Marie Fel was a French opera singer, daughter of the organist Henri Fel.

Marie Fel was born at Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

. She made her debut at the Paris Opera in 1733 and sang regularly at the Concert Spirituel

Concert Spirituel

The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790; later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, London and elsewhere...

. In a career that lasted 35 years she sang in all the operas of Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...

 along with Pierre Jélyotte

Pierre Jélyotte

Pierre Jélyotte was a French operatic tenor, particularly associated with works by Rameau, Lully, Campra, and Destouches.-Life and career:...

, created roles in those of Mondonville, and participated in revivals of those of 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...

 et Campra

André Campra

André Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...

. She retired from the stage in 1758, but continued to perform in concert until 1769. She died in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

She had a long-term relationship with the painter Quentin de La Tour

Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Maurice Quentin de La Tour was a French Rococo portraitist who worked primarily with pastels. Among his most famous subjects were Voltaire, Rousseau, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.-Biography:...

, who painted her portrait. "The greatest personalities of her age sought her good graces and gave her lively proofs of their affections," including men of letters such as the Baron von Grimm

Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm

Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm was a German-born French author.-Early years:Grimm was born at Regensburg, the son of a pastor...

 and the Encyclopédiste Louis de Cahusac

Louis de Cahusac

Louis de Cahusac was a French playwright and librettist, most famous for his work with the composer Jean-Philippe Rameau...

. The French actress and singer Sophie Arnould

Sophie Arnould

Sophie Arnould was a French operatic soprano.Born Magdeleine Sophie Arnould, she studied in Paris with Marie Fel and La Clairon, and made her stage debut at the Opéra de Paris on 15 December 1757 and sang there for 20 years.She created for Christoph Wilibald Gluck the roles of Eurydice in Orphée...

was one of her students.