Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre

Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre, also known as Madame Dugazon (June 18 1755 - September 22 1821), was a French operatic mezzo-soprano, actress and dancer.

Born in Berlin as the daughter of a dancing master at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, she returned to Paris with her parents in 1765. She made her stage debut at the age of twelve as a dancer, but it was as an actress "with songs" that she made her debut at the Comédie Italienne in 1774 in Grétry's "Sylvain". She was at once admitted "pensionnaire" and in 1775 "sociétaire".

She became a star of the Comédie Italienne (which became the Opéra Comique), where she created over 60 roles. She was married to the actor Jean-Henry Gourgaud, who went by the stage name Dugazon. The couple soon divorced, but continued to perform at the Comédie Italienne for more than twenty years. The two kinds of parts with which she was especially identified--young mothers and women past their first youth--are still called "jeunes dugazons" and "mères dugazons." Examples of the first are Jenny in "La dame blanche" and Berthe de Simiane in "Les mousquetaires de la reine"; of the second, Marguerite in "Le Pré aux clercs" and the queen in "La part du diable". The type of voice for these roles is a light mezzo soprano or a dark-colored soprano leggero.

Roles created

*1779: Nicolette in Aucassin et Nicolette (Grétry)

References

*Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), "The Oxford Dictionary of Opera", 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5

Persondata
NAME=Lefebvre, Louise-Rosalie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Madame Dugazon
SHORT DESCRIPTION=French actress, dancer, and singer
DATE OF BIRTH=1755
PLACE OF BIRTH=Berlin, Germany
DATE OF DEATH=1821
PLACE OF DEATH=