Pauline Guéymard-Lauters (1 December 1834 – 10 May 1918) was a major opera singer in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the 19th century, creating important soprano/mezzo-soprano roles 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 ...

.Pauline Lauters entry at Art Lyrique website
accessed 23 August 2019

Her vocal range has been described as “a soprano of wide extension”.Budden, Julian. ''The Operas of Verdi, Volume 3 From Don Carlos to Falstaff''. Cassell, London, 1984, p21-22.

Life and career

Pauline Lauters was born 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 ...

. She married the architect Deligne in 1853; her second marriage was to the leading tenor

Louis Guéymard Louis Guéymard (17 August 1822 – July 1880) was a French 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 "wor ...

in 1858. At the Paris Théâtre-Lyrique she sang under the name Deligne-Lauters. She sang the title role in ''Le Billet de Marguerite'' (premiere 7 October 1854), Annette (Agathe) in ''Robin des Bois'' (''Freischutz'') in 1855, and Margarita in ''Les Lavandières de Santarem'' (premiere 27 October 1855). At the end of 1855 she left the company for a concert tour of Brittany. Her Paris Opera debut was on 12 January 1857 in the premiere of the revised French version of Verdi's '' Il Trovatore'', ''Le Trouvère'' (Léonore). She also created the roles of Lilia in '' ''Herculanum'''' (4 March 1859) by

Félicien David Félicien-César David (13 April 1810 – 29 August 1876) was a French composer. Biography Félicien David was born in Cadenet, and began to study music at the age of five under his father, whose death when the boy was six left him an impoverish ...

, Laura in ''Pierre de Médicis'' (9 March 1860) by Prince Joseph Poniatowski, and Queen Balkis in ''

La reine de Saba ''La reine de Saba'' ('' The Queen of Sheba'') is a grand opera in four or five acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's ''La Reine de Saba'', in '' Le voyage en Orient''. It was premi ...

'' (28 February 1862) by

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

.Pitou 1990, pp. 609–610. Among other roles in Paris, she sang Valentine in ''

Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Composition history '' ...

'', Gilda in ''La Mule de Pedro'', Donna Elvira in ''Don Giovanni'' and Alde in ''Roland à Roncevaux''.Forbes, Elizabeth. "Guéymard-Lauters, Pauline". In: ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

.'' Macmillan, London & New York, 1997. Lauters created the role of Princess Eboli in ''

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 ...

'' on 11 March 1867 at the Paris Opera. The contralto

Rosine Bloch Rosine Bloch (7 November 1844 – 1 February 1891)Pierre 1900p. 701 "née à Paris, 7 nov. 1844", "† Monte Carlo (Nice?), 1 fév. 1891". Other sources differ with regard to her dates and places of birth and death. Walsh 1981, p. 374: "(1832? 1 ...

had been the intended singer but Verdi was persuaded by Perrin to adapt and transpose the role for the older and higher singer, thus creating tessitura problems with which later singers have had to cope. She also created Gertrude in Thomas's ''

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 ...

'' in 1868 and Myrrha in ''La Coupe du roi de Thulé'' in 1873. After her retirement from the Opéra in 1876, she sang several times in Italian as Amneris in Verdi's ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...

'' with the Théâtre-Italien at the

Salle Ventadour The Salle Ventadour (), a former Parisian theatre in the rue Neuve-Ventadour, now the rue Méhul (2nd arrondissement of Paris), was built between 1826 and 1829 for the Opéra-Comique, to designs by Jacques-Marie Huvé, a prominent architect. The o ...

Gallery

File:Pauline Guéymard-Lauters in "La reine de Saba" by Gounod - Gallica.jpg, Pauline Guéymard as the Queen of Sheba in 1862 File:Pauline Gueymard-Lauters as Valentine in "Huguenots" (?) c1864 - Disdéri - Gallica.jpg, Probably as Valentine in ''

'' in 1864 File:Pauline Guéymard-Lauters in Le Prophète 1866 - Theo - Gallica.jpg, As Fidès in ''

Le Prophète ''Le prophète'' (''The Prophet'') is a grand opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer, which was premiered in Paris on 16 April 1849. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, after passages from the ''Essay on the ...

'' in 1866 (with Emma Mauduit as Berthe, on the right)

References

Bibliography

* Pitou, Spire (1990). ''The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Growth and Grandeur, 1815–1914''. New York: Greenwood Press. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gueymard-Lauters, Pauline 1834 births 1918 deaths Musicians from Brussels Belgian operatic sopranos 19th-century Belgian women opera singers Belgian emigrants to France