Rosine Bloch
Encyclopedia
Rosine Bloch
was a French
opera
tic mezzo-soprano
of Jewish descent who had a successful stage career in Europe between 1865 and 1891. She not only possessed a beautiful, warm, and lyrical voice but was also a remarkably beautiful woman physically. Although most of her career was spent performing at the Opéra
in Paris, she also appeared in stages in Belgium
, Monaco
, and England
.
and Charles-Amable Battaille and in 1865 won the Conservatoire's first prize for singing and the first prize for opera.
She made her professional opera debut on 13 November 1865 at the Opéra's Salle Le Peletier as Azucena in Giuseppe Verdi
's Le trouvère,
and continued singing in that theatre, where her most notable roles included Lelia in Félicien David's Herculanum
and Léonore in Gaetano Donizetti
's La favorite
.
She also sang Edwige in Gioacchino Rossini
's Guillaume Tell (with Jean-Baptiste Faure
as Guillaume and Marie Battu as Mathilde in 1868 and with Caroline Carvalho as Mathilde in 1870), and Fidès in Giacomo Meyerbeer
's Le prophète
in 1872. Although Bloch was striking in appearance with an ample, rich-timbred voice, it had become apparent over time that her portrayals lacked the "human quality" necessary for her to become a major star. Nevertheless, in the ensuing years she remained an honorable and respected member of the company.
She also created two roles, Lysis in the world premiere of Jules-Laurent Duprato's 1-act La Fiancée de Corinthe, which had a libretto by Camille du Locle
and was first performed on 21 October 1867, but was an opera that would soon fall into obscurity after only 14 representations,
and Claribel in Eugène Diaz's 3-act La Coupe du Roi de Thulé, which had a libretto by L. Gallet and Edouard Blau and premiered on 10 January 1873, but would only be performed 21 times. The latter had won a competition which had been held by the Ministry of Fine Arts in 1869.
Early in 1870 the Théâtre Lyrique
on the Place du Châtelet
lost its director Jules Pasdeloup, and the artists of that company made a desperate attempt to manage the company on their own. The director of the Opéra, Émile Perrin
, magnanimously granted the Lyrique the rights to perform Fromental Halévy
's Charles VI
, which had first been performed at the Opéra in 1843 and was last seen there in 1850. The soprano Hélène Brunet-Lafleur, who was cast in the leading role of Odette, abandoned the Lyrique's production, and Perrin allowed Bloch to take on the part. The revival was delayed after Bloch became ill with influenza, but eventually opened on 5 April 1870. It was described by a former director of the Opéra, Nestor Roqueplan, as a fiasco, but received 22 representations. However, on 31 May the Théâtre Lyrique folded, and Bloch returned to the Opéra.
After the Opéra moved to the Palais Garnier
, Bloch repeated some of her roles in new productions at that house, including Léonore in Donizetti's La favorite (21 January 1875, 443rd representation of the opera),
and Fidès in the Meyerbeer's Le prophète
(16 August 1876, 322nd representation of the opera).
She also sang Catarina Cornaro in Halévy's La reine de Chypre
(16 August 1877),
Queen Gertrude in Ambroise Thomas
' Hamlet
(12 August 1878),
and Amneris in the Opéra's first performance of Verdi's Aida
(22 March 1880), before retiring from the company.
Appearances with other companies included performances at La Monnaie
in Brussels
(1870 and 1874), the Opéra de Monte-Carlo
in Monaco
(1879), and the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
in London
(1879 as Leonora in La favorite).
She married on 14 May 1884 in Brussels becoming Mme S. Lévy, but continued to perform. On 31 October 1890 she sang the role of Dalila in the Paris premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns
's Samson et Dalila
at the Éden-Théâtre. She died in Monte Carlo (or Nice) in 1891.
was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
of Jewish descent who had a successful stage career in Europe between 1865 and 1891. She not only possessed a beautiful, warm, and lyrical voice but was also a remarkably beautiful woman physically. Although most of her career was spent performing at the Opéra
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
in Paris, she also appeared in stages in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Biography
Bloch was born in Paris, the daughter of a merchant. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Nicolas LevasseurNicolas Levasseur
Nicolas Levasseur was a French bass, particularly associated with Rossini roles.Born Nicolas-Prosper Levasseur at Bresle, Somme, he studied at the Paris Music Conservatory from 1807 to 1811, with Pierre-Jean Garat. He made his professional debut at the Paris Opéra in 1813, as Osman Pacha, in La...
and Charles-Amable Battaille and in 1865 won the Conservatoire's first prize for singing and the first prize for opera.
She made her professional opera debut on 13 November 1865 at the Opéra's Salle Le Peletier as Azucena in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Le trouvère,
and continued singing in that theatre, where her most notable roles included Lelia in Félicien David's Herculanum
and Léonore in Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's La favorite
La favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
.
She also sang Edwige in Gioacchino Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
's Guillaume Tell (with Jean-Baptiste Faure
Jean-Baptiste Faure
Jean-Baptiste Faure was a celebrated French operatic baritone and an art collector of great significance. He also composed a number of classical songs.-Singing career:Faure was born in Moulins...
as Guillaume and Marie Battu as Mathilde in 1868 and with Caroline Carvalho as Mathilde in 1870), and Fidès in Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's Le prophète
Le prophète
Le prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
in 1872. Although Bloch was striking in appearance with an ample, rich-timbred voice, it had become apparent over time that her portrayals lacked the "human quality" necessary for her to become a major star. Nevertheless, in the ensuing years she remained an honorable and respected member of the company.
She also created two roles, Lysis in the world premiere of Jules-Laurent Duprato's 1-act La Fiancée de Corinthe, which had a libretto by Camille du Locle
Camille du Locle
Camille du Locle was a French theatre director and a librettist. He was born in Orange, France. From 1862 he served as assistant to his father-in-law, Émile Perrin at the Paris Opéra, moving in 1870 to the Opéra-Comique....
and was first performed on 21 October 1867, but was an opera that would soon fall into obscurity after only 14 representations,
and Claribel in Eugène Diaz's 3-act La Coupe du Roi de Thulé, which had a libretto by L. Gallet and Edouard Blau and premiered on 10 January 1873, but would only be performed 21 times. The latter had won a competition which had been held by the Ministry of Fine Arts in 1869.
Early in 1870 the Théâtre Lyrique
Théâtre Lyrique
The Théâtre Lyrique was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century . The company was founded in 1847 as the Opéra-National by the French composer Adolphe Adam and renamed Théâtre Lyrique in 1852...
on the Place du Châtelet
Place du Châtelet
The Place du Châtelet is a public square in Paris, on the right bank of the river Seine, on the borderline between the 1st and 4th arrondissements...
lost its director Jules Pasdeloup, and the artists of that company made a desperate attempt to manage the company on their own. The director of the Opéra, Émile Perrin
Émile Perrin
Émile-César-Victor Perrin was a French painter, mainly known as a theatre director and impresario, born in Rouen on 9 January 1814, died 8 October 1885. His son-in-law was Camille du Locle....
, magnanimously granted the Lyrique the rights to perform Fromental Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
's Charles VI
Charles VI (opera)
Charles VI is an 1843 French grand opera in five acts with music composed by Fromental Halevy and a libretto by Casimir Delavigne and his brother Germain Delavigne.-Performance history:...
, which had first been performed at the Opéra in 1843 and was last seen there in 1850. The soprano Hélène Brunet-Lafleur, who was cast in the leading role of Odette, abandoned the Lyrique's production, and Perrin allowed Bloch to take on the part. The revival was delayed after Bloch became ill with influenza, but eventually opened on 5 April 1870. It was described by a former director of the Opéra, Nestor Roqueplan, as a fiasco, but received 22 representations. However, on 31 May the Théâtre Lyrique folded, and Bloch returned to the Opéra.
After the Opéra moved to the Palais Garnier
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...
, Bloch repeated some of her roles in new productions at that house, including Léonore in Donizetti's La favorite (21 January 1875, 443rd representation of the opera),
and Fidès in the Meyerbeer's Le prophète
Le prophète
Le prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
(16 August 1876, 322nd representation of the opera).
She also sang Catarina Cornaro in Halévy's La reine de Chypre
La reine de Chypre
La reine de Chypre is an 1841 grand opera composed by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.-Background:...
(16 August 1877),
Queen Gertrude in Ambroise Thomas
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
' Hamlet
Hamlet (opera)
Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
(12 August 1878),
and Amneris in the Opéra's first performance of Verdi's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
(22 March 1880), before retiring from the company.
Appearances with other companies included performances at La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
(1870 and 1874), the Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Opéra de Monte-Carlo
The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house located in the principality of Monaco.With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des Bains de Mer, decided on the construction of an opera house. Initially, it was Charles III's...
in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
(1879), and the 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...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(1879 as Leonora in La favorite).
She married on 14 May 1884 in Brussels becoming Mme S. Lévy, but continued to perform. On 31 October 1890 she sang the role of Dalila in the Paris premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
's Samson et Dalila
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
at the Éden-Théâtre. She died in Monte Carlo (or Nice) in 1891.