François Beaumavielle was a French operatic bass-baritone

Bass-baritone

A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...

.

Trained in Toulouse, he was engaged at the Académie Royale de Musique

Académie Royale de Musique

The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...

 in Paris by Pierre Perrin

Pierre Perrin

Pierre Perrin was a French poet and librettist.Sometimes known as L'Abbé Perrin although he never belonged to the clergy...

 and Robert Cambert

Robert Cambert

Robert Cambert was a French composer principally of opera. His opera Pomone was the first actual opera in French.Born in Paris in 1628, he studied music under Chambonnières, His first position was as organist at the church of St. Honor in Paris...

, where he created their opera Pomone in 1671.

He went on creating all the first roles within his vocal range, then known as "basse-taille", in the operas by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...

 notably; Cadmus in Cadmus et Hermione

Cadmus et Hermione

Cadmus et Hermione is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was first performed on April 27, 1673, by the Paris Opera at the Jeu de Béquet.The prologue, in praise of King Louis...

, le Temps in Atys

Atys (Lully)

Atys is a tragédie en musique in a prelude and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a French-language libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Ovid's Fasti. It was premiered at the royal court in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, January 10, 1676...

, Jupiter in Isis

Isis (Lully)

Isis is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The librettist is Lully's frequent collaborator, Philippe Quinault, and like most of Lully's operas, it is a tragédie lyrique. It premièred January 5, 1677 at the court of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was first published in 1719.The story of the opera centers...

, Phinée in Persée

Persée

Persée is a tragédie lyrique with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Philippe Quinault, first performed in 1682 at the Paris Opéra.-Roles:-Synopsis:...

, etc.

A singer with a powerful voice and a consummate actor, he was sometimes criticised for over-emphasis.

Sources

• Le guide de l'opéra, R. Mancini & J.J. Rouvereux, (Fayard, 1986) ISBN 2-213-01563-6