Hugues Cuénod
Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod (French pronunciation: [yɡ kɥeˈno]; 26 June 1902 – 6 December 2010)[1][2][3][4] was a Swiss classical tenor, sometimes placed in the haute-contre category,[5] and music educator known for his performances in international opera, operetta, both traditional and musical theatre, and on the concert stage, where he was particularly known for his clear, light, romantic and expressive poised interpretation of mélodie (French art song).[6]
A master of diction and technique, his repertoire encompassed everything from the medieval chansons of
Cuénod contributed to the revival of baroque music, performing compositions by Francesco Cavalli and others. A distinguished singer of Johann Sebastian Bach's music, he was particularly praised for his interpretation of the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion.[6] He had the longest career of any recorded vocalist or performer in history:[citation needed] he gave his first performance in Paris in 1928, appearing in musical comedies, later in his career gravitating more towards concert and opera, he became best known in the role as Emperor Altoum, appearing opposite Plácido Domingo in Puccini's Turandot.
Biography
Cuénod was born in
He started his career as a concert recitalist and singer. In 1928, he made his stage debut in Ernst Krenek's Jonny spielt auf in Paris, and in 1929 he sang for the first time in the United States in Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet. From 1930 to 1933, he was active in Geneva, and then in Paris from 1934 to 1937. During the seasons 1937 to 1939, he made an extensive concert tour of North America. From 1940 to 1946, he taught at the Geneva Conservatory.
In 1943 he resumed his operatic career singing in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus in Geneva. He subsequently sang at Milan's La Scala (1951), the Glyndebourne Festival (from 1954 on) and London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1954, 1956 and 1958). Cuénod was known for his roles as Basilio in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, the Astrologer in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, and a role written for him by Stravinsky, Sellem in The Rake's Progress. In pre-war Vienna and Paris, he frequented aristocratic salons and worked with Nadia Boulanger, with whom he made a pioneering set of recordings of madrigals by Monteverdi in 1937; after the war, the new early-music boom relied heavily on his light, unmannered, natural sound.
On February 4, 1969, Cuénod performed
He holds the record as the oldest person to make a debut at the Metropolitan Opera. He debuted as the Emperor Altoum in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot on 12 March 1987 at the age of 84.[12] He repeated the role the following season for a total of 14 performances. His very last appearance on stage was in 1994, aged 91, when he sang M. Triquet in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Théâtre du Jorat in Mézières.[3] After retiring from the concert circuit, he became an educator of the musical arts in England, with Belgian international soprano Suzanne Danco.
Awards and honours
Cuénod's recording of
Personal life
Cuénod's native language was French, but he was fluent in English, German and Italian. He resided with his life partner, Alfred Augustin (41 years his junior), in the Vaud region of Switzerland. They lived in the Château de Lully, an 18th-century castle that belonged to his grandfather, who purchased the property in 1899.[citation needed]
Cuénod
References
- ^ "En souvenir de... Hugues Cuénod", December 2010, hommages.ch (in French)
- ^ a b "Hugues Cuénod Dies at 108; Versatile, Light-Voiced Tenor" by Margalit Fox, The New York Times (7 December 2010)
- ^ a b c (in French) "Le ténor vaudois Hugues Cuénod décède à 108 ans", 24 heures (7 December 2010)
- ^ a b Obituary, The Guardian (8 December 2010)
- ^ Obituary, The Times (9 December 2010)
- ^ a b c Obituary, The Daily Telegraph (7 December 2010)
- YouTube[time needed]
- ^ Hudry 1999, p. 1.
- ^ Instant Encore Archived 2014-04-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 April 2014
- ^ Reinthaler, Joan (February 5, 1969). "Old Music Gets New Sound". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
Last night at the Smithsonian tenor Hughes Cuenod and lutenist Raymond Lynch collaborated on a program of early music. None of it was written after 1640.
- ^ Songs and Dances of John Dowland at Discogs
- ^ Crutchfield, Will (March 8, 1987). "Cuénod, at 84, makes peace with Puccini". The New York Times.
- ^ "World of Song Award", Lotte Lehmann League
- ^ Westphal, Matthew (27 June 2007). "The World's Oldest Living Tenor Celebrates His 105th Birthday (And He's a Newlywed, No Less!)". Playbill Arts. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
Sources
- Hudry, François (1999). Hugues Cuénod with an Agile Voice: Conversations With François Hudry. Translated by Albert Fuller. Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-1-57647-029-9.
Further reading
- Bradley S. Klapper, Tenor Cuénod, 105, Credits Small Voice, Associated Press, 25 June 2007. Retrieved on 14 February 2008.
- ISBN 0-02-871271-4
- "The Gift of Idleness" by Rob Godfrey, 9 September 2014
- Jérôme Spycket, Un diable de musicien: Hugues Cuénod, Payot, 1979. ISBN 2-601-00388-X
- Profile from the Lotte Lehmann Foundation (includes a one-hour Internet radio program focusing on Cuénod)
External links
- Hugues Cuénod discography at Discogs
- Discography, medieval.org