Mady Mesplé | |
|---|---|
_-_53Fi2754_(cropped).jpg) Mesplé in 1975 | |
| Born | Madeleine Mesplé (1931-03-07)7 March 1931 Toulouse, France |
| Died | 30 May 2020(2020-05-30) (aged 89) Toulouse, France |
| Occupation | Operaticcoloratura soprano |
| Years active | 1953–1985 |
| Awards | |
Mady Mesplé (7 March 1931 – 30 May 2020) was a French opera singer who was considered the leadingcoloratura soprano of her generation in France, and sometimes heralded as the successor toMado Robin, withLakmé by Delibes becoming her signature role internationally.[1]
She sang professionally for more than thirty years, with a repertoire that ranged from operetta to contemporary works. After retiring from the stage, she started teaching. Mesplé was the archetype of a light coloratura soprano: technically secure, musically distinctive, and with a charming stage presence. When she developed Parkinson's disease in the mid-1990s, she responded by writing a book about her career and the development of her illness.
Born Madeleine Mesplé inToulouse on 7 March 1931, she came from a modest family background. Her father Pierre was an accountant and her mother Yvonne (Sesquiere) a secretary.[2] She took up music at the age of four, and her mother's recognition of her promise, confirmed by a teacher, led her to attend theToulouse Regional Conservatory from the age of seven.[3] She studied piano and voice, graduating with a gold medal. She played the piano in a local ballroom orchestra for a while and later left for Paris for complementary voice lessons with French sopranoJanine Micheau.[4]
Mesplé made her professional debut inLiège in January 1953, in the title role ofLakmé by Delibes, a role with which she remained closely associated throughout her career, singing it an estimated 145 times.[3][4] Lakmé was also her debut role atLa Monnaie in Brussels in 1954. She quickly established herself in the standard lyric and coloratura roles of the French repertoire, such as Olympia inThe Tales of Hoffmann, Philline inMignon, Leila inLes pêcheurs de perles, Juliette inRoméo et Juliette, Ophélie inHamlet, the title roles ofDinorah andManon, and Sophie inWerther.[3][4]
She made her debut at theAix-en-Provence Festival in 1956, as Zémire in Grétry'sZémire et Azor.[5] The same year she first sang at theOpéra-Comique, again as Lakmé. HerPalais Garnier debut took place in 1958, as Constance in Poulenc'sDialogues des Carmélites. There in 1960, she took over fromJoan Sutherland in a new production of Donizetti'sLucia di Lammermoor.[4] Other Italian roles included Amina in Bellini'sLa sonnambula, Rosina in Rossini'sIl barbiere di Siviglia, Norina in Donizetti'sDon Pasquale and Gilda in Verdi'sRigoletto.[4][5] She sang only a few German roles: the Queen of the Night in Mozart'sDie Zauberflöte, Sophie inDer Rosenkavalier, and Zerbinetta inAriadne auf Naxos, both by Richard Strauss.[4]
Mesplé also enjoyed a successful career abroad, appearing at theBolshoi Theatre in Moscow, theRoyal Opera House in London,La Scala in Milan,[3] theMetropolitan Opera in New York, where she appeared as Gilda,[5] andTeatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where she sang the role of Olympia.[3]
During the 1960s, Mesplé appeared frequently on French television and started exploring works by contemporary musicians.Charles Chaynes composed hisFour Poems of Sappho for her,[1] and in 1963 she appeared as Kitty in the French premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti'sThe Last Savage.[5] She was also the first to sing the French version of Henze'sElegy for Young Lovers in 1965, andPierre Boulez chose Mesplé for his performances of Schoenberg'sJacob's Ladder.[1][6]
During the 1970s she added operettas to her repertoire, especially byJacques Offenbach, such asLa Vie parisienne,Orphée aux enfers andLa Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, oppositeRégine Crespin.[7]
Mesplé retired from the stage in 1985 and turned to teaching at theÉcole Normale de Musique de Paris and at the Music Conservatory of Lyon.[3][4] After her retirement, she continued to perform recitals until the early 1990s.[2]
Mesplé left a discography encompassing opera, operetta, and mélodies, including complete opera and operetta recordings of rarely performed works such as Auber'sFra Diavolo andManon Lescaut, Lecocq'sLa fille de Madame Angot, Planquette'sLes cloches de Corneville, Ganne'sLes saltimbanques, Messager'sVéronique, and Hahn'sCiboulette.[8][1] She recordedLakmé, alongsideCharles Burles andRoger Soyer, conducted byAlain Lombard.[4]
The archetype of the light French coloratura soprano, Mady Mesplé was noted for her technical security, musical refinement and charming stage presence. Her voice was particularly recognisable for its quick vibrato, intensely focused intonation, the instrumental-like quality of her runs and an amazing upper register extending easily to high A-flat.[4][1] The French baritoneLudovic Tézier tweeted after her death: "Mady Mesplé s'est envolée, légère comme l'élégance".[3] ("Mady Mesplé has flown away, lightly as elegance".)
In the mid-1990s, Mesplé began suffering fromParkinson's disease, leading her to work closely with the "Association France Parkinson" and to write a book, entitledLa Voix du Corps (The Voice of the Body), about her career and the development of her illness.[1][9] She died on 30 May 2020 in her native Toulouse.[3][4]
