Jean Périer

Jean (Alexis) Périer (2 February 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French operatic baryton-martin and actor. Although he sang principally within the operetta repertoire, Périer did portray a number of opera roles; mostly within operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giacomo Puccini. His career was almost entirely centered in Paris and he had a long association with the Opéra-Comique. He sang in a large number of world premieres, most notably originating the role of Pelléas in Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' in 1902. In addition to his opera career, Périer appeared in several films between 1900 and 1938.

Biography

Jean Périer was born in Paris, the son of Belgian parents. His father was an opera singer and repetiteur.
After initially working at the Credit Lyonnais,Gänzl K. ''The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre.'' Blackwell, Oxford, 1994. he became a pupil of Émile-Alexandre Taskin (opéra comique) and Romain Bussine (singing) at the Paris Conservatoire, winning first prizes in both in 1892. He made his debut as Monostatos in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'' at the Opéra-Comique later that year on 16 December. He continued to perform at that opera house until 1920, with the exception of the years 1894 through 1900 when he principally sang at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens and other Parisian theatres specializing in operetta.Harold Barnes: "Jean Périer", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 January 2009)
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Although he performed a great deal of operetta, he also sang a number of operatic roles including the title role in ''Don Giovanni'', Lescaut in ''Manon Lescaut'', and Scarpia in ''Tosca''. His career was almost entirely centred in Paris, particularly at the Opéra-Comique, where he notably created the role of Pelléas in Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. He repeated the role of Pelléas at the Manhattan Opera Company in 1908 and at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. He appeared in numerous other world premieres, most notably Ramiro in Ravel's ''L'heure espagnole'' (1911) and leading roles in Messager's ''Véronique'' (1898) and '' Fortunio'' (1907).

Périer's other roles at the Opéra-Comique included Clément Marot in ''La Basoche'', Juliano in ''Le domino noir'', Lindorf in '' Les contes d’Hoffmann'', Lescaut in ''Manon'', Ulysse in ''Télémaque'', Laerte in ''Mignon'', César in '' Les rendez-vous bourgeois'', Caoudal in '' Sapho'', Francois in ''Le Chemineau'', Crispin in ''Le légataire universel'' and Auguste in ''L'enfant roi''.

Although described as a baritone, he created roles for Debussy and Ravel in the Baryton-Martin register. His was a declamatory art, and he created convincing characters with the help of his clear diction and his ability as an actor. In addition to his opera career, he acted in several films between 1900 and 1938. His voice on one of the seven published recordings he made (Act 2 of ''Véronique'', 1904) is described as dry and husky.

After retiring in 1938, Périer worked as an acting and singing teacher in Paris. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris on 3 November 1954. His brother was the French popular singer Camille Périer " Kam-Hill", 1856–1935.

Roles created by Périer

Among roles which Périer created are:
*Arogagyne in ''Phryné'' by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1893
*André (Massèna) in ''Rivoli'' by André Wormser in 1896
*Florestan de Valaincourt in '' Véronique'' by André Messager in 1898
*Brutus in ''Shakespeare!'' by Gaston Serpette in 1899
*Pelléas in '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' by Claude Debussy in 1902 (Périer also sang Pelléas in the American premiere in New York, 1908).
*Giorgio d'Ast in ''La reine Fiammette'' by Xavier Leroux in 1903
*Auguste in ''L'Enfant Roi'' by Alfred Bruneau in 1905
*Hans in ''Hans le joueur de flûte'' by Louis Ganne in 1906
*The title role in ''Don Procopio'' by Georges Bizet in 1906
*Landry in Messager's ''Fortunio'' in 1907
*Ramiro in ''L'heure espagnole'' by Maurice Ravel in 1911
*The title role in ''Mârouf, savetier du Caire'' by Henri Rabaud in 1914
*Jérôme Coignard in ''La reine Pédauque'' by Levadé in 1920
*Duparquet in ''Ciboulette'' by Reynaldo Hahn in 1923
*Livran in ''Quand on est trois'' by Szulc in 1925
*Le Marquis in ''Mannequins'' by Szulc in 1925.

Périer also played the speaking role of Brother Dominic in the premiere of Honegger's dramatic oratorio ''Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher'' in Basle on 12 May 1938, with Ida Rubinstein.

Films

In the second half of his career Périer appeared in over 30 French feature films, including:
* ''Monsieur Don Quichotte'' (1910)
* ''Oliver Twist'' (1910)
* ''Manon'' (1910)
* ''Vingt ans après'' (1922)
* ''Poker d'as'' (1927)
* '' About an Inquest'' (1931)
* ''The Night at the Hotel'' (1932)
* ''Simone est comme ça'' (1932)
* ''Prenez garde à la peinture'' (1932)
* '' The Beautiful Adventure'' (1932)
* ''Le Chemin du bonheur'' (1933)
* ''Roi de Camargue'' (1934)
* ''Pasteur'' (1935)
* ''Martha'' (1935)
* ''Forty Little Mothers'' (1936)
* ''Compliments of Mister Flow'' (1936)
* ''Les Amants traqués'' (1936)
* ''Le Mioche'' (1936)
* '' Parisian Life'' (1936)
* ''Boissière'' (1937)
* ''L'Affaire du courrier de Lyon'' (1937)
* ''The Novel of Werther'' (1938)
* ''Rail Pirates'' (1938)
* ''Three Waltzes'' (1938)
* ''La Rue sans joie'' (1938)
* ''Remontons les Champs-Élysées'' (1938)
* ''Légions d'honneur'' (1938)
* ''Gibraltar'' (1938)
* ''La Mort du cygne'' (1938)
* ''Entente cordiale'' (1939)
* ''Le Destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary'' (1941)
* ''Le Brigand gentilhomme'' (1941)
* '' Mademoiselle Béatrice'' (1943)
* ''Les Roquevillard'' (1943)
* ''L'Homme qui vendit son âme'' (1943)
* ''Un seul amour'' (1943)
* ''La Collection Ménard'' (1943)
* ''The Seventh Door'' (1947)
* ''Le Comédien'' (1947, Périer plays himself)cinema-francais.fr
accessed 17 November 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perier, Jean
1869 births
1954 deaths
Male actors from Paris
French male film actors
French male silent film actors
French male singers
French operatic baritones
20th-century French male actors
French people of Belgian descent