Maximilien-Nicolas Bouvet (1854 – 1943) was a French operatic

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

. Bouvet was born at La Rochelle. In 1875, he appeared at the Eldorado café-concert in Paris with the song ''Les myrtes son flétries'' by Gustave Nadaud and de Faure. He made his debut at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liege, and appeared at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques in Paris in the premiere of ''Fanfan la Tulipe'' (title role) on 21 October 1882, followed in 1883 by '' La fille de Madame Angot'', ''L'amour qui passe'' and ''

François les bas-bleus ''François les bas-bleus'' is an opéra comique in three acts of 1883, with a French libretto by Ernest Dubreuil, Eugène Humbert, Paul Burani, and music by Firmin Bernicat, completed by André Messager. Background Bernicat had worked for some ...

''.Noel E & Stoullig E. '' Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique, 9eme edition, 1883.'' G Charpentier et Cie, Paris, 1884. His debut at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris 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 ...

was in 1884 as Figaro in ''

Le Barbier de Seville ''The Barber of Seville or the Useless Precaution'' (french: Le Barbier de Séville ou la Précaution inutile) is a French play by Pierre Beaumarchais, with original music by Antoine-Laurent Baudron. It was initially conceived as an opéra com ...

''. At the Opéra-Comique he also sang Alfio (''Cavalleria rusticana''), Oreste (''Iphigénie en Tauride''), Garrido (''La Navarraise''), the Dutchman (''Flying Dutchman''), Marcel (''La Boheme''), Albert (''Werther''), Escamillo (''Carmen''), Ourrias (''Mireille'') and Zurga (''Les pêcheurs de perles''). In 1891 he sang Wotan in Siegfried in the house premiere at La Monnaie (Bruxelles), and from 1891 to 1894 he was a guest artist at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. From 1905 he taught, including a post from 1905 to 1911 at the Paris Conservatoire. His final documented stage appearance was in the role of the Inquisitor in Don Carlos and took place in 1911 at the Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris, alongside Feodor Chaliapin. He died in Paris. A compilation of 13 of his records has been reissued on CD by Marston Records.

Roles created

*Title role in ''Fanfan la Tulipe'' (Paris, 1882) *Title role in ''

'' (Paris, 1883) *Henri de Valois, 'King of Poland' in '' Le roi malgré lui'' (Paris, 1887) *Prince Karnac in '' Le roi d'Ys'' (Paris, 1888) *The Bishop of Blois in '' Esclarmonde'' (Paris, 1889) *Spendius in '' Salammbô'' (Brussels, 1890) *Merlier in '' L'attaque du moulin'' (Paris, 1893) *Harès in '' Messaline'' (Monte Carlo, 1899)

References

1854 births 1943 deaths People from La Rochelle Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris French operatic baritones 20th-century French male opera singers 19th-century French male opera singers 20th-century French male musicians {{France-opera-singer-stub