Raymonde Delaunois

Raymonde Delaunois (born in Paris 12 October 1885, died in Corbeil 29 August 1984) was a Belgian opera singer (mezzo-soprano),

Education

Born to a single mother, Raymonde was raised in Frameries near Mons (Belgium). One day she sang on a school event and was encouraged to follow further training. She took courses at the Conservatoire in Mons and later in Brussels.

On August 14th 1909 she married writer Louis Thomas (Perpignan 1885 - Brussels 1962).

Debussy

Settling in Paris, the young couple became involved with the inner circle around Claude Debussy. Louis Thomas organised exclusive concerts where Raymonde sang, accompanied by pianist Ennemond Trillat. They did much to promote Debussy.Soon Raymonde Delaunois performed also outside Paris. She was the first to sing the Songs of Bilitis in Brussels.

She also made tours in Continental Europe.In Prague and Budapest she sang in opera houses, performing the leading roles in Mignon and Carmen.

At the Metropolitan Opera in New York

In 1914, despite the War, Raymonde signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera New York, where she found a European atmosphere, with Giulio Gatti-Casazza (1869-1940), former director of the Scala, Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) as conductor, Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) and Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), after them Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957) as the prominent male stars.

The mezzo soprano Delaunois started with small parts:
* Siegrune in "Die Walküre",
* a Geisha in "Iris" by Mascagni,
* a Flower-maiden in "Parsifal",
* Puck in "Oberon" by Weber,
* Myrtale and also Crobyle in "Thaïs" by Massenet (directed by Pierre Monteux).

Followed more important roles:
* Musetta in "La bohème",
* Lola in "Cavalleria rusticana",
* Cherubina in "The Marriage of Figaro",
* Siebel in "Faust",
* Stephanie in "Roméo et Juliette" by Gounod (with Beniamino Gigli in the main role),
* Mallika in "Lakmé" by Léo Delibes,
* Preziosilla in "La forza del destino" by Verdi (Caruso was the star)
* Féodor in "Boris Godounov" by Moussorgsky (with Chaliapin).
* Irma in "Louise" by Gustave Charpentier

She sang leading roles in several Met creations:
* Don Ella in "Francesca da Rimini" by Riccardo Zandonai (1916),
* Tyltyl in "L'oiseau bleu" (The Blue Bird) by Albert Wolff, based upon work by Maurice Maeterlinck (1919),
* Annette in "The Polish Jew" by Karel Weis (1862-1944) (1921),
* Juliet in "Die tote Stadt" by Erich Korngold, based upon Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach (1922),
* Lehl in "The Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov (1922)
* Kaled in "Le roi de Lahore" by Jules Massenet (1924).

As is obvious, Delaunois rarely appeared in 'grand repertoire' operas, but more in recent operas, which could be considered as 'difficult'.Working at the Met, also meant extensive tours every year to the biggest American cities.

Return to Europe

Raymonde Delaunois never achieved the status of ‘opera diva’ and remained within the range of appreciated actresses, without reaching the top position. The female stars in her time were, at the Met, Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967) and Rosa Ponselle (1897-1981).

At the end of 1926, her contract with the Met ended after twelve seasons, 32 roles and 315 performances. Delaunois returned to France, and appeared in title roles of operas like "Carmen", "Mignon" and "La fille de Madame Angot" (Alexandre Charles Lecocq).

She sang for the last time in public in 1943. She continued to teach song and piano.

Having always lived in Paris, she moved to a pensioners house in 1982. There she died in 1984, almost a hundred years old.

ources

* A. Van den Abeele, "Louis Thomas", biography (unpublished)
* Harvard University (USA), Howard D. Rothschild Papers.
* National archives of Québec in Montréal, Wilfrid Pelletier Papers.
* K. J. Kutsch & C. Riemens, "Grosses Sängerlexikon", K. G. Saur, Bern/München, 1997, Band 2, p 823.