Emma Calvé

Emma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet (August 15, 1858 – January 6, 1942), was a French operatic soprano. Calvé was one of the most famous French female opera singers of the Belle Époque. She was a dramatic singer noted for her acting ability, stormy personality, and dramatic intensity. Contemporary accounts of her voice describe it as extraordinary.

Early life

Calvé was born in Decazeville, Aveyron. Her father, Justin Calvet, was a civil engineer. She spent her childhood at first in Spain with her parents, then in diverse convent schools, between Roquefort and Tournemire (Aveyron). After her parents separated, she moved with her mother to Paris. There she attempted to enter the Paris Conservatory, while she studied the art of singing under Jules Puget.

After her debut at the Brussels La Monnaie, she took lessons from Mathilde Marchesi, the German mezzo-soprano and student of Manuel García. She made a tour of Italy, where she saw Eleonora Duse, whose impersonations made a deep impression on the young singer. She trained herself by long observation of the performances of the Italian tragic actress.

Career

Her debut was in 1881 in Gounod's "Faust" at Brussels' La Monnaie; later she sang at La Scala, in Milan, and also at the principal theatres of Naples, Rome, and Florence.

Returning to Paris in 1891, she created the part of Suzel in "L'Amico Fritz" by Pietro Mascagni, playing and singing the role later at Rome. Because of her great success in it, she was chosen to originate the role of Santuzza in "Cavalleria rusticana", which was viewed as one of her greatest parts. She repeated her success in it in London.

Her next triumph was Bizet's "Carmen". Before beginning the study of this part, she went to Spain, learned the Spanish dances, mingled with the people and patterned her characterization after the cigarette girls whom she watched at their work and at play. In 1894, she made her appearance in the role at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. She was immediately hailed as the greatest Carmen that had ever appeared and other cities all over the world have since agreed with the Parisian verdict. She had had many famous predecessors in the role, including Adelina Patti, Minnie Hauk and Célestine Galli-Marié, but critics and musicians agreed that in Calvé they had found their ideal of Bizet's cigarette girl of Seville, and her many charms of voice, figure, and personality combined to make it one of the most brilliant impersonations ever given in opera.

Calvé first appeared in America in the season of 1893–1894 as Mignon and her reception then and ever afterward was flattering. She made regular visits to the country ever since, both in grand opera and in concert tours. She created the part of Anita, which was written for her, in Massenet's "La Navarraise" in London, in 1894, and sang "Sapho", in an opera written by the same composer.

She also sang Ophélie in Ambroise Thomas's "Hamlet" in Paris in 1899, but the part was not suited to her and she dropped it. She has appeared with success in many roles, among them, as the Countess in "The Marriage of Figaro", the title role in Félicien David's "Lalla Rookh", as Pamina in "The Magic Flute", and as Camille in Herold's "Zampa", but she is best known as Carmen.

Calvé died in 1942 at Montpellier, Hérault, and is buried in Millau.

In the winter of 1893-1894 the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) executed a life-size portrait of her standing full-length in a green-blue dress, wearing an opera cloak of white and gold with a sable edge, clutching American Beauty roses. It is now lost, as is a pastel he made of her in 1896-1897.

Works

*Calvé, Emma: "My Life", Appleton. 1922.
*Calvé, Emma: "Sous tous les ciels, j'ai chanté", Plon, Montréal 1940; (1940; "I've Sung Under Every Sky") : autobiography.

Chronological table

*1858 Birth of Rosa Emma Calvet in Decazeville.
*1864 She attends a convent in Rodez. The sisters give some concerts where Mgr Bourret, bishop of this town appreciates her voice.
*1874 Emma and her mother Léonie go up to Paris. Although they are short of money, Puget consents to give Emma lessons.
*1882 Debut at the Brussels La Monnaie, as Marguerite in Charles Gounod's "Faust". Lessons by Mrs Marchesi, one of the most influential voice teachers of the era.
*1882 fin, Théodore Dubois' "Aben Hamet" in the Théâtre-Italien. 1883 She creates Victorin Joncières' "Le Chevalier Jean" in the Opéra-Comique. She sings in "Zampa" and "Lalla-Roukh". After a failure at the Scala, recommended by Gounod, she took lessons from Rosine Laborde. In Rome she took lessons from Domenico Mustafà (1829 -1912).
*1885 nov., in Nice she sings the part of Leïla in Bizet's "Les Pêcheurs de perles" with a grand success. She sings Halévy's "L'éclair".
*1888 May. Milan. Triumph in the Scala with "Hamlet".
*1890 She creates Cavalleria rusticana in Florence. She sings in Rome, then in Naples.
*1891 November: she sang the French premiere of "Cavalleria rusticana" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
*1892 Travel in Spain; November: great success in "Carmen" at the Opéra-Comique.
*1893 "Carmen" in London's Covent Garden, and in Windsor by Queen Victoria. September: she leaves for the United States. "Carmen" in the Metropolitan Opera in New York, then in Boston, Chicago and Montreal.
*1894 July: she buys the medieval castle of Cabrières in the Causses.
*1895 October: she creates Massenet's "La Navarraise" in Paris; Tour in Russia: Sankt-Petersburg, performance in front of the tsar.
*1896 November: creation of Massenet's "Sapho", with a libretto from a novel of Alphonse Daudet.
*1899-1900 Travel in Orient
*1902 She creates in the Opéra-Comique Reynaldo Hahn's "La Carmélite".
*1903 April: Hector Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust".
*1904 October: in the Gaîté, Massenet's "Hérodiade".
*1906 Germany and Austria
*1910-1912 Travel around the world
*1914 July: Berlin December: 4th tour in the United States
*1915 USA
*1916 Benefit concerts in Montpellier, Marseille, Toulon, Nice and Cannes, for the Croix-rouge.
*1919 For the last time in the Opéra-Comique.
*1920 She records for Pathé.
*1922 Tour in England, Scotland and Ireland, with Alfred Cortot and Jacques Thibaud.
*1925 5th tour in the USA.
*1925 She retired from the stage. She returned in her beloved Midi to teach. She lived in different houses in Millau and surroundings.
*1942 January, 6: Death in a clinic in Montpellier.

Discography

*in "Les Introuvables du Chant Français" EMI, 2005

References

*Contrucci, Jean: "Emma Calvé, la diva du siècle", Albin Michel 1989, ISBN 2-226-03541-9
*Girard, Georges: "Emma Calvé : étoile dans tous les cieux, cigale sous tous les ciels", Rodez : Cahiers rouergats, 1971; No de :"Les Cahiers rouergats", 1971, ISSN 0184-5365, n °5, 1971
*Girard, Georges: "Emma Calvé, la cantatrice sous tous les ciels", Éditions Grands Causses
*Prévost, M.: "Dictionnaire de biographie française", t. 7 , Letouzey, 1956

External links

* [http://www.marstonrecords.com/calve/calve_liner.htm Liner notes from "The Complete 1902 G&T, 1920 Pathé and "Mapleson Cylinder" Recordings"]
* [http://turbolyne55.free.fr/emma.htm Photo of Cabrières]