Denise Duval

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Denise Duval (23 October 1921 – 25 January 2016)[1] was a French soprano, best known for her performances in the works of Francis Poulenc on stage and in recital. During an international career, Duval created the roles of Thérèse in Les mamelles de Tirésias, Elle in La voix humaine, and excelled in the role of Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites,[2] leaving recordings of these and several other of her main roles.

Life and career

Duval was born in

Grand Theatre de Bordeaux in 1942, her Santuzza described by the Liberté du Sud-Ouest critic as “painful, fierce, tragic”, leading to other principal roles in Bordeaux.[3]

In Paris she was disappointed at her audition at the

Madame Butterfly on 5 March 1947.[4] The same year she was discovered by Poulenc, rehearsing Cio-Cio-san the composer immediately recognizing her as the artist he was seeking for his first opera Les Mamelles de Tirésias that June; she worked closely with Poulenc for the rest of his life.[3]

Paul Payen and Denise Duval in Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Paris, 1947

Her repertoire at the Salle Favart went on over 20 years to cover the title role in

les Mamelles de Tirésias, Francesca in le Oui des Jeunes Filles, Valentine in ll était un Petit Navire, and the title role in Dolorès.[4] She sang Madame Fabien in the French premiere of Vol de nuit (Volo di notte) by Luigi Dallapiccola
in 1960.

At the

Le Roi d'Ys, Portia in Le Marchand de Venise and Les Indes Galantes[5]

Outside France Duval sang in Italy (

Le Rossignol and L'Heure espagnole in Brussels
.

In 1960 Poulenc wrote his La Courte Paille song cycle (poems by Maurice Carême) for Duval – or rather "for her to sing to her six-year-old son" (although she did not premiere it)[7] – and later for her also La Dame de Monte-Carlo, in 1961.

Following incorrect administration of cortisone treatment she retired in 1965 from performance and moved to the home her husband had built in Switzerland, while retaining some teaching at the École française de musique.[2] She died in Bex, aged 94.

Grove describes her as a “beautiful woman with great dramatic intelligence, she was a most gifted singing actress”.[6]

In 2003 a biography by Bruno Bérenguer, Denise Duval, was published by Symétrie.[8]

Roles created

Other contemporary works included Der Tod des Grigori Rasputin by Nikolas Nabokov (Cologne, 1959), Les Amants captifs by Pierre Capdevielle (Bordeaux, 1960) and Le Serment by Tansman (Nice, 1963).[3]

Recordings

As well as recordings of all three Poulenc operas, these include Franz Lehár's La Veuve Joyeuse opposite Jacques Jansen for Pathé under Jules Gressier, Florent Schmitt's Psaume XLVII Op. 38 under Georges Tzipine, and Ravel's L'Heure espagnole (Concepción) with Opéra-Comique forces under André Cluytens.

In 2009 a 1963 recording of Pelléas et Mélisande from Glyndebourne under Vittorio Gui brought back Duval's performance of Mélisande.[9] From French radio broadcasts, recordings of Phryné by Saint-Saens in 1960 and Geneviève de Brabant by Offenbach in 1956 (both title roles) have been issued, while her Périchole of 1950 has yet to be released.

A DVD entitled Francis Poulenc & Friends, of archive French television broadcasts, includes operatic excerpts and two melodies sung by Duval with Poulenc accompanying, in 1959.[10]

In 1970 Dominique Delouche filmed Duval in the role of Elle in 'playback' to her 1960 audio recording of La Voix humaine; in 1998 Duval gave a master class on the role on the stage of the Opéra-Comique with Sophie Fournier accompanied by Alexandre Tharaud at the piano.[11]

References

  1. ^ Patrick O'Connor (7 February 2016). "Denise Duval obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b Obituary – Denise Duval. Opera, April 2016, Vol 67 No 4, p448-449.
  3. ^ a b c d e Laurent, François. Hommage : Denise Duval. Diapason, No.644, March 2016, p16-17.
  4. ^ a b Wolff, Stéphane. Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique. André Bonne, Paris, 1953.
  5. ^ a b Gourret J. Dictionnaire des cantatrices de l'Opera de Paris. Editions Albatros, Paris, 1987.
  6. ^ a b André Tubeuf, Elizabeth Forbes. Denise Duval. In: In: New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed Sadie S. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
  7. ^ Francis Poulenc. Journal de mes melodies. Cicero editeurs, 1993, p62.
  8. ISBN 2-914373-04-X
    .
  9. ^ Obituary in Le Monde, 27 January 2016 accessed 23 April 2016.
  10. ^ EMI Classics, classic archive 42. DVB 3102009; 2005.
  11. ^ Doriane Films product description for Denise Duval La Voix Humaine DVD, 2009 (with masterclass). accessed 24 April 2016.

Bibliography

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

External links
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