Gabriel Bacquier

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Gabriel Bacquier (born May 17, 1924) is a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories, he is considered a fine singing-actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles.[1]

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[edit] Life and career

Gabriel Bacquier was born in Béziers, France and studied at the Paris Music Conservatory, graduating in 1950. He joined the opera company of José Beckmans from 1950 to 1952, and then became a member of the opera La Monnaie in Brussels from 1953 until 1956, where he sang the French repertory, both opera and operetta.

He made his debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1956, as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and at the Palais Garnier in 1958, as Germont in La traviata, followed by the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1960, as Don Giovanni. That was the start of his international career. He was invited at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1962, as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. From 1963, Bacquier sang regularly at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House in London.

Bacquier made his American debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1962, as the High Priest in Samson et Dalila, which was also his debut role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, on October 17, 1964, where he was one of the few French singers to sing there for 18 consecutive seasons.[2] He also sang at the San Francisco Opera making his debut there, as Michele in Il tabarro in 1971.

Though closely associated with the French repertory , especially Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, Bacquier resisted being typecast as a "French baritone" and added many Italian roles to his repertory, such as Riccardo in Ballo in maschera, Melitone in Forza del destino, Posa in Don Carlos, Iago in Otello, Scarpia in Tosca, as well as comic roles such as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Pasquale, Falstaff, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, etc.

He also created the title roles of Jean-Pierre Rivière's Pour un Don Quichotte (La Scala, March 10, 1961) and Daniel-Lesur 's Andréa del Sarto (Opéra de Marseille, 1969), as well as singing in the world premiere of Maurice Thiriet 's La véridique histoire du Docteur at the Opéra-Comique.[3]

Bacquier was also active as a teacher, first at the vocal school of the Paris Opera, and later at the Paris Conservatory. He is married to French soprano, Michèle Command, with whom he often gives masterclasses mostly in Europe. Bacquier left an impressive discography.

[edit] Awards and Distinctions

Bacquier has received numerous awards and distinctions in his native France, including Officier de L'Ordre national du Mérite, Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.[4]

[edit] Selected recordings

  • Mozart: Don Giovanni (Gabriel Bacquier (Giovanni), Joan Sutherland (Anna), Pilar Lorengar (Elvira) , Werner Krenn (Ottavio), Donald Gramm (Leporello), Marilyn Horne (Zerlina) , Leonardo Monreale (Masetto), Clifford Grant (Commendatore), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra). Conductor: Richard Bonynge. Decca 448 973-2
  • Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Roberto Alagna, Natalie Dessay, Sumi Jo, Leontina Vaduva, Catherine Dubosc, José Van Dam, Michel Sénéchal, Ludovic Tezier, Gabriel Bacquier, Doris Lamprecht, Gilles Ragon, Jean-Marie Frémeau, Benoit Boutet, Gérard Théruel, Juanita Lascarro, Orchestre & Choeur de L'Opéra de Lyon). Conductor: Kent Nagano. Erato 0630143302
  • Massenet: Manon (Beverly Sills, Gabriel Bacquier, Gérard Souzay, Michel Trempont, Nico Castel, New Philharmonia Orchestra). Conductor: Julius Rudel. Deutsche Grammophon 247002
  • Bizet: La jolie fille de Perth (June Anderson, Alfredo Kraus, Gino Quilico, José Van Dam, Gabriel Bacquier, Margarita Zimmermann, Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique). Conductor: Georges Prêtre. EMI 7475598
  • Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles - Jeanine Micheau (Leila), Alain Vanzo (Nadir), Gabriel Bacquier (Zurgia), Lucien Lovano (Nourabad), Chœur de la RTF, Orchestre Radio-Lyrique, Conductor: Manuel Rosenthal. Paris, June 25, 1959. GALA GL 100.504

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rosenthal, Harold and John Warrack. (1979, 2nd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-19-311318-X.
  2. ^ Metropolitan Opera performances (MetOpera database)
  3. ^ Biography of Gabriel Bacquier at the Théâtre d'Opérette de Lyon
  4. ^ Biography of Gabriel Bacquier at the Théâtre d'Opérette de Lyon

Further 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
  • D. Hamilton (ed.),The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to the World of Opera (Simon and Schuster, New York 1987). ISBN 0-671-16732-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
  • Opera News, William V. Madison, July 2007.
  • Sadie, Stanley and Christina Bashford. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 272. ISBN 0-935859-92-6.
  • Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell,(2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 2, p. 450-1. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.
  • Warrack, John and Ewan West. (1996 3rd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-19-280028-0.

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