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Perhaps more than any other European country, France has evolved a
set of operatic traditions and a style of performance with strong national
characteristics. In part, this is the result of a policy of state support of
the arts, allowing for the existence of permanent repertoire opera
companies. The troupe of the Opera, for example, can trace an
astonishing continuity from its creation in 1667 right through the
present - which makes it, after the Dresden Staatskapelle, Europe's
second oldest music group.
Another factor contributing to this strong stylistic profile is the fact that
the National Conservatory of Music, founded in 1793, has traditionally
recruited its teachers from among the performers in the two opera
companies in Paris. In this way, singers and instrumentalists at any time
had in all likelihood studied with their predecessors on the stage and in
the pit.
Coaches, too, helped to pass on the tradition: Viseur, for example, after
being head coach ('chef de chant') at the Opera-Comique for three
decades, moved on to the Conservatory as a teacher of repertoire. In this
manner he coached both the first cast of Pélleas et Melisande in 1902
and the principals of the famous recording of 1941, Irene Joachim and
Jacques Jansen. Later on, Joachim and Jansen also became professors at
the Conservatoire and helped form the next generation of French
singers.
This style and these traditions all but disappeared in the early nineteen
seventies when France joined the international opera circuit. But until
then they still were very much in force, as it can be seen from these
French Radio broadcasts. It must be noted that foreign opera was always
performed in translation, very much in the style of French opera.
Contrary to what was usual in the rest of Europe and in the United
States, French Radio at the time never broadcast from the Opera or the
Opera-Comique. Rather, they preferred to produce their own studio
performances. Until 1955 or thereabouts, the operas were usually
performed in an abridged version, with a voice-over narrative linking the
several scenes.
CARMEN(large
excerpts)
Germaine Cernay, Raymond Berthaud, Ginette Guillamat, Lucien
Lovano, D.-E. Ingelbrecht
November 9, 1942
LE ROI
D'YS (radio abridgement)
Germaine Cernay, Ginette
Guillamat, Gaston Micheletti, D.-E. Ingelbrecht
1943
THAIS(radio
abridgement)
Elen Dosia, Paul Cabanel, Georges Noré, Jules Gressier
June 13, 1944
LES CONTES
D'HOFFMANN (radio abridgement)
Charles Richard, Renée
Doria, Marthe Brega, Jeanne Rolland. André Pernet, Jules Gressier
1946
MIGNON(excerpts)
Charles Richard, Solange Michel, Odette Turba-Rabier, Jules Gressier
April
30, 1947
MIREILLE(radio
abridgement)
Martha Angelici, Charles Richard, Michel Dens, Jules Gressier
July 9, 1948
AïDA(radio
abridgement)
Maria Giovanna Vitale, Georgette Frozier-Marot, José
Luccioni, Charles Cambon, Jules Gressier
August 13, 1948
LA
TRAVIATA (radio abridgement)
Odette Turba-Rabier,
Charles Richard, Charles Cambon, Jules Gressier
October 25, 1948
OTELLO(radio
abridgement)
Maria Giovanna Vitale, José Luccioni, Charles Cambon,
Jules Gressier
December 18, 1948
PÉNÉLOPE(complete)
Régine Crespin, Raoul Jobin, Robert Massard, D.-E. Ingelbrecht
May
24, 1956
SAMSON ET
DALILA (act 2)
Solange Michel, René Verdière,
Charles Cambon, Louis de Froment
February 28, 1957
LA
DAMNATION DE FAUST (complete)
Régine Crespin,
Nicolai Gedda, Ernest Blanc, Igor Markevitch
September 24, 1959
ORPHÉE(complete)
Rita Gorr, Nadine Sautereau, Edith Selig, Charles Bruck
March 16, 1960
IDOMÉNÉE(complete)
Janine Micheau, Berthe Monmart, Jacqueline Sellier, Rémy Corazza,
Gustave Cloëz
Circa 1960
HÉRODIADE(complete)
Suzanne Sarroca, Lucienne Delvaux, Paul Finel, Robert Massard, Jacques Mars,
Pierre Delvaux
February 1, 1963
LA
NAVARRAISE (complete)
Geneviève Moizan, Alain
Vanzo, Jacques Mars, Jean-Claude Hartemann
November 29, 1963
DON CARLOS(complete)
Suzanne Sarroca, Lyne Dourian, Georges Liccioni, Matteo Manuguerra, Jacques
Mars, Pierre-Michel Lecomte
1967
SIGURD(complete)
Andréa Guiot, Andrée Esposito, Guy Chauvet, Robert Massard, Jules
Bastin, Manuel Rosenthal
1974
LES
HUGUENOTS (complete)
Louise Lebrun, Katie Clarke,
Alain Vanzo, Robert Massard, Jules Bastin, Will Roy, Henri Gallois
January
12, 1976
SELECTIONS
FROM OPERATIC CONCERTS
Gabriel Bacquier, Gustave Bottiaux, Géori Boué,
Paul Cabanel, Régine Créspin, Xavier Depraz, Albert Lance,
Jacqueline Lucazeau, José Luccioni, Berthe Monmart, Janine Micheau,
Michel Sénéchal, Teresa Stich-Randall