Julie d'Aubigny
Encyclopedia
Julie d'Aubigny better known as Mademoiselle Maupin or La Maupin, was a 17th-century swordswoman and opera
singer. Her tumultuous career and flamboyant life were the subject of gossip and colorful stories in her own time, and inspired romances and novels afterwards. Théophile Gautier
loosely based the title character, Madeleine de Maupin, of his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) on Julie.
, the Master of the Horse
for the king Louis XIV
. Her father trained her in dancing, literacy, drawing and fencing, possibly for self-defense. In her teens she became a mistress of the Count d'Armagnac and through him was introduced in the court. The count had her married to sieur de Maupin of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
. Soon after the affair ended, her husband received an administrative position in the south of France but she decided to stay in the city.
In the following years, d'Aubigny gathered a reputation as a wild woman who hit shopkeepers and fought duel
s with young aristocrats. She became involved with an assistant fencing master named Serannes. In about 1688, when lieutenant-general of the police Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie
tried to apprehend Serannes for killing a man in an illegal duel, the pair fled the city to Marseille
.
In Marseille, d'Aubigny and Serannes gave dueling exhibitions, sang and told stories in inns. When dueling, d'Aubigny dressed in male clothing but did not conceal her sex, which served to increase interest in her. While in Marseille, it is said she joined the music academy of Pierre Gaultier
, singing in the theatre under her maiden name.
Eventually she grew bored of Serannes and became involved with a young lady. When the girl's parents put her away in a convent in Avignon, d'Aubigny followed, entering the convent as a novice
. There she stole a body of a dead nun, placed it in the bed of her lover and set the room afire to cover their escape. Their affair lasted for three months before the young lady returned to her family. D'Aubigny was charged in absentia
—as a male—with kidnapping
, body snatching, arson
and failing to appear before the tribunal. The sentence was death by fire.
D'Aubigny left for Paris and again earned her living by singing. Near Poitiers
she met an old musician named Marechal, who began to teach her until his alcoholism got worse and he sent her on her way to Paris. Along the way, she continued to earn her living singing dressed as a man.
In Villeperdue
she fought a victorious duel against three squires and drove her blade through the shoulder of one of them. The next day she asked about his health and found out he was Louis-Joseph d'Albert Luynes, son of the Duke of Luynes
. The next evening one of his companions came to offer his apologies and she appeared in his room in female clothing. They became lovers.
After the Count d'Albert recovered and had to return to his unit, d'Aubigny continued to Rouen
. There she met Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
, another singer and began a new affair with him. They continued together towards Paris. In Marais she contacted Count d'Armagnac for help against the sentence hanging over her and he convinced the king to nullify it.
hired Thévenard in 1690, but initially refused her. She befriended an old singer Bouvard who convinced Jean Nicolas Francin, master of the king's household, to accept her in the opera. She debuted at the Paris Opéra as Pallas Athena in Cadmus et Hermione
by Lully
the same year.
Due to both her beautiful contralto
voice and her flamboyance, she became quite popular with the audience. Her relationship with her fellow actors and actresses was tempestuous. From the first she was enamoured with Marie Le Rochois
, at the time the Opera's star. This quickly embroiled her in arguments and even duels with other members of the troupe. She also fell in love with Fanchon Moreau
, another singer who was the mistress of the Great Dauphin, and tried to commit suicide when she was rejected.
to wait for calmer times. According to the legend, she was briefly a mistress of Maximilian Emanuel
, Elector
of Bavaria
.
According to documented theatre history she appeared at the Opéra du Quai au Foin
from November 1697 to July 1698, after which she returned to the Paris Opera, where she replaced Marie Le Rochois (who had retired), from the end of the year. Until 1705 La Maupin sang in new operas by Pascal Collasse
, André Cardinal Destouches
and André Campra
. In 1702, André Campra
composed the role of Clorinde in Tancrède specifically for her bas-dessus (contralto) range. She later reconciled with her husband and lived with him until his death in 1701 or 1705. She appeared for the last time in La Vénitienne by Michel de La Barre
(1705). After she retired from the opera in 1705, she entered a convent in Provence
, where she died in 1707.
, when asked to write a story about d'Aubigny, instead produced the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin, published in 1835, taking aspects of the real La Maupin as a starting point, and naming some of the characters after her and her acquaintances. The central character's life was viewed through a Romantic lens
as "all for love". D'Albert and his mistress Rosette are both in love with the androgynous Théodore de Sérannes, whom neither of them knows is really Madeleine de Maupin. A performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It
, in which La Maupin, who is passing as Théodore, plays the part of Rosalind playing Ganymede, mirrors the cross-dressing masquerade of the heroine. The celebration of a purely sensual, yet unconsummated love was found deeply troubling to the 19th-century critics and press.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer. Her tumultuous career and flamboyant life were the subject of gossip and colorful stories in her own time, and inspired romances and novels afterwards. Théophile Gautier
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
loosely based the title character, Madeleine de Maupin, of his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) on Julie.
Early life
Julie d'Aubigny was born 1670 to the family of Gaston d'Aubigny, who was a secretary to Louis de Lorraine-Guise, comte d'ArmagnacCount of Armagnac
The following is a list of rulers of the county of Armagnac:-House of Armagnac:*William Count of Fézensac and Armagnac ?– 960*Bernard the Suspicious, First count privative of Armagnac 960– ?*Gerald I Trancaléon ? –1020*Bernard I Tumapaler 1020–1061...
, the Master of the Horse
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
for the king Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. Her father trained her in dancing, literacy, drawing and fencing, possibly for self-defense. In her teens she became a mistress of the Count d'Armagnac and through him was introduced in the court. The count had her married to sieur de Maupin of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
. Soon after the affair ended, her husband received an administrative position in the south of France but she decided to stay in the city.
Wild reputation and career
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
s with young aristocrats. She became involved with an assistant fencing master named Serannes. In about 1688, when lieutenant-general of the police Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie
Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie
Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie is considered to be the founder of the first modern police force.-Early career:Born in 1625 in Limoges, France to a poor family, Gabriel Nicolas made a wealthy marriage in 1645 and took the name of Reynie, a minor lordship with an annual income of 200 pounds. He was a...
tried to apprehend Serannes for killing a man in an illegal duel, the pair fled the city to Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
In Marseille, d'Aubigny and Serannes gave dueling exhibitions, sang and told stories in inns. When dueling, d'Aubigny dressed in male clothing but did not conceal her sex, which served to increase interest in her. While in Marseille, it is said she joined the music academy of Pierre Gaultier
Pierre Gaultier
Pierre Gaultier was a French scholar, lutenist and composer....
, singing in the theatre under her maiden name.
Eventually she grew bored of Serannes and became involved with a young lady. When the girl's parents put her away in a convent in Avignon, d'Aubigny followed, entering the convent as a novice
Novitiate
Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....
. There she stole a body of a dead nun, placed it in the bed of her lover and set the room afire to cover their escape. Their affair lasted for three months before the young lady returned to her family. D'Aubigny was charged in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
—as a male—with kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, body snatching, arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
and failing to appear before the tribunal. The sentence was death by fire.
D'Aubigny left for Paris and again earned her living by singing. Near Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
she met an old musician named Marechal, who began to teach her until his alcoholism got worse and he sent her on her way to Paris. Along the way, she continued to earn her living singing dressed as a man.
In Villeperdue
Villeperdue
Villeperdue is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. The Château de Boisbonnard is a feature of the commune....
she fought a victorious duel against three squires and drove her blade through the shoulder of one of them. The next day she asked about his health and found out he was Louis-Joseph d'Albert Luynes, son of the Duke of Luynes
Dukes of Luynes
The Duke of Luynes is a territorial name belonging to the noble French house of Albert. Luynes is, today, a commune of the Indre-et-Loire département in France . The family of Albert, which sprang from Thomas Alberti The Duke of Luynes is a territorial name belonging to the noble French house of...
. The next evening one of his companions came to offer his apologies and she appeared in his room in female clothing. They became lovers.
After the Count d'Albert recovered and had to return to his unit, d'Aubigny continued to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
. There she met Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard was a French operatic baritone .Thévenard was born at Orléans or possibly Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1690, he studied under the composer André Cardinal Destouches and went on to become a member of the Académie Royale de Musique...
, another singer and began a new affair with him. They continued together towards Paris. In Marais she contacted Count d'Armagnac for help against the sentence hanging over her and he convinced the king to nullify it.
Opera
In Paris she began to use the name of Mademoiselle Maupin. The Paris OpéraAcadémie Royale de Musique
The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...
hired Thévenard in 1690, but initially refused her. She befriended an old singer Bouvard who convinced Jean Nicolas Francin, master of the king's household, to accept her in the opera. She debuted at the Paris Opéra as Pallas Athena in Cadmus et Hermione
Cadmus et Hermione
Cadmus et Hermione is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was first performed on April 27, 1673, by the Paris Opera at the Jeu de Béquet.The prologue, in praise of King Louis...
by Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
the same year.
Due to both her beautiful contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
voice and her flamboyance, she became quite popular with the audience. Her relationship with her fellow actors and actresses was tempestuous. From the first she was enamoured with Marie Le Rochois
Marie Le Rochois
Marie Le Rochois was a French operatic soprano who belonged to the Académie Royale de Musique. She is often referred to as Marthe Le Rochois or simply La Rochois.-Opera career:...
, at the time the Opera's star. This quickly embroiled her in arguments and even duels with other members of the troupe. She also fell in love with Fanchon Moreau
Fanchon Moreau
Françoise 'Fanchon' Moreau was a French operatic soprano who belonged to the Académie Royale de Musique, also a celebrated beauty who was a favourite of the Great Dauphin.-Opera career:...
, another singer who was the mistress of the Great Dauphin, and tried to commit suicide when she was rejected.
Duellist
On the side, she became a professional duelist. When she fought three noblemen in a court ball around 1693, she fell afoul of the king's law that forbade duels in Paris. She fled to BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
to wait for calmer times. According to the legend, she was briefly a mistress of Maximilian Emanuel
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian II , also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last Governor of the Spanish Netherlands and duke of Luxembourg...
, Elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
.
According to documented theatre history she appeared at the Opéra du Quai au Foin
Opéra du Quai au Foin
The Opéra du Quai au Foin was the first public theatre in Brussels. Opened on 24 January 1682, it was abandoned in 1699 and turned into a warehouse.-History:...
from November 1697 to July 1698, after which she returned to the Paris Opera, where she replaced Marie Le Rochois (who had retired), from the end of the year. Until 1705 La Maupin sang in new operas by Pascal Collasse
Pascal Collasse
Pascal Collasse was a French composer of the Baroque era. Born in Rheims, Collasse became a disciple of Jean-Baptiste Lully during the latter's domination of the French operatic stage...
, André Cardinal Destouches
André Cardinal Destouches
André Cardinal Destouches was a French composer best known for the opéra-ballet Les élémens....
and André Campra
André Campra
André Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...
. In 1702, André Campra
André Campra
André Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...
composed the role of Clorinde in Tancrède specifically for her bas-dessus (contralto) range. She later reconciled with her husband and lived with him until his death in 1701 or 1705. She appeared for the last time in La Vénitienne by Michel de La Barre
Michel de la Barre
Michel de la Barre was a French composer and renowned flautist known as being the first person to publish solo flute music...
(1705). After she retired from the opera in 1705, she entered a convent in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, where she died in 1707.
Gautier's Mademoiselle Maupin
Théophile GautierThéophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
, when asked to write a story about d'Aubigny, instead produced the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin, published in 1835, taking aspects of the real La Maupin as a starting point, and naming some of the characters after her and her acquaintances. The central character's life was viewed through a Romantic lens
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
as "all for love". D'Albert and his mistress Rosette are both in love with the androgynous Théodore de Sérannes, whom neither of them knows is really Madeleine de Maupin. A performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
, in which La Maupin, who is passing as Théodore, plays the part of Rosalind playing Ganymede, mirrors the cross-dressing masquerade of the heroine. The celebration of a purely sensual, yet unconsummated love was found deeply troubling to the 19th-century critics and press.
Opera roles created
- Magician in Henri DesmaretsHenri DesmaretsHenri Desmarets was a French composer of the Baroque period primarily known for his stage works, although he also composed sacred music as well as secular cantatas, songs and instrumental works....
's DidonDidon (Desmarets)Didon is a tragédie en musique or opera in 1 prologue and 5 Acts by composer Henri Desmarets. The work uses a French language libretto by Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Saintonge...
(Paris, 1693) - Clorinde in André CampraAndré CampraAndré Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...
's TancrèdeTancrèdeTancrède is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by composer André Campra and librettist Antoine Danchet, based on Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso....
(Paris, 1702) - Diana and Thétis in Campra's Iphigénie en TaurideIphigénie en Tauride (Campra)Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by the French composers Henri Desmarets and André Campra. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto is by Joseph-François Duché de Vancy with additions by Antoine Danchet...
(Paris, 1704) - Mélanie and Vénus in Campra's AlcineAlcineAlcine is an opera by the French composer André Campra. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts...
(Paris, 1705)
Sources
- Sadie, Julie Anne (1992), 'Maupin' in The New Grove Dictionary of OperaNew Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7