Janine Micheau, French lyric coloratura soprano

Janine Micheau
April 17, 1914 – October 18, 1976

Micheau held a distinguished place within the historical past of recent singing, each as a coloratura and lyric soprano. One of the crucial essential stage roles she created was Melisande in Debussy’s Pelleas et Mélisande, which she sang for the primary time in 1937 in Amsterdam and later additionally carried out a number of occasions on the French stage, in addition to in San Francisco and on the Maggio Musicale in Florence. She was carefully related artistically with the composer Darius Milhaud, performing within the premieres of his Medee (Paris 1940) and Bolivar (1943) in addition to within the live performance premiere of the second model of his Christoph Colomb (1956). She was the primary singer to carry out a number of of his vocal compositions_. Micheau additionally had a slightly shut affiliation with Francis Poulenc, who as a pianist sometimes accompanied her recitals.Janine Micheau sang quite a lot of opera roles for the primary time in France. In 1943 she was the primary Parisian Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos 1953 and within the first French Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress.

Micheau was born in Toulouse on April 17, 1914. She acquired her first musical coaching on the conservatory there and later studied at Paris Conservatoire, the place her trainer was Marguerite Carre, a previously celebrated soprano who in 1914 had sung the title function within the premiere of Charpentier’s opera Louise. The opera was additionally of significance for Janine Micheau, who made her stage debut in Louise on November 16, 1933. Nonetheless, the younger singer sang solely the supporting function of the newspaper lady on this first efficiency on the Opera-Comique in Paris. Her first bigger function quickly adopted: Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. A short while later she scored extraordinary success on the Paris Opera and continued to work at each Parisian homes. Visitor performances took her to London (1937 Micaela in Carmen on the Covent Backyard Opera), and she or he additionally carried out in Italy, America, Belgium and the Netherlands. Along with these talked about above, her roles included Mimi in La Boheme, Leila in Bizet’s Les Pecheurs de perles and the kid in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortileges. Her stage repertoire ranged from baroque opera (Rameau, Gluck) to modern works. She was additionally a singer of additional­odd standing within the live performance and lieder repertoire. In 1956 she accepted a professorship on the Paris Conservatoire, however continued her singing profession till after 1960. She additionally taught at Salzburg’s Mozarteum.