Portrait of a Lady, called Sophie Arnould (c

Sophie Arnould (13 February 1740, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

– 18 October 1802, in Paris) was a French operatic

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 ...

. Born Magdeleine Sophie Arnould, she studied in Paris with

Marie Fel Marie Fel (24 October 1713 – 2 February 1794) was a French opera singer and a daughter of the organist Henri Fel. Marie Fel was born at Bordeaux. She made her debut at the Paris Opera in 1733 and sang regularly at the Concert Spirituel. In a ...

and

La Clairon Clair Josèphe Hippolyte Leris (25 January 1723 – 29 January 1803), known as Mademoiselle Clairon or La Clairon was a French actress, born at Condé-sur-l'Escaut, Hainaut, the daughter of an army sergeant. She is primarily known for devel ...

, and made her stage debut at the

Opéra de Paris 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 ...

on 15 December 1757 and sang there for 20 years. She created for

Christoph Wilibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...

the roles of Eurydice in '' Orphée et Eurydice'' and the title role in ''

Iphigénie en Aulide ''Iphigénie en Aulide'' (''Iphigeneia in Aulis'') is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was based on Jean ...

''. She also obtained considerable success in operas by

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...

François Francoeur François Francœur (8 September 1698 – 5 August 1787) was a French composer and violinist. Biography François Francœur was born in Paris, the son of Joseph Francœur, a basse de violon player and member of the '' 24 violons du roy''. Franc� ...

, and

Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny ( – ) was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (1813). He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical genre ...

. Her love life was extremely colorful. Her tumultuous relationship with Louis-Léon de Brancas, duc de Lauragais, resulted in four children, including , colonel of the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: * First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 * First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes u ...

dead at

Essling Essling
Essling entry in the Viennese government's history wiki (German) () is part of

. She was also the lover of

Paul Barras Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras (, 30 June 1755 – 29 January 1829), commonly known as Paul Barras, was a French politician of the French Revolution, and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795–1799. Early ...

and Nicolas-François de Neufchâteau, among many others.Jean Haechler, ''Le règne des femmes - 1715-1792'', Paris, Grasset, 2001, . In fact, she was notorious for having as many affairs with women as with men, notably Fanny Raucourt, Mme de Villeroy and the Princess of Hénin.Michel Larivière, '' Dictionnaire historique des homosexuel-le-s célèbres'', Paris, La Musardine, 2017, pp. 30–31, . According to her contemporaries, her voice was more beautiful than powerful, but she was a passionate actress. Her lack of discipline in both her professional and personal life led to a premature vocal decline. However, she was able to retire in 1778 with an enviable pension of 2000 pounds (livres). She was much in demand in Parisian society, and legend has it that

Madame de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

told her "With such talents, you could become a Princess". She was painted by

Maurice Quentin de La Tour Maurice Quentin de La Tour (5 September 1704 – 17 February 1788) was a French Rococo portraitist who worked primarily with pastels. Among his most famous subjects were Voltaire, Rousseau, Louis XV of France, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. ...

, and left her ''Souvenirs'' and an abundant correspondence.

Opera by Pierné

French composer

Gabriel Pierné Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. Biography Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germ ...

wrote an opera based on her tumultuous life entitled ''Sophie Arnould'' (1927).

Notes

References

* ''Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique'', R.Mancini & J.J.Rouvereux, (Fayard, 1986), *Francis Rogers, ''The Musical Quarterly'', Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan., 1920), pp. 57–61. 1740 births 1802 deaths Singers from Paris French artists' models French operatic sopranos 18th-century French women opera singers French LGBT singers 18th-century LGBT people 19th-century LGBT people 18th-century letter writers {{France-opera-singer-stub