Gabriel-Valentin Soulacroix (11 December 1853, in Fumel – 16 August 1905, 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. Si ...

) was a French operatic

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 ...

. He studied at Toulouse, where he won four first prizes, and then in Paris.Steane J. Gabriel Soulacroix. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.

Career

Making his debut in ''Mireille'' on 5 September 1878, Soulacroix appeared regularly 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 ...

, Brussels, including in some local operatic premieres. His repertoire in Brussels included ''Le timbre d'argent'' by Camille Saint-Saëns (10 February 1879, playing the doctor), ''L'orage'', an

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 ...

by Jean Urich (2 May 1879, Julien), ''The magic flute'' in French, (January to April 1880, Papageno), ''La Bernoise'', an opéra comique by Emile Mathieu (1 April 1880, André), ''Le capitaine Raymond'', an opéra comique by Jean-Baptiste Colyns (8 April 1881, Le comte de Guitaut), ''

Jean de Nivelle Jean de Nivelle (1422 – 26 June 1477) was a French nobleman, son of House of Montmorency, Jean II of Montmorency who became a byword for failing to fulfill filial duties and treachery. Called by his father to assist Louis XI of France, Louis XI ...

'' by Léo Delibes (28 November 1882, Le comte de Charolais), ''Le panache blanc'', an opéra comique by Philippe Flon (15 February 1884), ''

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 firs ...

'' (15 March 1884, Lescaut), ''Le trésor'', an opéra-comique by Charles Edouard Lefebvre (15 December 1884, Le duc Jean), ''Joli Gilles'' by

Ferdinand Poise Jean Alexandre Ferdinand Poise (3 June 1828 – 13 May 1892) was a French composer, mainly of opéra-comiques, for which he also frequently wrote the librettos. Career Born in Nimes, Poise studied at the Conservatoire de Paris under the tute ...

(7 February 1885, title role), and ''The Mastersingers of Nuremberg'' in French (7 March 1885, Sixtus Beckmesser).'Computerised Archival Retrieval in Multimedia Enhanced Networking' - The digital opera archives of La Monnaie. http://carmen.demunt.be/ accessed 25 August 2009. Soulacroix joined 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 ...

company in 1885, his first appearance being as Bellamy in ''Les dragons de Villars'' on 25 September 1885. He sang Ford in the 1894 production of ''Falstaff'', as well as Alfio (''Cavalleria rusticana''), Ourrias (''Mireille''), Schaunard (''La Boheme'') and Figaro (''The Barber of Seville''). He was on-stage singing Laerte in ''

Mignon ''Mignon'' is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. ...

'' the night of the fire at the Salle Favart on 25 May 1887,Wolff S. ''Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900-1950).'' André Bonne, Paris, 1953. and later received a médaille de sauvetage. In December 1899 he added Oreste to his repertoire, in a production of ''

Iphigénie en Tauride ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (, ''Iphigenia in Tauris'') is a 1779 opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard. With ''Iphigénie,'' Gluck to ...

'' 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 t ...

. At the

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, he sang the roles of Pedrillo, Escamillo, Figaro (Rossini), Alfio, Mercutio and Beckmesser. In addition, he was seen in a wide range of parts regularly at

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

from 1889 to 1904, including the title role in ''Zampa'' and Iago in ''Otello''. His career was ended prematurely by his sudden death in middle-age.

Recordings

Early

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an ...

and disc recordings by Soulacroix include arias from ''Rip'', ''Richard Cœur-de-Lion'', ''La Favorite'', ''Hérodiade'', ''Si j’étais roi'' and ''Carmen'', as well as from roles which he created: "A ton amour simple et sincère" and "Quand tu connaîtras Colette" from ''

La Basoche ''La Basoche'' is an opéra comique in three acts, with music by André Messager and words by Albert Carré. The opera is set in Paris in 1514 and depicts the complications that arise when the elected "king" of the student guild, the Basoche, is m ...

'', and the 'Air du prieur' from '' Le jongleur de Notre-Dame''. Soulacroix recorded a great deal for

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipment ...

, Odéon and the

Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited (The Gramophone Co. Ltd.), based in the United Kingdom and founded by Emil Berliner, was one of the early recording companies, the parent organisation for the '' His Master's Voice (HMV)'' label, and the Europe ...

from 1899 to his death. Some of these recordings have been re-issued on CD. According to Michael Scott in ''

The Record of Singing ''The Record of Singing'' is a compilation of classical-music singing from the first half of the 20th century, the era of the 78-rpm record. It was issued on LP (with accompanying books) by EMI, successor to the British company His Master's Voi ...

'', they show that "he possessed a smooth, elegant, lyrical voice and an exemplary

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

technique".

Roles created

*Ferdinand in ''Egmont'' (Salvayre,1886) *''Plutus'' (Lecocq, 1886) *Gabriel in ''Pilote'' (Urich, 1890) *Clément Marot in ''

'' (Messager, 1890) *Treocrite in ''Aréthuse'' (De Montgomery, 1894) *Title role in ''Panurge'' (Planquette, 1895) *Myrrhon in ''Messeline'' (de Lara, 1899) *Prior in '' Le jongleur de Notre-Dame'' (Massenet, 1902)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soulacroix, Gabriel 1853 births 1905 deaths French operatic baritones People from Lot-et-Garonne 19th-century French male opera singers