) ended Napoleon III' ...

''. She went on to sing in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. On 19 October 1882 at the Théâtre des Nouveautés in Paris, she created the role of Micaëla in the world premiere of Lecocq's ''Le cœur et la main''. Other roles created there included Benvenuta in

Théodore Lajarte Théodore Lajarte (10 July 1826 – 20 June 1890) was a French musicologist, librarian, and composer.Huebner 1992. Early years Lajarte was born in Bordeaux. His full name has been given as Théodore Édouard Dufaure de Lajarte. He studied at th ...

's ''Roi de Carreau'' (23 October 1883), and Elvérine in

Louis Varney Louis Varney (; 30 May 1844, New Orleans, Louisiana – 20 August 1908, Cauterets, France) was a French composer. Biography Louis Varney was the son of Alphonse Varney, a French conductor at the Bouffes-Parisiens and at the Grand Théâtr ...

's operetta ''Babolin'' (19 March 1884). She returned to Brussels to sing the title role in the Belgian premiere of Massenet's ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was first ...

''. While there, she appeared in Gounod's '' Faust'' and ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' by Ambroise Thomas. In 1886, she appeared as a guest singer in Buenos Aires and in 1887 in

. She returned to Paris to sing the title role in Bizet's ''

'' in June 1888 at the

where she went on to create the role of Thisbé de Montéfiori in the premiere of

Henry Litolff Henry Charles Litolff (7 August 1818 – 5 August 1891) was a British virtuoso pianist, composer of Romantic music, and music publisher. A prolific composer, he is today known mainly for a single brief work – the scherzo from his Concerto Sym ...

's ''L'Escadron volant de la reine'' on 14 December 1888. The following year, she moved to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

where she appeared as Baucis in Gounod's ''

Philémon et Baucis (''Philemon and Baucis'') is an opera in three acts by Charles Gounod with a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. The opera is based on the tale of Baucis and Philemon as told by La Fontaine (derived in turn from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' ...

'', and again as Catharina and Galathée. In 1889, she appeared at the Monte-Carlo Opera as Philine in Thomas' '' Mignon'' and in the title role of ''Mireille''. Marguerite Vaillant-Couturier died in Paris on 1 May 1930 at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaillant-Couturier, Margerite 1855 births 1930 deaths French operatic sopranos Singers from Paris 19th-century French women opera singers 20th-century French women opera singers