Augustine Allix (4 May 1823 − 15 January 1901) was a French singer, pianist and teacher of music and song, having been part of the close entourage of the family of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

during the latter's exile to

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

Life

Born in

Fontenay-le-Comte Fontenay-le-Comte (; Poitevin dialect, Poitevin: ''Funtenaes'' or ''Fintenè'') is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Vendée Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loire Regions of France ...

on 4 May 1823, Augustine Allix, together with her sisters Thérèse-Mirza,

Bathilde Bathilde is a Germanic given name, with variants as Bathilda, Balthild, Bathildis' or Böðvildr. It may refer to: Persons *Böðvildr, Germanic legendary character *Balthild of Chelles (c. 626–680), Merovingian queen *Bathilde d'Orléans (1750 ...

, Eudoxie and Céline, ran an institution for young girls in their home town between 1842 and 1847. The Allix sisters' boarding school then moved to Paris in 1847, with Augustine assisting her sister Eudoxie in the direction of the institution's music course. A student of the singer and educator

François Delsarte François Alexandre Nicolas Chéri Delsarte (; 19 November 1811 – 20 July 1871) was a French singer, orator, and coach. Though he achieved some success as a composer, he is chiefly known as a teacher in singing and declamation (oratory). Appl ...

, Allix began a singing career on the Parisian stage that same year. Between 1847 and 1853, she performed several melodies and compositions, including ''La Danse au bois'', a romance composed by

Oscar Comettant Oscar Comettant (18 April 1819 – 24 January 1898) was a 19th-century French composer, musicologist and traveller. Biography Commettant studied the piano and musical composition at the Conservatoire de Paris (1839–1843) and made a long tour ...

and written by Adolphe Favre ''Le Lac'' by

Louis Niedermeyer Abraham Louis Niedermeyer (27 April 180214 March 1861) was a Swiss and naturalized French composer. He chiefly wrote church music and a few operas. He also taught music and took over the École Choron, renamed École Niedermeyer de Paris, a schoo ...

, ''La Sympathie'' by , ''Ruth et Booz'', a poem composed by Eugène Villemain and written by

Antoine Elwart Antoine Aimable Elie Elwart (19 September 1808 – 14 October 1877) was a French composer and musicologist. Biography Childhood Elwart was born in Paris in the family home. At the age of ten, he became a chorister at the mastery of the Saint-Eu ...

, ''Le Mariage de Hasard'', composed by Eudoxie Péan de la Roche-Jagu. In 1854, Allix settled in Jersey, where many French exiles fleeing the Second Empire regime settled, including the poet and writer

with his family, as well as his two brothers Jules Allix, a republican activist, and Émile Allix, a young medical student, who soon became Victor Hugo's doctor. She gave concerts for the proscribed, attended by Hugo, gave music lessons and sang songs to the words of Hugo's poems. She frequented Hugo's family during his years of exile, eventually becoming very close to his son Charles Hugo, with whom she was said to have had a romantic relationship. When the Hugo family were expelled from Jersey and moved to Guernsey towards the end of 1855, Augustine also moved there and remained until October 1861. She continued to give concerts and piano lessons for the outcasts and remained very close to the Hugos, being a regular visitor to their home at

Hauteville House Hauteville House is a house where Victor Hugo lived during his exile from France, located at 38 Hauteville in St. Peter Port in Guernsey. In March 1927, the centenary year of Romanticism, Hugo's descendants Jeanne, Jean, Marguerite and Franço ...

. Allix was among those photographed by Charles Hugo and by

Auguste Vacquerie Auguste Vacquerie (19 November 1819–19 February 1895) was a French journalist and man of letters. Biography Vacquerie was born at Villequier (Seine-Maritime) on 19 November 1819. He was from his earliest days an admirer of Victor Hugo, ...

, a friend of Victor Hugo, during the period of exile in Jersey and Guernsey. Several photographs taken by Hugo and Vacquerie were collected in an album given to Augustine, known as the '' Allix Album'' or ''Souvenir de Marine Terrace'', now kept in the

Maison de Victor Hugo Maison de Victor Hugo (, ''Victor Hugo's House'') is a writer's house museum located where Victor Hugo lived for 16 years between 1832 and 1848. It is one of the 14 City of Paris' Museums that have been incorporated since January 1, 2013 in the ...

. On her return to France in 1861, Allix taught music and singing in Paris, following the teaching method created by Émile Chevé and supported by her sister Eudoxie Allix, founder of music classes. In 1865, at a ceremony for the inauguration of a bust of Émile Chevé, she sang a cantata composed by

Théodore Ritter Toussaint Prévost, known under the pseudonym Théodore Ritter (5 April 1840 – 6 April 1886) was a 19th-century French composer and pianist. Biography The son of composer Eugène Prévost, he was a student of Hector Berlioz. He began his care ...

for the occasion. She died at her Paris home on 15 January 1901 at the age of 77.

References

External links

ALLIX Augustine
on maitron.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Allix, Augustine 1823 births 1901 deaths People from Fontenay-le-Comte Voice teachers 19th-century French women opera singers