- Géori Boué
Géori Boué (born
October 16 ,1918 ) is a French soprano, particularly associated with the French repertory, especially "Thais".Life and career
Born Georgette Boué, in
Toulouse , she studied at the Music Conservatory of her native city (solfege, piano, harp, voice) with Claude Jean. After winning a first prize in a vocal competition, she made her debut at theCapitole de Toulouse in 1934, aged only 16, in small roles, such as Urbain in "Les Huguenots ", Siebel in "Faust", Stéfano in "Roméo et Juliette ", quickly followed by bigger parts such as the lead role in "Mireille ", Micaela in "Carmen ".She made her
Paris debut at theOpéra-Comique in 1939, as Mimiin "La Bohème ", other roles included: "Lakmé " and "Manon ". Her debut at thePalais Garnier took place in 1942, as Marguerite in "Faust", she sang there a wide variety of roles such as Juliette in "Roméo et Juliette", "Thais", Salomé in "Hérodiade ", "Louise", Gilda in "Rigoletto ", Violetta in "La traviata ", Desdémone in "Otello ", "Tosca ", "Madama Butterfly ", Tatiana in "Eugene Onegin", etc.On the international scene, she appeared at the
Liceo in Barcelona, atLa Scala in Milan, as Mélisande underVictor De Sabata in 1949, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, theBolshoi in Moscow, as Tatyana, in 1956.She also sang in
operetta such as "La belle Hélène ", "The Merry Widow ", and in contemporary operas such as "Le fou" and "Les Adieux" byMarcel Landowski .Boué had a clear voice of considerable power, renowned for her impeccable diction, she was widely regarded as one of the greatest French soprano of the 1940s. She was married to French baritone
Roger Bourdin , with whom she can be heard in two recordings, "Faust" underThomas Beecham , and "Thais".Boué appeared in the movie "La Malibran", by
Sacha Guitry , in 1943.Sources
* Alain Pâris, "Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle" (2 vols), Ed. Robert Laffont (Bouquins, Paris 1982, 4th Edn. 1995, 5th Edn 2004). ISBN 2-221-06660-X
* Roland Mancini and Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), "Guide de l’opéra", Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6
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