René Hérent
Encyclopedia
René Hérent was a French tenor whose career was centred on the Opéra-Comique
in Paris, where he played supporting roles for many years, and left several recordings.
. At the Opéra-Comique he created many roles, either in Paris or world premieres, including Mercure in Amphytrion 38, the dancing master in Ariadne auf Naxos
, Un valet in Don Quichotte
, le vieillard and la rainette in L'enfant et les sortilèges
, Mémucan-Aman in Esther de Carpentras, Ouf 1er in L'étoile
, Prince de Chabran in Femme nue, Vasek in La fiancée vendue
, Galipot in Frasquita, Lubin in Georges Dandin, Betto in Gianni Schicchi
, Mouzzafer in Le Hulla, Madame Poiretapée in Mesdames de la Halle
, Machecourt in Mon oncle Benjamin,
Bertrand in Le roi d’Yvetot, Ali in Le Sicilien, Laguigne in Le testament de la tante Caroline
, Le patron in Ciboulette
, and Sellem in Le libertin
. He created the role of Bottom in Puck
by Delannoy in Strasbourg in 1949.
His repertoire at the Salle Favart also included Léveillé
, Remendado
, Dickson
, Bardolphe
, Torquemada, Le poète, le noctambule
, Sganarelle
, Doublemain, Cantarelli
, Bertrand
, and Schmidt
.
In light opera Hérent sang Joseph Calicot in the Paris premiere of Madame de Pompadour at the Théâtre Marigny
and Periola in Mandrin at the Théâtre Mogador
.
He also sang as a guest artist at the Prague National Opera, Covent Garden, Geneva, Monte Carlo Opera, Bruseels, Amsterdam and in Rio da Janeiro.
(Alcindoro) under Tzipine, Otello (Cassio) under Gressier, La Mascotte
(Rocco) under Gressier, and Boris Godunov (Missail) under Ansermet.
He also recorded excerpts from Passionément
, La Petite dame du train bleu, Phi-Phi
and Mandrin in the 1930s.
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...
in Paris, where he played supporting roles for many years, and left several recordings.
Life and career
Hérent made his debut on 17 August 1918 as Guillot de Morfontaine in Massenet's ManonManon
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...
. At the Opéra-Comique he created many roles, either in Paris or world premieres, including Mercure in Amphytrion 38, the dancing master in Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
, Un valet in Don Quichotte
Don Quichotte
Don Quichotte is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn.Massenet's comédie-héroïque, like so many other dramatized versions of the story of Don Quixote, relates only indirectly to the great novel by Miguel de Cervantes...
, le vieillard and la rainette in L'enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first being L'heure espagnole...
, Mémucan-Aman in Esther de Carpentras, Ouf 1er in L'étoile
L'étoile
L'étoile is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Emmanuel Chabrier with a libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo.Chabrier met his librettists at the home of a mutual friend, the painter Gaston Hirsh, in 1875...
, Prince de Chabran in Femme nue, Vasek in La fiancée vendue
The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
, Galipot in Frasquita, Lubin in Georges Dandin, Betto in Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
, Mouzzafer in Le Hulla, Madame Poiretapée in Mesdames de la Halle
Mesdames de la Halle
Mesdames de la Halle is an opérette bouffe in one act by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Armand Lapointe. It was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris on 3 March 1858. and was the first work of Offenbach's at the Bouffes with a chorus and a large cast...
, Machecourt in Mon oncle Benjamin,
Bertrand in Le roi d’Yvetot, Ali in Le Sicilien, Laguigne in Le testament de la tante Caroline
Le testament de la tante Caroline
Le testament de la tante Caroline is an opéra bouffe or operetta by composer Albert Roussel and librettist Nino . The original production was in the Czech language and in three acts, but the work was later revised into a one act operetta in the French language...
, Le patron in Ciboulette
Ciboulette
Ciboulette is a French opérette in three acts, music by Reynaldo Hahn, libretto by Robert de Flers and Francis de Croisset, first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés, in Paris, on April 7, 1923...
, and Sellem in Le libertin
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
. He created the role of Bottom in Puck
Puck (opera)
Puck is an opéra-féerique in three acts with music by Marcel Delannoy, premiered in 1949. The French libretto was adapted by André Boll from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream.-Background:...
by Delannoy in Strasbourg in 1949.
His repertoire at the Salle Favart also included Léveillé
La Basoche
La Basoche is an opéra comique in three acts of 1890, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Carré.-History:Messager's 1889 opérette Le mari de la reine at Bouffes-Parisiens was a disappointment, and the composer and his wife were struggling to afford even basic necessities...
, Remendado
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...
, Dickson
La Dame blanche
La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...
, Bardolphe
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, Torquemada, Le poète, le noctambule
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
, Sganarelle
Le médecin malgré lui (opera)
Le médecin malgré lui is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré after Molière's play, also entitled Le Médecin malgré lui.-Performance history:It premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris on 15 January 1858...
, Doublemain, Cantarelli
Le Pré aux clercs
Le pré aux clercs is an opéra comique in three acts by Ferdinand Hérold with a libretto by François-Antoine-Eugène de Planard based on Prosper Mérimée's Chronique du temps de Charles IX of 1829.-Performance history:...
, Bertrand
Les rendez-vous bourgeois
Les rendez-vous bourgeois is an opéra bouffon in one act by Nicolas Isouard to a French libretto by François Benoît Hoffmann, in the form of an opéra comique with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers...
, and Schmidt
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
.
In light opera Hérent sang Joseph Calicot in the Paris premiere of Madame de Pompadour at the Théâtre Marigny
Théâtre Marigny
The Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny, in the 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panorama, which opened in 1883...
and Periola in Mandrin at the Théâtre Mogador
Théâtre Mogador
Théâtre Mogador founded in 1913 and designed by Bertie Crewe, is a Parisian music hall theatre located at 25, rue de Mogador in the 9th district. It seats 1,800 people on three tiers.In 1913 financier Sir Alfred Butt rented an area in Paris...
.
He also sang as a guest artist at the Prague National Opera, Covent Garden, Geneva, Monte Carlo Opera, Bruseels, Amsterdam and in Rio da Janeiro.
Discography
On records Hérent may be heard as Guillot in the 1955 Opéra-Comique recording of Manon, in L'heure espagnole conducted by Cluytens (Torquemada), Le petit duc under Gressier (Frimousse), L'étoile under Désormière (Ouf), La bohèmeLa bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
(Alcindoro) under Tzipine, Otello (Cassio) under Gressier, La Mascotte
La mascotte
La mascotte is an opéra comique by Edmond Audran. The French libretto was by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot. The story concerns a farm girl who is believed to bring good luck to whoever possesses her, so long as she remains a virgin...
(Rocco) under Gressier, and Boris Godunov (Missail) under Ansermet.
He also recorded excerpts from Passionément
Passionément
Passionnément is a comédie musicale in three acts with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Maurice Hennequin and lyrics by Albert Willemetz. The title comes from the refrain of a waltz-song in the second act.-Performance history:...
, La Petite dame du train bleu, Phi-Phi
Phi-Phi
Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar. The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the latest rhythms of jazz along with a plot which emphasised...
and Mandrin in the 1930s.