Jean Morère (born Couladère; 6 October 1836 – February 1887) was a French operatic tenor, active from 1861 to 1871. He created the title role in Verdi's ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'' and sang primarily 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 kn ...

and at

La Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

in Brussels. He was born in

Couladère Couladère (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Personalities *The opera singer Jean Morère was born in Couladère in 1836.

and died in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

at the age of 50.

Life and career

Morère was born in

Couladère Couladère (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Personalities *The opera singer Jean Morère was born in Couladère in 1836.

, a commune in the

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

department in southwestern France. He studied first in

and then at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

with Paul Läget. He graduated from the Conservatoire in 1861, winning one of the three First Prizes in singing. The correspondent for ''

Dwight's Journal of Music ''Dwight's Journal of Music'' (1852–1881, ''DJM'') was an American music journal, one of the most respected and influential such periodicals in the country in the mid-19th century. John Sullivan Dwight created the Journal, and published it in ...

'', who attended the competition, wrote: "M. Morère is a tenor with a pleasant quality of voice, what you may call a pretty voice, sings with taste, and exhibits undoubted marks of talent". Morère made his debut at the

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

's '' Il trovatore'' in 1861 and sang there in the world premiere of Victor Sieg's cantata ''Ivanhoe'' in 1864. He created the title role in Verdi's ''

'', also at the Paris Opera, on 11 March 1867. Elsewhere, he sang Riccardo in '' Un ballo in maschera'' at

Opéra de Marseille The Opéra de Marseille, known today as the Opéra Municipal, is an opera company located in Marseille, France. In 1685, the city was the second in France after Bordeaux to have an opera house, which was erected on a tennis court. However, the ...

in 1864. He also sang at

in Brussels in the 1865–66 and 1869-70 seasons, where his roles included Vasco da Gama in the theatre's first production of

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...

's ''

L'Africaine ''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1837 five-act French ''grand opéra'' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe. By 1852, the plot had been revised to depict fictional events in the life of Portuguese explorer Vasco da ...

'' (1865) and the title role 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 in French by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first ...

'' (1870).Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (2005).
"Morère (real name, Couladère), Jean"
''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in ...

''. Retrieved online via

HighBeam Research HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headqua ...

3 May 2013. Kutsch, K.J. and Riemens, Leo (2003). ''

Großes Sängerlexikon ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The fi ...

'', 4th ed., Band 5, p. 3216. München: K.G. Sauer Morère experienced a mental breakdown in 1871 in the aftermath of the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

and retired from the stage. He died in a sanatorium in

at the age of 50. His wife had died the previous year. At the time of his death, Morère left three children, a grown daughter who was working as a piano teacher, and two young sons aged 10 and 5.''

Le Ménestrel ''Le Ménestrel'' (, ''The Minstrel'') was an influential French music journal published weekly from 1833 until 1940. It was founded by Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry and originally printed by Poussièlgue. In 1840 it was acquired by the music publishe ...

'' (13 February 1887)
"Nécrologie"
p. 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morere, Jean French operatic tenors 1836 births 1887 deaths 19th-century French male opera singers People from Haute-Garonne