Roger Soyer
Encyclopedia
Roger Soyer is a French operatic bass-baritone
, particularly associated with the French repertory and with Mozart.
Soyer was born in Paris
, and first studied privately with G. Daum, before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19. There he was a pupil of Georges Jouatte and Louis Musy
. He made his professional debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
in 1962, creating the role of Mac Creag in Gilbert Bécaud
's opera L'opéra d'Aran.
He sang on French Radio in 1964, in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie
, and made his debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival
in 1965, as Pluton in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. The same year he made his debut at the Opéra-Comique
, as Colline, in La Bohème
, and at the Palais Garnier
, as Mephisto in Gounod's Faust
.
On the international scene, he appeared at the Wexford Festival in La jolie fille de Perth
, and at the Edinburgh Festival
as Don Giovanni
, a role he became closely associated with, singing it at Aix-en-Provence, Munich, Vienna, Florence, Chicago, New York.
Other notable roles include; Ferrando in Il trovatore
, Procida in Les vêpres siciliennes
, Titurel in Parsifal
, Rangoni in Boris Godunov
, Pope Clement in Benvenuto Cellini
, etc.
Soyer has a beautiful and smoothly produced voice His numerous recordings (operatic and otherwise) include performances of the following three French operas: Lakmé
, opposite Mady Mesplé
and Charles Burles
, under Alain Lombard
; Werther
, opposite Victoria de los Angeles
and Nicolai Gedda
, under Georges Prêtre
; and Benvenuto Cellini, opposite Gedda and Robert Massard
, under Sir Colin Davis
.
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
, particularly associated with the French repertory and with Mozart.
Soyer was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and first studied privately with G. Daum, before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19. There he was a pupil of Georges Jouatte and Louis Musy
Louis Musy
Louis Musy was a French operatic baritone and stage director principally active at the Paris Opéra-Comique...
. He made his professional debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
in 1962, creating the role of Mac Creag in Gilbert Bécaud
Gilbert Bécaud
Gilbert Bécaud was a French singer, composer and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-known hits are "Nathalie" and "Et Maintenant", a 1961 release that became an English language hit as "What Now My Love"...
's opera L'opéra d'Aran.
He sang on French Radio in 1964, in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie
Hippolyte et Aricie
Hippolyte et Aricie was the first opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, which opened to great controversy at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris on October 1, 1733. The libretto, by Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, is based on Racine's tragedy Phèdre. The opera takes the traditional form of a tragédie en...
, and made his debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The festival international d'art lyrique is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in the month of July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental music.-Establishment:The...
in 1965, as Pluton in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. The same year 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 Colline, in La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, and at the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
, as Mephisto in Gounod's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
.
On the international scene, he appeared at the Wexford Festival in La jolie fille de Perth
La jolie fille de Perth
La jolie fille de Perth is an opera in four acts by Georges Bizet , from a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, after the novel by Sir Walter Scott...
, and at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
as Don Giovanni
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...
, a role he became closely associated with, singing it at Aix-en-Provence, Munich, Vienna, Florence, Chicago, New York.
Other notable roles include; Ferrando in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, Procida in Les vêpres siciliennes
Les vêpres siciliennes
Les vêpres siciliennes is an opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi...
, Titurel in Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
, Rangoni in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, Pope Clement in Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (opera)
Benvenuto Cellini is an opera in two acts with music by Hector Berlioz and libretto by Léon de Wailly and Henri Auguste Barbier. It was the first of Berlioz's operas. The story is loosely based on the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The opera is technically very challenging...
, etc.
Soyer has a beautiful and smoothly produced voice His numerous recordings (operatic and otherwise) include performances of the following three French operas: Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...
, opposite Mady Mesplé
Mady Mesplé
Mady Mesplé is a French opera singer, the leading high coloratura soprano of her generation in France, sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin.-Biography:...
and Charles Burles
Charles Burles
Charles Burles is a French lyric tenor, primarily associated with the French repertory, both opera and operetta.Burles was born in Marseille, France,where he studied voice with Léon Cazauran. He made his stage debut in 1958, in Toulon...
, under Alain Lombard
Alain Lombard
Alain Lombard is a French conductor.-Career:Lombard attended the Conservatoire de Paris, where his studied violin with Line Talleul and conducting with Gaston Poulet. He subsequently secured an appointment at the Opéra National de Lyon in 1961, and later became principal conductor from 1961 to 1965...
; Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
, opposite Victoria de los Angeles
Victoria de los Ángeles
Victoria de los Ángeles was a Spanish Catalan operatic soprano and recitalist whose career began in the early 1940s and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Her obituary in The Times noted that she must be counted “among the finest singers of the second half...
and Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
, under Georges Prêtre
Georges Prêtre
- Biography :He was born in Waziers , and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting under André Cluytens among others at the Conservatoire de Paris. Amongst his early musical interests were jazz and trumpet. After graduating, he conducted in a...
; and Benvenuto Cellini, opposite Gedda and Robert Massard
Robert Massard
Robert Massard is a French baritone, 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...
, under Sir Colin Davis
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
.
Sources
- Guide de l’opéra, Mancini & Rouveroux, (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6