Lucien Fugère
Encyclopedia
Lucien Fugère was a French baritone
, particularly associated with the French repertory and Mozart roles, he enjoyed an exceptionally long career, singing into his 80s.
, working on repairing statues and gargoyles of Notre Dame
with his brothers. He also joined, and got noticed, in the singing societies popular in Paris at that time.
Fugère was working as a jewellery representative when he decided to try his luck at a career in music. After taking private voice lessons (he was refused by the Paris Conservatory) he made his debut as a chansonnier at the Bataclan
in 1870. He then made his debut in operetta
at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens
, in 1874, in La branche cassée by Serpette.
The turning point of his career came in 1877, when he made his debut at
the Opéra-Comique
, as Jean, in Les noces de Jeannette
by Victor Massé
. He was to perform there regularly until 1920, creating roles in more than 30 operas, notably, the father in Louise
by Gustave Charpentier
, Henri de Valois in Le roi malgré lui
by Emmanuel Chabrier
, and for Jules Massenet
, Pandolfe in Cendrillon
, the Devil in Grisélidis
, des Grieux in Le portrait de Manon
, Sancho in Don Quichotte
, Boniface in Le jongleur de Notre-Dame
, and for André Messager
, Maitre André in Fortunio
, Buvat in Le chevalier d'Harmental
, and le Duc de Longueville in La Basoche
. In total he sang in over 100 roles including Mozart's Figaro, Leporello
, Papageno
, Falstaff
, and appeared at the Gaîté-Lyrique from 1908 until 1919.
Two Chabrier songs are dedicated to Fugère: Sommation irrespectueuse and Pastorales des cochons roses, giving the premiere of the latter in 1890.
In 1898, having sung at the re-opening of the Salle Favart, Fugère was presented to President Faure
from whom he received the Cross of the Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.
Fugère sang le Duc de Longueville one last time at the Opéra-Comique in 1929, and his final performance on stage was as Rossini's Bartolo
, at the "Trianon-Lyrique", in 1933, at the age of 85.
His voice was described as "a basse chantante of easy baritone range, with ringing clarity in the lower register and skilful refinement in the upper". He recorded for Zonophone
in 1902, and then for Columbia
in 1928-1930 (re-issued by Symposium).
An outstanding singing-actor and a fine musician, Lucien Fugère enjoyed one of the longest operatic careers of all time. When asked about his longevity, he said to an interviewer, "If a man doesn't sing well by the time he is 83, when will he, I'd like to know!" He has been compared to the Swiss tenor Hugues Cuénod
, who made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
at the age of 84.
He became a singing teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, was a member of Comité de l'Association des Artistes dramatiques, and a member of the 'Commission départementales des Sites et Monuments naturels de caractère artistique de la Charente-Inférieure'.
Lucien's brother Paul Fugère (1851-c1920) was also an operatic baritone.
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
, particularly associated with the French repertory and Mozart roles, he enjoyed an exceptionally long career, singing into his 80s.
Life and career
Fugère’s father died when he was 6, and at the age of 12 he was apprenticed as a masonMasonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
, working on repairing statues and gargoyles of Notre Dame
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
with his brothers. He also joined, and got noticed, in the singing societies popular in Paris at that time.
Fugère was working as a jewellery representative when he decided to try his luck at a career in music. After taking private voice lessons (he was refused by the Paris Conservatory) he made his debut as a chansonnier at the Bataclan
Bataclan (theatre)
The Bataclan is a "salle de spectacle" at 50 boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. It was built in 1864 by the architect Charles Duval. Its name refers to Ba-Ta-Clan, an operetta by Offenbach...
in 1870. He then made his debut in operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens
Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens
The Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens is a Parisian theatre which was founded in 1855 by the composer Jacques Offenbach for the performance of opéra bouffe and operetta. The current theatre is located in the 2nd arrondissement at 4 rue Monsigny with an entrance at the back at 65 Passage Choiseul. In...
, in 1874, in La branche cassée by Serpette.
The turning point of his career came in 1877, when he made his debut at
the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
, as Jean, in Les noces de Jeannette
Les noces de Jeannette
Les Noces de Jeannette is an opéra comique in one act by Victor Massé to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré...
by Victor Massé
Victor Massé
Victor Massé was a French composer.-Biography:...
. He was to perform there regularly until 1920, creating roles in more than 30 operas, notably, the father in Louise
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
by Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier, , born in Dieuze, Moselle on 25 June 1860, died Paris, 18 February 1956) was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.-Life and career:...
, Henri de Valois in Le roi malgré lui
Le roi malgré lui
Le roi malgré lui is an opéra-comique in three acts by Emmanuel Chabrier with an original libretto by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani. The opera is revived occasionally, but has not found a place in the repertory, mainly because of the poor libretto...
by Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well...
, and for Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
, Pandolfe in Cendrillon
Cendrillon
Cendrillon is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale. The scenario was conceived by Massenet and Cain at the Cavendish Hotel while they were in London for the...
, the Devil in Grisélidis
Grisélidis
Grisélidis is an opera in three acts and a prologue by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand. It is based on the play by the same authors first performed at the Comédie-Française on 15 May 1891, which is drawn from the medieval tale of 'patient Grissil'...
, des Grieux in Le portrait de Manon
Le portrait de Manon
Le portrait de Manon is an opera in one act by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Georges Boyer. It is a sequel to Massenet's 1884 opera Manon, widely regarded to be his masterpiece. Le portrait de Manon, however, hardly achieved even a fraction of the original's acclaim and is rarely performed...
, Sancho in Don Quichotte
Don Quichotte
Don Quichotte is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn.Massenet's comédie-héroïque, like so many other dramatized versions of the story of Don Quixote, relates only indirectly to the great novel by Miguel de Cervantes...
, Boniface in Le jongleur de Notre-Dame
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Maurice Léna. It was first performed in Monte Carlo on 18 February 1902.-History:...
, and for André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
, Maitre André in Fortunio
Fortunio (opera)
Fortunio comédie lyrique or opera in 4 Acts and 5 tableaux by composer André Messager. The French language libretto by Gaston Arman de Caillavet and Robert de Flers is based on Alfred de Musset's comedy Le Chandelier. A stage work in the opéra comique tradition, the opera contains some spoken...
, Buvat in Le chevalier d'Harmental
Le chevalier d'Harmental
Le chevalier d’Harmental is an opéra comique in five acts of 1896, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Paul Ferrier, after Dumas père and Auguste Maquet. The play of the novel – in five acts, a prologue and ten tableaux – was first performed on 16 July 1849 at the...
, and le Duc de Longueville in La Basoche
La Basoche
La Basoche is an opéra comique in three acts of 1890, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Carré.-History:Messager's 1889 opérette Le mari de la reine at Bouffes-Parisiens was a disappointment, and the composer and his wife were struggling to afford even basic necessities...
. In total he sang in over 100 roles including Mozart's Figaro, Leporello
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Papageno
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, and appeared at the Gaîté-Lyrique from 1908 until 1919.
Two Chabrier songs are dedicated to Fugère: Sommation irrespectueuse and Pastorales des cochons roses, giving the premiere of the latter in 1890.
In 1898, having sung at the re-opening of the Salle Favart, Fugère was presented to President Faure
Félix Faure
Félix François Faure was President of France from 1895 until his death.-Biography:Félix François Faure was born in Paris, the son of a small furniture maker...
from whom he received the Cross of the Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.
Fugère sang le Duc de Longueville one last time at the Opéra-Comique in 1929, and his final performance on stage was as Rossini's Bartolo
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, at the "Trianon-Lyrique", in 1933, at the age of 85.
His voice was described as "a basse chantante of easy baritone range, with ringing clarity in the lower register and skilful refinement in the upper". He recorded for Zonophone
Zonophone
Zonophone, early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company, but was applied to the records and machines sold by Seaman from 1899-1900 to 1903...
in 1902, and then for Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1928-1930 (re-issued by Symposium).
An outstanding singing-actor and a fine musician, Lucien Fugère enjoyed one of the longest operatic careers of all time. When asked about his longevity, he said to an interviewer, "If a man doesn't sing well by the time he is 83, when will he, I'd like to know!" He has been compared to the Swiss tenor Hugues Cuénod
Hugues Cuénod
Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod was a Swiss tenor known for his performances in opera, operetta, both traditional and musical theatre, and on the concert stage, where he was particularly known for his light, romantic and expressive interpretation of mélodie...
, who made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
at the age of 84.
He became a singing teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, was a member of Comité de l'Association des Artistes dramatiques, and a member of the 'Commission départementales des Sites et Monuments naturels de caractère artistique de la Charente-Inférieure'.
Lucien's brother Paul Fugère (1851-c1920) was also an operatic baritone.