- Pierre Jélyotte
Pierre Jélyotte (
April 13 ,1713 ,Lasseube -September 11 ,1797 ,Oloron ) was a French operatictenor , particularly associated with works by Rameau, Lully, Campra, and Destouches.Life and career
Born Pierre Grichon, he studied in Toulouse (voice, harpsichord, guitar, violin, composition) and made his stage debut in Paris as a singer at the
Concert Spirituel in 1733.That same year, he made his debut at the
Opéra de Paris , in "Les fêtes grecques et romaines", byFrançois Colin de Blamont . He thereafter created several roles in opera byJean Philippe Rameau , such as; "Hippolyte et Aricie ", "Les Indes galantes ", "Dardanus", and "Zoroastre ", as well as in opera byJean-Baptiste Lully ,André Campra , andAndré Cardinal Destouches . In all he sang some 150 roles.He often appeared at Court in
Fontainebleau , where he sang Daphnis in "Daphnis et Alcinadure" byJean-Joseph de Mondonville , and Colin in "Le devin du village " byJean-Jacques Rousseau .In 1755, he retired from the Opéra, singing in "
Castor et Pollux ", but continued singing at Fontainebleau until 1765. He then joined the "Orchestre du Roi" (the King's Orchestra) as a violinist and guitarist, and later joined the private orchestra ofMadame de Pompadour as a cellist, and wrote a few "comédie-ballet", notably "Zeliska".Widely regarded as the "greatest singer of Europe" in his time, his voice type was then known as
haute-contre , his voice was by all account powerful, and in some ways prefigured a new vocal type closer to thetenor as we know it today, opening the doors to a new style of singing, asAdolphe Nourrit andGilbert Duprez would soon demonstrate.ources
* "Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique", R. Mancini & J-J. Rouvereux, (Fayard, 1986), ISBN 2-213-01563-6
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