Janine Micheau
Encyclopedia
Janine Micheau was a French singer, one of the leading lyric
soprano
s of her era in France.
Janine (or Jeanine) Micheau was born in Toulouse
, and studied voice at the Paris Conservatoire. She made her professional debut at the Opéra-Comique
on 16 November 1933, as la Plieuse in Louise, following this with Loys in Juif polonais by Camille Erlanger
, the neighbour in Angélique by Jacques Ibert
and small roles in Lakmé (Miss Rose) and Mireille (Andreloun).
She later sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann
, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leila in Les pêcheurs de perles
, Micaela in Carmen
, and the title role in Lakmé
at the Salle Favart. By 1935 her performances gained her invitations to Marseille (Lakmé), and then (at the instigation of Pierre Monteux
) to Amsterdam (Mélisande) and San Francisco. In Buenos Aires Erich Kleiber
conducted her in Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier
.
She created the role of Creuse in Darius Milhaud
's Médée, for her debut at the Paris Opéra
in 1940, where she also sang Gilda in Rigoletto
, Violetta in La traviata
and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, among other roles.
Once the war was over, her career became more international than it had been; she performed at La Scala
in Milan, La Monnaie
in Brussels, Royal Opera House
in London, the San Francisco Opera
, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago
. At these venues she sang nearly all the great French soprano roles: including Marguerite
, Juliette
in the Gounod opera, Massenet's Manon
, and Mélisande in Pelléas
. For French Radio she sang in Isoline
(1947) and Madame Chrysanthème
(1956), by André Messager
.
Micheau was also active in concert especially in 18th century French works such as Rameau's Les Indes galantes
and Platée
. She made many recordings, of which some have been released on CDs. Concert works in her repertoire included Shéhérazade
by Ravel, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
and La damoiselle élue by Debussy, songs by Milhaud and Debussy, and À la musique
by Chabrier
(which she also recorded).
From 1961 she became a voice teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her final performance was as Pamina in Rouen in May 1968. She died in Paris at the age of 62.
Vocal weight
Vocal weight refers to the perceived "lightness" or "heaviness" of a singing voice. This quality of the voice is one of the major determining factors in voice classification within classical music...
soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
s of her era in France.
Janine (or Jeanine) Micheau was born in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, and studied voice at the Paris Conservatoire. She made her professional debut at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
on 16 November 1933, as la Plieuse in Louise, following this with Loys in Juif polonais by Camille Erlanger
Camille Erlanger
Camille Erlanger was a Parisian-born French opera composer. He studied at the Paris Conservatory under Léo Delibes and Émile Durand, and in 1888 won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Velléda...
, the neighbour in Angélique by Jacques Ibert
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.Ibert pursued a successful composing career,...
and small roles in Lakmé (Miss Rose) and Mireille (Andreloun).
She later sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leila in Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run...
, Micaela in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, and the title role in Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...
at the Salle Favart. By 1935 her performances gained her invitations to Marseille (Lakmé), and then (at the instigation of Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...
) to Amsterdam (Mélisande) and San Francisco. In Buenos Aires Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Biography :Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague...
conducted her in Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
.
She created the role of Creuse in Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
's Médée, for her debut at the Paris Opéra
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
in 1940, where she also sang Gilda in Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Violetta in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, among other roles.
Once the war was over, her career became more international than it had been; she performed at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in Milan, La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
in Brussels, Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in London, the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
. At these venues she sang nearly all the great French soprano roles: including Marguerite
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
in the Gounod opera, Massenet's Manon
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...
, and Mélisande in Pelléas
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
. For French Radio she sang in Isoline
Isoline (opera)
Isoline is an opera, described as a 'conte de fées' in three acts and ten tableaux, on a text by Catulle Mendès, with music by André Messager.-Background:...
(1947) and Madame Chrysanthème
Madame Chrysanthème
Madame Chrysanthème is an opera, described as a comédie lyrique, with music by André Messager to a libretto by Georges Hartmann and Alexandre André, after the semi-autobiographical Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti...
(1956), by André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
.
Micheau was also active in concert especially in 18th century French works such as Rameau's Les Indes galantes
Les Indes galantes
Les Indes galantes is an opéra-ballet consisting of a prologue and four entrées by Jean-Philippe Rameau with libretto by Louis Fuzelier...
and Platée
Platée
Platée is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto Platée ou Junon Jalouse by Jacques Autreau and had d'Orville modify it...
. She made many recordings, of which some have been released on CDs. Concert works in her repertoire included Shéhérazade
Shéhérazade
Shéhérazade is the title of two works by the French composer Maurice Ravel.Shéhérazade, ouverture de féerie, written in 1898 but unpublished, is a work for orchestra intended as the overture for an opera of the same name...
by Ravel, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, L 124 is a musical work by the French composer Claude Debussy.Written in 1911, the work—a five-act musical mystery play on the subject of Saint Sebastian -- was produced in collaboration with Gabriele d'Annunzio and designed as a vehicle for Ida Rubinstein...
and La damoiselle élue by Debussy, songs by Milhaud and Debussy, and À la musique
À la musique
À la musique is a vocal work by Emmanuel Chabrier for solo soprano, women’s chorus and orchestra . The words are by poet and playwright Edmond Rostand....
by Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well...
(which she also recorded).
From 1961 she became a voice teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her final performance was as Pamina in Rouen in May 1968. She died in Paris at the age of 62.
Selected recordings
- 1951 - Massenet - Manon - Janine Micheau, Libero de Luca, Roger Bourdin, Julien Giovanetti - Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Albert Wolff - PREISER
- 1953 - Thomas - Mignon - Geneviève Moizan, Janine Micheau, Libero de Luca, René Bianco - Choeur et Orchestre Nationale de Belgique, Georges Sebastian - PREISER
- 1953 - Gounod - Roméo et Juliette - Raoul Jobin, Janine Micheau, Heinz Rehfus - Paris Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Alberto Erede - DECCA
- 1953 - Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande - Camille Maurane, Janine Micheau, Michel Roux, Xavier Depraz, Rita Gorr - Choeur Elisabeth Brasseur, Orchestre Lamoureux, Jean Fournet - PHILIPS
- 1955 - Gluck - Orphée et Eurydice - Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau, Liliane Berton - Choeur et Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris, Louis Froment - EMI
- 1958 - Bizet - Carmen - Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau, Ernest Blanc - Choeur et Orchestre de la RTF, Thomas Beecham - EMI
- 1960 - Bizet - Les pêcheurs de perles - Janine Micheau, Nicolai Gedda, Ernest Blanc, Jacques Mars - Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Pierre Dervaux - EMI
Sources
- Dictionnaire des interprètes, Alain Paris, (Robert Laffont, 1982), ISBN 2-221-06660-X
- Guide de l’opéra, Mancini & Rouveroux, (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6