Jean-Baptiste Faure (; 15 January 1830 – 9 November 1914)Baker, Theodore; rev. by Nicolas Slonimsky (1994) The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians; 8th ed. New York: Schirmer Books, p. 289. was a French operatic baritone and art collector who also composed several classical songs.
Singing career Faure was born in Moulins. A choirboy in his youth, he entered the Paris Conservatory in 1851 and made his operatic debut the following year at the Opéra-Comique, as Pygmalion in Victor Massé's Galathée. He remained at the Opéra-Comique for over seven years, singing baritone roles such as Max in Adolphe Adam's Le chalet and Michel in Thomas's Le caïd. During this time he also created the Marquis d'Erigny in Auber's Manon Lescaut (1856) and Hoël in Meyerbeer's Le pardon de Ploërmel (1859; later known as Dinorah), among seven premieres at that house.Soubies, A. & Malherbe, C. Histoire de l'Opéra comique; La seconde salle Favart 1840–1887. Flammarion, Paris, 1893.
He made his debut at the Royal Opera House, London, in 1860 as Hoël, and at the Paris Opera in 1861. He would sing at the Opera every season until 1869 and then again in 1872-76 and 1878. In addition, he continued to perform off and on in London until 1877 at venues such as Her Majesty's Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Among the many operas in which he appeared in Paris were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni as well as L'étoile du nord, Les Huguenots and La favorite.
He also made history by creating several important operatic roles written by such prominent composers as Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giuseppe Verdi and Ambroise Thomas. They included the leading baritone parts in L'Africaine, Don Carlos and Hamlet (in 1865, 1867, and 1868 respectively).
His last stage appearances are recorded as taking place in Marseille and Vichy in 1886.
Voice Faure possessed a dark, smooth yet flexible baritone voice, which he used with impeccable skill and taste. He was a sophisticated interpretive artist, too, and all these accomplishments combined to make him one of the most significant figures to have appeared on the French musical stage during the 19th century. He wrote two books on singing, La Voix et le Chant (1886) and Aux Jeunes Chanteurs (1898), and also taught at the Paris Conservatory from 1857 to 1860.
The greatest of Faure's French heirs were the lyric bass Pol Plançon (1851–1914)—who modelled his vocal method directly on that of Faure—and Jean Lassalle (1847–1909), who succeeded Faure as principal baritone at the Paris Opera. Both Plançon and Lassalle made a number of recordings during the early 1900s, and their cultivated performances for the gramophone preserve key elements of Faure's singing style and technique.
Two non-commercial—and possibly unique—brown wax cylinders exist that are thought to be private recordings of Faure singing at around 70 years of age. Though there is no specific documentation of these recordings, one—a rendition of "Jardins de l'Alcazar... Léonor! viens" from Donizetti's La favorite—begins with an announcement (from either the singer or the (Pathé) recording engineer): "Le grand-père des barytons!" ("The grandfather of the baritones") Pathé and other French recordings from this era nearly always began with an announcement such as "Le sérénade de Don Juan, de Mozart, chanté par [baryton Jean] Lassalle, de l'Opéra!". The affectionate honorific in the supposed Faure cylinder recording only makes sense for a man of advanced years who is so beloved, celebrated, and revered by a general public that he need not even be named. The proliferation of documentation about Faure's standing as such points wholly and only to him. The choice of aria is almost certainly a clue as to the authenticity of the recording, as well. Alphonse of La favorite was one of Faure's most important roles—one with which he toured the provinces of France in 1877, just after his retirement from the stage. He gained enormous critical and popular notoriety from those who had not had a chance to hear him in Paris or London. His performances of this role would have left a lasting impression on the public and the press, and the aria was likely chosen for recording as an allusion to that time. A sampling of writing about Faure in this role and specifically this recitative and aria:
Other achievements In addition, Faure composed several enduring songs, including a "Sancta Maria", "Les Rameaux" ("The Palms") and "Crucifix". (These latter two songs were recorded by Enrico Caruso, among others.) "Les Rameaux" was translated into English by Helen Tretbar. In 1876 he dedicated his valse-légende "Stella" to his sometime leading lady at the Paris Opéra, Gabrielle Krauss.
An avid collector of impressionist art, Faure sat for multiple portraits by Édouard Manet and owned 67 canvases by that painter, including the masterpiece and The Fifer. He also owned Le pont d'Argenteuil and 62 other works by Claude Monet. Part of his collection (which also contained paintings by Degas, Sisley, Pissarro, Ingres and Prud'hon) was kept at his villa "Les Roches" in Étretat, whose famous cliffs he commissioned Claude Monet to paint 40 times.in Sophie Monneret, L'Impressionnisme et son époque, Denoël, 1978
Faure died of natural causes in Paris in 1914, during the early months of World War I. According to his obituary in the New York Times, he had been made an officer of the . He was married to the singer Constance Caroline Lefèbvre (1828–1905).
Roles This list of known roles contains duplicates where Faure sang in an alternate language. Years indicate the debut of the role into his repertoire.De Curzon, Henri. "Jean-Baptiste Faure" (translated by Theodore Baker), The Musical Quarterly, Vol IV, No. 2 (April 1918), pp. 271–281 (at the Internet Archive). New York: Schirmer Books.
+ Sortable tableRoleOperaComposerYearAmletoAmleto (Hamlet in Italian)Ambroise Thomas1871Alfonso D'Este, Duke of FerraraLucrezia BorgiaGaetano Donizetti1876Alphonse XI, King of CastilleLa favoriteGaetano Donizetti1860AssurSemiramideGioachino Rossini1875BorroméeMarco SpadaDaniel Auber1853CacicoIl GuaranyAntônio Carlos Gomes1872Charles VIIJeanne d'ArcAuguste Mermet1872CrèvecœurQuentin DurwardFrançois-Auguste Gevaert1858Don GiovanniDon GiovanniWolfgang Amadeus Mozart1861Don JuanDon Juan (Don Giovanni in French)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart1866DulcamaraL'elisir d'amoreGaetano Donizetti1864FalstaffLe songe d'une nuit d'étéAmbroise Thomas1854FernandoLa gazza ladraGioachino Rossini1860FigaroLe nozze di FigaroWolfgang Amadeus Mozart1866GaspardDer FreischützCarl Maria von Weber1872Guillaume TellGuillaume TellGioachino Rossini1861HamletHamletAmbroise Thomas1868HoëlLe pardon de PloërmelGiacomo Meyerbeer1859HoëlDinorah (Le pardon de Ploërmel in Italian)Giacomo Meyerbeer1860IagoOtelloGioachino Rossini1870Il conte di NeversGli Ugonotti (Les Huguenots in Italian)Giacomo Meyerbeer1876Julien de MédicisPierre de MédicisJózef Michal Poniatowski1861JustinLe chien du jardinierAlbert Grisar1855Le Comte de NeversLes HuguenotsGiacomo Meyerbeer1863Le duc de GreenwichJenny BellDaniel Auber1855Le Marquis d'HérignyManon LescautDaniel Auber1856LotarioMignonAmbroise Thomas1870LysandreJoconde ou Les coureurs d'aventuresNicolas Isouard1857MalipieriHaydéeDaniel Auber1853MaxLe chaletAdolphe Adam1853MéphistophélèsFaustCharles Gounod1863MichelLe caïdAdolphe Adam1852NéluskoL'AfricaineGiacomo Meyerbeer1865PaddockLa coupe du roi de ThuléEugène Diaz1873PedroLa mule de PedroVictor Massé1863Peters Michaeloff (Peter the Great)L'étoile du nordGiacomo Meyerbeer1854PharaonMoïse et PharaonGioachino Rossini1863PietroLa stella del nord (L'étoile du nord in Italian)Giacomo Meyerbeer1864PietroLa muette de PorticiDaniel Auber1863PietroMasaniello (La muette de Portici in Italian)Daniel Auber1853Pietro ManelliLa TonelliAmbroise Thomas1853PolusLa fiancée de CorintheJules Duprato1867PygmalionGalathéeVictor Massé1852RiccardoI puritaniVincenzo Bellini1863RodolfoLa sonnambulaVincenzo Bellini1864Rodrigue, Marquis of PosaDon CarlosGiuseppe Verdi1867St. BrisGli Ugonotti (Les Huguenots in Italian)Giacomo Meyerbeer1860TorridaMarco SpadaDaniel Auber1854ValbreuseLe sylpheLouis Clapisson1856
References
External links
Portraits of Faure at Gallica , November 11, 1914.
Sheet music for Les Rameaux Sheet music for Crucifix J. Fauré recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.