Simone Berthe Ballard (26 March 1895 – 8 October 1978) was a French operatic
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
and
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
who sang leading parts, including premieres, 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 ...
in Brussels.
Career
Simone Ballard was born in
Sannois
Sannois () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 15.2 km. (9.4 miles) from the center of Paris, in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.
Population
Transport
Public transpo ...
, Paris. Both her parents were engaged 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 ...
, her father Louis Ballard as a bass from 1894 to 1897, while her mother, Berthe Bronville (born 6 March 1865 in Paris), made her debut as a soprano in the role of Alice in Meyerbeer's ''
Robert le diable
''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first grand o ...
'' but gave up her career when she married in 1891.
Ballard received early piano education and studied voice at the
Conservatoire national 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 Eugène Lorrain and Jacques Isnardon. She made her debut at the Opera 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 ...
in 1921 as Amneris in Verdi's ''
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...
''. The performance won her an engagement at the house, where she sang until 1940. She took part in premieres, appearing on 2 May 1926 as the sister-in-law in
Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...
's ''
Les malheurs d'Orphée''; on 28 December 1927 in the title role of Honegger's ''
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & Roma ...
''; and in 1929 in
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 ...
's ''
Le Joueur
''The Gambler'' (French: ''Le joueur'') is a 1958 French-Italian drama film directed by Claude Autant-Lara and starring Gérard Philipe, Liselotte Pulver and Françoise Rosay.Monaco p.30 It is an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 novel '' T ...
''.
She appeared in the first stagings of several operas at La Monnaie, including Kseniya's nurse in Modest Mussorgsky's ''
Boris Godunov
Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...
'' (1921), Khivria in Mussorgsky's ''
The Fair at Sorochyntsi
''The Fair at Sorochyntsi'' (russian: Сорочинская ярмарка, ''Sorochinskaya yarmarka'', '' Sorochyntsi Fair'') is a comic opera in three acts by Modest Mussorgsky, composed between 1874 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The compo ...
'' (1925), Tkatchikha in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's ''
The Tale of Tsar Saltan
The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan ( rus, «Сказка о царе Салтане, о сыне его славном и могучем богаты ...
'' (1926), The Mother / The Dragonfly, and the Chinese Cup in Maurice Ravel's ''
L'enfant et les sortilèges
''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first be ...
'' (1926), Dèbora in Ildebrando Pizzetti's ''
Dèbora e Jaéle'' (1929), and Orsola in Zandonai's ''
La farsa amorosa'' (1933).
Her about 70 parts included Azucena in Verdi's ''
Il trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...
'', Dalila in ''
Samson et Dalila
''Samson and Delilah'' (french: Samson et Dalila, links=no), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater (n ...
'' by Saint-Saëns, and the title role in Massenet's ''
Hérodiade
''Hérodiade'' is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella ''Hérodias'' (1877) by Gustave Flaubert. It was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels o ...
''.
She performed roles in stage works by Richard Wagner, such as Magdalene in ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'', Brangäne in ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was compose ...
'' and Fricka in ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...
''. She also appeared as the Countess in Tchaikovsky's ''
Pique Dame'', as Annina in ''
Der Rosenkavalier
(''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...
'' by Strauss, as the grandmother in Manuel de Falla's ''
La vida breve'', and as Juno in Offenbach's ''
Orphée aux enfers
''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "opéra bouffon" at the Théâ ...
''
Ballard retired from the stage when she married the composer and conductor
Albert Wolff in 1940.
She die in
Six-Fours-les-Plages
Six-Fours-les-Plages (; oc, Sièis Forns lei Plaias, Sièis Four in provençal), is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (département), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in sou ...
in the south of France.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Simone
1895 births
1978 deaths
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
French operatic mezzo-sopranos
Operatic contraltos
20th-century French women opera singers