René Maison (24 November 1895 – 11 July 1962) was a prominent 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

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

, particularly associated with heroic roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.

Career

Born in

Frameries Frameries (; ; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following deelgemeente, districts: Eugies, Frameries, La Bouverie, Noirchai ...

, Belgium, he studied in Brussels and Paris. He made his debut in Geneva in 1920, as Rodolfo in ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

''. He also appeared in Nice and Monte Carlo, before making his debut in 1927, at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

in Paris, as Prince Dimitri in Franco Alfano's '' Risurrezione'', opposite the soprano Mary Garden. His other roles there included Don José, Mylio, Werther, Canio, Cavaradossi, and Jean Gaussin in Massenet's '' Sapho''. He made his Paris Opéra debut at the

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

in 1929, in Henry Février's ''Monna Vanna''. He sang there regularly until 1940, as Faust, Lohengrin, Radames, Siegmund and Samson. In 1934, he created there the role of Eumolphe in Stravinsky's '' Perséphone''. Maison also enjoyed a successful international career, appearing at the Chicago Civic Opera (1928–40), the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (1934–37), the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

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 sit ...

, in London (1931–36), and the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York. His Met debut occurred on 3 February 1936, as Stolzing in ''

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 ...

''. In eight seasons with the Met he sang Don José, Lohengrin, Samson, Julien, Florestan,

Hoffmann Hoffmann is a German language, German surname. People A *Adolph Hoffmann (1858–1930), German politician *Albert Hoffmann (horticulturist), Albert Hoffmann (1846–1924), German horticulturist *Alexander Hoffmann (politician), Alexander Hoffma ...

, des Grieux and Herodes, among other roles. In 1943, he began teaching at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

in New York, and from 1957 until his death, at the Chalof School in Boston. Among his pupils was the baritone turned dramatic tenor Ramon Vinay. Maison died in Le Mont-Dore, France, aged 66. He was, in terms of birth dates, the middle member of a triumvirate of outstanding Belgian operatic tenors who reached their peak in the period between the two world wars. The others were the lyric-dramatic tenor Fernand Ansseau (1890–1972) and the lyric tenor Andre D'Arkor (1901–1971).

Sources

* ''Dictionnaire des interprètres'', Alain Pâris, ( Éditions Robert Laffont, 1989) {{DEFAULTSORT:Maison, Rene 1895 births 1962 deaths Belgian operatic tenors People from Frameries 20th-century Belgian male opera singers