Marie Heilbron (or Heilbronn, – 31 March 1886) was a Belgian operatic

coloratura soprano A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs, leaps and trills. The term '' coloratura'' refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component o ...

, particularly associated with the French repertory, creator of

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 quintessential French heroine ''

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 ...

''. Born in

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,

, she studied first in Brussels and later in Paris with famous tenor

Gilbert Duprez Gilbert-Louis Duprez (6 December 180623 September 1896) was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest (''Ut de poitrine'', as Paris audiences called it). He also c ...

. She made her Parisian debut at the Théâtre-Italien in 1866, as Marie in '' La fille du régiment''. In 1867, she appeared for the first time 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 ...

, as Catherine in '' L'étoile du nord''. She was to create there Massenet's ''

'' in 1884. She also appeared at the Théâtre des Variétés from 1871 onwards. She took part in the creation of Jacques Offenbach's ''Les braconniers'', and Victor Massé's ''Une nuit de Cléopâtre''. In 1879, she made her debut at the Opéra Garnier, where she sang as Marguerite in '' Faust'', Ophélie in '' Hamlet'', Juliette in '' Roméo et Juliette''. The same year she made her debut at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in Milan, as Violetta in ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

''. She also appeared in Monte Carlo and

St 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 ...

. Heilbron died at Nice, France in 1886.

Sources

* ''Le guide de l'opéra'', Roland Mancini & Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (Fayard, 1989) {{DEFAULTSORT:Heilbron, Marie 1851 births 1886 deaths Belgian operatic sopranos Musicians from Antwerp 19th-century Belgian women opera singers