Jean-Baptiste Noté (6 May 1858 in
Tournai
Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
– 1 April 1922 in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
) was a Belgian
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
tic
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
. He graduated from the
Royal Conservatory of Ghent in 1884 with first prizes in singing and lyrical declamation. He made his professional opera debut in 1885 at the
Opéra de Lille as Lord Enrico Ashton in
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''be ...
's ''
Lucia di Lammermoor''. From 1887–1889 he was committed to the Théatre Royal in Antwerp. He then became a member of the
Opéra National de Lyon where he had major success in the operas of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
; especially the parts of Friedrich of Telramund in ''
Lohengrin'' and
Wolfram von Eschenbach in ''
Tannhäuser''. He was also admired at that theatre as Roland in
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...
's ''
Esclarmonde''. He left Lyon in 1893 to join the roster of principal artists 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 ...
where he remained for the rest of his career. He made his debut in Paris in the title role of
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 ''
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...
''. He continued to perform with that company up until his death.
He sang in the premiere of Massenet's ''
La Terre Promise'' in 1900,
[Gillis, Patrick. La Terre Promise ~ Oratorio. ''L’Avant-Scène Opéra 148 – Esclarmonde ~ Grisélidis.'' L’Avant-Scène Opéra, Paris 1992, p.133-5.] as well as the composer's ''
Roma'' and Bruneau's ''
Messidor''.
He made many gramophone records in the early years of recordings. These covered operatic roles and melodies and included the death of Valentin from ''
Faust'', the Air du toréador from ''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
'', 'Vision fugitive' from ''
Hérodiade'', the Chanson bachique from ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
'',
La Marseillaise, 'Adamastor, roi des vagues' from ''
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 ...
'', 'Lorsqu'à de folles amours' from ''
La Traviata'', 'Sois immobile' from ''
Guillaume Tell
William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for Shooting an apple off one's child's head, shooting an apple off his son's head.
According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a cro ...
'' and 'Pour faire un brave Mousquetaire' from ''
Les Mousquetaires au couvent''. Songs he recorded include ''Les rameaux'' and ''Charité'' by Fauré, ''Le soir'' and ''Prière'' by Gounod and ''Noël païen'' and ''Pensée d'automne'' by Massenet.
[Taken fro]
CHARM Discography, Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music
Accessed 1 October 2014
References
1858 births
1922 deaths
19th-century Belgian male opera singers
Operatic baritones
Articles containing video clips
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