Suzanne Lagier (30 November 1833 — 1893) was a French theatre actress and

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 ...

singer. She often performed with Thérésa and made many appearances 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 ...

, France, 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 ...

, Russia.

Biography

Lagier was born in

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Rue du Magasin à Poudre, but grew up in a boarding school in

and her father was a musician. From an early age, Lagier wanted to be an actress and made her début at age thirteen (in 1846), at 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 ...

with the show ''Veuve de quinze ans'', a role which was written for her by Comédie en vaudeville Pierre Adolphe Capelle. After a stay 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 ...

, she made her real début at the

Théâtre du Palais-Royal The Théâtre du Palais-Royal () is a 750-seat Parisian theatre at 38 rue de Montpensier, located at the northwest corner of the Palais-Royal in the Galerie de Montpensier at its intersection with the Galerie de Beaujolais. Brief history ...

in 1848. Later she went to

in Russia before returning to Paris, where she performed at the

Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique The Théâtre de l’Ambigu-Comique (, literally, Theatre of the Comic-Ambiguity), a former Parisian theatre, was founded in 1769 on the boulevard du Temple immediately adjacent to the Théâtre de Nicolet. It was rebuilt in 1770 and 1786, but in ...

in 1855, at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in 1856 and finally the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin in 1859. In 1865, unusual for the time, she signed a contract with the theatre

café-chantant (French: lit. 'singing café'), , or , is a type of musical establishment associated with the Belle Époque in France. The music was generally lighthearted and sometimes risqué or even bawdy but, as opposed to the cabaret tradition, not parti ...

(café-concert) Eldorado, a counterpoint to the growing popularity of singer Thérésa. The café-chantant was relatively successful, and within a few weeks the public elected her as the queen of the café-chantant and also of

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

. However, Lagier was not appreciated by the critics, who continued to prefer Thérésa to her. She continued to sing while returning to theatre regularly (both in Paris and Saint Petersburg) until 1880, when she married the

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

(or possibly

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

)

Eugène Dufriche Eugène Dufriche (born 1848, date of death unknown) was a French baritone, who had a career on the operatic stage from the 1870s in Paris through to the 1900s in New York. Life and career Having studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Dufriche sa ...

in London. She died in 1893.

Popularity and criticism

Lagier was popular at the time, and she attracted the attention of members of the

Jockey-Club de Paris The Jockey Club de Paris is a traditional gentlemen's club and is regarded as the most prestigious of private clubs in Paris. It is best remembered as a gathering place of the elite of nineteenth-century French society. Today it is decidedly but ...

. However, she received sharp criticism from the French newspaper ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' — the collaborator of the magazine, Alfred Delvau, about the name "la grasse", referring to the guttural pronunciation of her R's. Louis-Victor-Nestor Roqueplan opined that Lagier would never learn more than vulgar insolence. Lagier was also the subject of some

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

s, including a satirical newspaper ''

La Lune ''La Lune'' ("The Moon") was the name of a nineteenth-century French weekly four-sheet newspaper edited by Francis Polo. The illustrator André Gill became known for his work for this journal, in which he drew caricatures for a series entitled ...

'' depicting her and Thérésa.

Biography

Popularity and criticism

References

Further reading