- Robert Massard
Robert Massard (born
August 15 ,1925 ) is a Frenchbaritone , primarily associated with the French repertory, one of the few outstanding French opera singers of the postwar era.Career
Massard was born in
Pau ,France , and was mainly self-taught. After singing in his native province, Massard made his professional debut at theParis Opera in 1952, as the High Priest in "Samson et Dalila ", shorthly followed by Valentin in "Faust". The same year, he also made his debut at theAix-en-Provence Festival , as Thoas in "Iphigénie en Tauride ". His career rapidly took an international dimension with debuts in 1955, atLa Scala and theGlyndebourne Festival , both as Ramiro in "L'Heure espagnole ". Oreste in "Iphigénie en Tauride" was his debut role at theMaggio Musicale Fiorentino , theRoyal Opera House in London, and theEdinburgh Festival . Massard also appeared in North and South America, notably at theLyric Opera of Chicago , atCarnegie Hall in New York, theTeatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Henceforth considered one of the best French baritone of his generation, he was internationally acclaimed as Valentin in "Faust", Escamillo in "Carmen ", Fieramosca in "Benvenuto Cellini", and Golaud in "Pelléas et Mélisande ".Massard also enjoyed considerable success in the italian repertory, singing Enrico in "
Lucia di Lammermoor ", notably at the Paris Opera in 1960, oppositeJoan Sutherland , and Riccardo in "I Puritani " in London in 1961, again with Sutherland. He also appeared as "Rigoletto " and Germont in "La Traviata ". Massard also sang in contemporary works, such as "Le Roi David" and "L'école des maris" by Emmanuel Bondeville, and "Médée" byDarius Milhaud .Massard made many recordings, the two most famous being "Faust", opposite Joan Sutherland,
Franco Corelli ,Nicolai Ghiaurov , and "Carmen", oppositeMaria Callas ,Nicolai Gedda and Andréa Guiot, withGeorges Pretre conducting.Robert Massard was also active as a teacher at the Conservatoire de musique of
Bordeaux .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
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