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Pol Henri Plançon (; 12 June 1851 – 11 August 1914) was a distinguished French operatic
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
(''basse chantante''). He was one of the most acclaimed singers active during the 1880s, 1890s and early 20th century—a period often referred to as the "Golden Age of Opera". In addition to being among the earliest international opera stars to have made recordings, he was a versatile singer who performed roles ranging from Sarastro in
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's '' The Magic Flute'' to the core bass roles by Meyerbeer, Gounod, Verdi and Wagner, among others. He was renowned for his legato singing as well as for his diction, tone, intonation, and mastery of ornaments and fioriture.


Biography

Pol Plançon was born in
Fumay Fumay () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France, very close to the Belgian border. The engineer Charles-Hippolyte de Paravey was born in Fumay. Geography It is situated in the Meuse valley, the main part of the town being ...
, in the
Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
''département'' of France, near the Belgian border. "Pol" is a pet form of Paul.


Training

Blessed with a fine natural voice, he commenced learning to sing with the pivotal French tenor
Gilbert Duprez Gilbert-Louis Duprez (6 December 180623 September 1896) was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest (''Ut de poitrine'', as Paris audiences called it). He also c ...
(the originator of the " chest voice high C"), who had turned to teaching after his retirement from the stage. Duprez had enjoyed a distinguished career in Italy, where he created Edgardo in Donizetti's '' Lucia di Lammermoor'' in 1835. Plançon supplemented his studies with Duprez with lessons from Giovanni Sbriglia, who taught many outstanding opera singers at his Parisian studio, most notably the brothers Jean and Édouard de Reszke, with whom Plançon would sing quite often in future years. In a 1905 interview with the '' New York Times'' newspaper, he said that he had modelled his technique on the vocal method of a celebrated predecessor, the baritone
Jean-Baptiste Faure Jean-Baptiste Faure () (15 January 1830 – 9 November 1914) was a French operatic baritone and art collector who also composed several classical songs. Singing career Faure was born in Moulins. A choirboy in his youth, he entered the Pari ...
, who had been an idol of Parisian audiences during the 1860s and '70s.


Early career

The great bass debuted at the opera theatre in Lyon in 1877 in the role of Saint-Bris in Meyerbeer's ''
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 A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work suc ...
''. He remained in Lyon until May 1879. He then moved to Paris and, in 1880, assumed the role of Colonna in
Hippolyte Duprat In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Gre ...
's opera ''Petrarque'' at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique de Paris. Finally, in 1883, he received his first invitation to sing 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 ...
, successfully undertaking the part of Méphistophélès in Gounod's '' Faust''. He would spend 10 years at the Paris Opera, participating in the 1885 premiere of Massenet's '' Le Cid'' in the role of Don Gormas (alongside the brothers de Reszke). Another notable operatic premiere that he participated in was that of Saint-Saëns's ''
Ascanio ''Ascanio'' is a grand opera in five acts and seven tableaux by composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The opera's French libretto, by Louis Gallet, is based on the 1852 play ''Benvenuto Cellini'' by French playwright Paul Meurice which was in turn based ...
'' on 21 March 1890, in which he sang the part of
King Francis I Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
. Appearing with him in ''Ascanio'' was a soon-to-be frequent
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261  Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
partner, America's
Emma Eames Emma Eames (August 13, 1865 – June 13, 1952) was an American first dramatic soprano, later lyric soprano renowned for the beauty of her voice. She sang major lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and had an important career in New York ...
. Eames' rival, the brilliant Australian soprano Nellie Melba, would also partner him on many occasions.


Success at Covent Garden

He performed on the European scene from 1891 to 1904, most importantly at the Royal Opera House,
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 ...
, in London, where he participated yet again in numerous premieres. One of these occurred on 11 June 1892, when he appeared in the first staging of ''The Light of Asia'', by
Isidore de Lara Isidore de Lara, born Isidore Cohen (9 August 18582 September 1935), was an English composer and singer. After studying in Italy and France, he returned to England, where he taught for several years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama an ...
. Another premiere was of one of Cécile Chaminade's works. Other operatic first performances that he graced with his presence included: on 20 June 1894, ''La Navarraise'', by Massenet; on 30 June 1901, the operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's '' Much Ado About Nothing'', by Sir Charles Stanford; in 1901, '' Le roi d'Ys'', by Édouard Lalo; and in 1904, ''
Hérodiade ''Hérodiade'' is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella ''Hérodias'' (1877) by Gustave Flaubert. It was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels o ...
'', by Massenet. English commentators were enthusiastic about his contribution to these premieres, as well as his singing in the standard repertory roles, including Rocco in Ludwig van Beethoven's '' Fidelio'', Méphistophélès in Faust, Ramfis in Verdi's '' Aida'', Pogner in Wagner's ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'' or Jupiter in Gounod's ''
Philémon et Baucis (''Philemon and Baucis'') is an opera in three acts by Charles Gounod with a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. The opera is based on the tale of Baucis and Philemon as told by La Fontaine (derived in turn from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' ...
''. Only his portrayal of '' Mefistofele'' in the eponymous opera by Arrigo Boïto, essayed in 1895, was received with reservations by the music critics. They felt that Plançon's true home lay in the French and Italian ''
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 ...
'' repertory and as a consequence of this, Boïto's snarling demon was less suited to the singer's debonair demeanour than the urbane devil that he portrayed so effectively in Gounod's ''Faust''.


The Metropolitan Opera years

It was in the height of his glory at Covent Garden that Plançon was brought to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City by the impresario
Maurice Grau Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau was a US theatre management and production firm, active from 1880 until 1896. The partners were Henry E. Abbey, John B. Schoeffel and Maurice Grau. Abbey and Schoeffel had been in partnership since 1876, and joined force ...
. He debuted there on 29 November 1893, as Jupiter in Gounod's ''Philémon et Baucis''. He appeared in the seasons between 1893–97, 1898–1901 and 1903–08, and gave a total of 612 performances with the Metropolitan, including both operatic stagings and concert appearances, in New York and other American cities as part of the Met's touring ensemble. He sang Méphistophélès in ''Faust'' 85 times, and participated in the American stage premiere of
Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
's '' La Damnation de Faust'' in 1906, singing the role of that other famous French Mephisto. In 1899, he appeared in the inaugural performance of Mancinelli's opera ''Ero e Leandro'' 1899 (in the role of Ariofarne). In 1906, he was staying in San Francisco with a visiting troupe of Met singers (including
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
) when a powerful earthquake and fire devastated the city. He escaped the disaster shaken but unharmed. He left the Met in 1908, following a final appearance as Plunkett in Friedrich von Flotow's '' Martha'' at the house. During the winter of 1896–1897, the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury painted a portrait of him for the wealthy operetta composer
Emma Marcy Raymond Emma Marcy Raymond (pseudonym, Salvator Sylvain; 1839–1913) was an American musician, composer, and author of operetta, songs and piano music. She was one of very few women in her day who had composed the entire music of an opera and lived to s ...
, which was subsequently exhibited in March 1897 at the Durand-Ruel Galleries in New York. Its current location is unknown.


Private life

Outside the theatre, his bearing reflected his cultivated stage presence. American and British newspaper reporters of the day portrayed him as a tall, immaculately groomed French gentleman with polite manners but a limited command of English. Nonetheless, prurient rumours about his personal conduct, implying that he was homosexual, circulated from time to time. "The New York critic Huneker disliked his 'mincing gait' and complained of a 'lack of virility in his impersonations.' Whether this was fair comment or merely a Puritan critic's reaction to what was then hot gossip, is hard to know; it was widely rumoured that Plançon had been caught in his dressing room with the composer Herman Bemberg 'in flagrante delicto'." (See Michael Scott, ''The Record of Singing'', published by Duckworth, London, 1978; page 84).


Retirement, death and historical significance

Upon his return to Paris at the age of 57, he retired from the hustle and bustle of the stage while still in excellent all-round voice, although the top notes of his range had begun to weaken. He occupied himself by giving lessons to select pupils. He was 63 years old when he died in the French capital in the summer of 1914, just as World War I was erupting in Europe. He possessed a genuine bass voice, ranging from the top F down to a resonant and easy bottom D, although the light and nimble tone that he employed was suggestive of a higher-pitched instrument. From a musicological standpoint, his singing is of considerable historical interest because the refined vocal method that he employed was shaped prior to the advent of passionate, slice-of-life verismo opera in the 1890s. (To perform the verismo repertoire effectively, 20th-century singers were required to adopt a less elegant and less florid style of operatic vocalism than had hitherto been the norm.) Indeed, Plançon is considered to be one of the last important figures in a long line of exceptional French basses and baritones stretching back to the birth of operatic music's romantic era in the early decades of the 19th century. His predecessors and contemporaries in this Gallic ''bel canto'' tradition included such celebrated artists as
Henri-Bernard Dabadie Henri-Bernard Dabadie (19 January 1797 – 20 May 1853) was a French baritone, particularly associated with Rossini and Auber roles. Life and career Born in Pau, Dabadie studied at the Paris Conservatory and made his debut at the Paris Opér ...
,
Nicolas Levasseur Nicolas Levasseur (9 March 1791 – 7 December 1871) was a French bass, particularly associated with Rossini roles. Born Nicolas-Prosper Levasseur at Bresles, Oise, he studied at the Paris Music Conservatory from 1807 to 1811, with Pierre-Je ...
, Luigi Lablache, Prosper Dérivis,
Paul Barroilhet Paul-Bernard Barroilhet (22 September 1810 – April 1871) was a French operatic baritone. Career Barroilhet was born in Bayonne. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and then with David Banderali in Milan. He began his career in It ...
, Jean-Baptiste Faure (see above), Victor Maurel, Jean Lassalle and
Maurice Renaud Maurice Arnold Renaud (24 July 1861 – 16 October 1933) was a cultured French operatic baritone. He enjoyed an international reputation for the superlative quality of his singing and the brilliance of his acting. Early years Renaud was born ...
. During the height of his 30-year career, he was confronted with stellar competition from a host of superlative operatic basses, including his fellow countrymen Jean-François Delmas (whose sonorous voice he particularly admired),
Pedro Gailhard Pedro or Pierre Gailhard, full name Pierre Samson Gailhard, (1 August 1848 – 12 October 1918) was a French opera singer and theatre director. Gifted with an exceptional singing bass voice, Pedro Gailhard made his debut at the Opéra-Comique i ...
, Juste Nivette, Hippolyte Belhomme and
Marcel Journet Marcel Journet (25 July 1868 – 7 September 1933), was a French, bass, operatic singer. He enjoyed a prominent career in England, France and Italy, and appeared at the foremost American opera houses in New York City and Chicago. Biography ...
. Other rivals included Polish-born Édouard de Reszke, Bohemian-born Wilhelm Hesch, the Italians Francesco Navarini and Vittorio Arimondi and, from a younger generation of singers, the Russians Lev Sibiriakov and Feodor Chaliapin and the Pole Adamo Didur. He more than held his own in this exalted company, remaining, then as now, the paragon of sophisticated and graceful vocalism.


Recordings

Pol Plançon recorded various songs, operatic arias and ensembles for the following firms: The Gramophone & Typewriter Company ( HMV), forerunner of EMI (London, 1902–03), Zonophone (Paris, 1902), and the Victor Talking Machine Company (New York, 1903–08). He also is said to have recorded four privately made acoustic cylinders for
Gianni Bettini Gianni Bettini (1860, Novara – 27 February 1938, San Remo) was a gentleman inventor and a pioneer audiophile who invented several phonograph improvements. He is best known for having made the first (and in some cases only) recordings of the ...
's
phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
company in 1897, but no trace of them has been found. Most of his recordings have been reissued on LP or CD transfers. In 1993, the
Romophone Romophone was a UK historical reissues record label dedicated to restoring and transferring historic 78 rpm recordings of opera singers to CD. It was founded in 1993 by Louise Barder and Virginia Barder. Romophone CDs characteristically prese ...
label issued a double CD set containing all 46 of his extant Victor records (catalogue number 82001-2). They open a window on to a vanished realm of 19th-century singing style and technical expertise.


Repertoire

This is as accurate an alphabetical list of Pol Plançon's stage roles (with their respective operas and composers appended) as extant sources permit: *Abimélech, in Saint-Saëns's '' Samson and Delilah'' *Alvise, in
Amilcare Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli (, ; 31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera ''La Gioconda''. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Life and work Born in Paderno Fasolaro (now Paderno Ponchiell ...
's ''
La Gioconda La Gioconda ( , ; "the joyful one" feminine_gender.html" ;"title="'feminine gender">f.'' may refer to: * ''Mona Lisa'' or ''La Gioconda'', a painting by Leonardo da Vinci * Lisa del Giocondo, the model depicted in da Vinci's painting * La Gioconda ...
'' *Ariofarne, in
Luigi Mancinelli Luigi Mancinelli (; 5 February 1848 – 2 February 1921) was an Italian conductor, cellist and composer. His early career was in Italy, where he established a reputation in Perugia and then Bologna. After 1886 he worked mostly in other countr ...
's ''Ero e Leandro'' *Astolat, in Herman Bemberg's '' Elaine'' *Balthazar, in
Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...
's '' La favorite'' *Bertram, in
Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...
's '' Robert le diable'' *Capulet, in Gounod's '' Roméo et Juliette'' *Claudius, in Ambroise Thomas's '' Hamlet'' *Colonna, in Duprat's ''Petrarque'' *Des Grieux (Count), in Massenet's ''
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 first ...
'' *Duke of Alba, in Émile Paladilhe's ''Patrie!'' *Escamillo, in
Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...
's ''
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 Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
'' *Eustache, in Saint-Saëns's ''Étienne Marcel'' *François I, in Saint-Saëns's ''Ascanio'' *Friar Abby, in Charles Villiers Stanford's " Much Ado About Nothing" *Don Gormas, in Massenet's ''Le Cid'' *Frére Laurent, in Gounod's '' Roméo et Juliette'' *Garrido, in Massenet's ''La Navarraise'' *Gesler, in Gioacchino Rossini's '' Guillaume Tell'' *Grand Inquisitor, in Meyerbeer's '' L'Africaine'' *Heinrich (King), in
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''Lohengrin'' *Hermann, in Wagner's '' Tannhäuser'' *High Priest, in Meyerbeer's ''L'Africaine'' *Jupiter, in Gounod's ''Philémon et Baucis'' *King Henry, in Herbert Bunning's ''La Princesse Osra'' *Lothario, in Thomas's '' Mignon'' *Mefistofele, in Boito's ''Mefistofele'' *Méphistophélès, in Gounod's '' Faust'' *Méphistophélès, in Berlioz's ''La damnation de Faust'' *Oberthal (Count), in Meyerbeer's '' Le prophète'' *Old Hebrew, in Saint-Saëns's '' Samson and Delilah'' *Pittacus, in Gounod's '' Sapho'' *Plunkett, in Flotow's ''Martha'' *Pogner, in Wagner's ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'' *Ramfis, in
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
's ''Aida'' *Rocco, in Ludwig van Beethoven's '' Fidelio'' *Rodolfo, in Vincenzo Bellini's '' La sonnambula'' *Saint Bris (Count of), in Meyerbeer's ''
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 A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work suc ...
'' *Sarastro, in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's '' The Magic Flute''.


Sources

* Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press, London, * Scott, Michael (1978), ''The Record of Singing'', Duckworth, London. * Steane, John (1974)'', The Grand Tradition'', Duckworth, London.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plancon, Pol Operatic basses French basses 19th-century French male opera singers 1851 births 1914 deaths People from Ardennes (department)