Géori Boué
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Géori Boué (born October 16, 1918) is a French soprano, particularly associated with the French repertory, especially Thais.
[edit] 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 the Capitole 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 the Opéra-Comique in 1939, as Mimi in La Bohème, other roles included: Lakmé and Manon. Her debut at the Palais 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, at La Scala in Milan, as Mélisande under Victor De Sabata in 1949, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, the Bolshoi 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 by Marcel 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 under Thomas Beecham, and Thais.
Boué appeared in the movie La Malibran, by Sacha Guitry, in 1943.
[edit] 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
