Jeanne Maubourg (November 10, 1873 – 9 May 1953) was a Belgian operatic

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

. She sang with the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York from 1909 to 1914, taught voice in Montreal, and was heard in Canadian radio dramas in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early life

Jeanne Maubourg was born Jeanne Elisabeth Goffaux in

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

, the daughter of Alexis Hippolyte Goffaux, a musical conductor, and Marie Anne Nottet. (Her birth record gives 1873 as the date; most secondary sources give 1875 as the year.) JeanneMaubourg1900

Career

Maubourg, a

, began her opera career at the

Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

in 1897. She performed at London's

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 sit ...

for four seasons beginning in 1900. She was a member of the

from 1909 to 1914. She was in the cast when

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

conducted the American premiere of

Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...

's '' Armide'' in 1910, sharing the stage with

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...

Olive Fremstad Olive Fremstad (14 March 1871 – 21 April 1951) was the stage name of Anna Olivia Rundquist, a celebrated Swedish-American dramatic soprano who sang in both the mezzo-soprano and soprano ranges.Rosenthal and Warrack (1979) p. 180 Background Bo ...

Louise Homer Louise Beatty Homer (April 30, 1871May 6, 1947) was an American operatic dramatic contralto who had an active international career in concert halls and opera houses from 1895 until her retirement in 1932. After a brief stint as a vaudeville en ...

and

Alma Gluck Alma Gluck (May 11, 1884October 27, 1938) was a Romanian-born American lyric soprano. Biography Gluck was born as Reba Feinsohn to a Jewish family in Iași, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn. Gluck moved to the United States at a ...

. She was also in the American premieres of '' Le donne curiose'' in 1912 and '' Boris Gudonov'' in 1913, both under Toscanini's baton. Her "large repertoire" also included roles in ''

La Périchole ''La Périchole'' () is an opéra bouffe in three acts with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The opera depicts the mutual love of two impoverished Peruvian street singers – too poor to afford a marriage ...

'', ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

'', ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...

'', ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'', ''Hansel and Gretel''. ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

,'' ''

Tales of Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...

'', ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...

'', ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'', ''

Manon Lescaut ''The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut'' ( ) is a novel by Antoine François Prévost. It tells a tragic love story about a nobleman (known only as the Chevalier des Grieux) and a common woman (Manon Lescaut). Their decisio ...

'', ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...

'', '' La traviata'', and ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

''. She sang in an operetta on Broadway, ''

The Lilac Domino ''Der lila Domino'' (''The Lilac Domino'') is an operetta in three acts composed by Charles Cuvillier. The original German libretto is by Emmerich von Gatti and Bela Jenbach, about a gambling count who falls in love at a masquerade ball with a n ...

'' (1914–1915). She had a reputation for being an intelligent and good-natured performer. In 1915 she joined the Chicago Opera for a year, and in 1916 she performed in Montreal, in ''

Gillette de Narbonne ''Gillette de Narbonne'' is an ''opéra comique'' in three acts, with music by Edmond Audran and words by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. It is based on a fabliau from ''The Decameron'' and depicts a rejected bride posing as another woman to dece ...

''. She stayed in Montreal, and she was a member of the Canadian Operetta Society from 1923. Maubourg taught voice students in Montreal, counting among her students

Pierrette Alarie Pierrette Alarie, (November 9, 1921 – July 10, 2011) was a French Canadian coloratura soprano. She was married to the French-Canadian tenor Léopold Simoneau. Life and career Born in Montreal, Quebec, Alarie was the daughter of a choirmaster ...

, Fleurette Beauchamp-Huppé, Estelle Mauffette, and

Monique Leyrac Monique Leyrac, (26 February 1928 – 15 December 2019) was a Canadian singer and actress who popularized many songs by French-Canadian composers. Early life Leyrac was born Monique Tremblay in Montreal, Quebec.Alexis Luko, Rachelle Taylor an ...

. Film appearances by Maubourg included a role in ''Le Pére Chopin'' (1945). She hosted a program on Radio Canada, and acted in the longrunning radio dramas ''La Pension Velder'' (1938–1942) and ''Métropole'' (1943–1956).

Personal life

Maubourg married three times. She married her first husband, French opera singer Claude Marie Bede Benedict, in 1911. They divorced in 1915. She married Canadian conductor Albert Roberval in 1918. She married French actor

Auguste Aramini Auguste Aramini (14 May 1875 – 27 May 1950) was a French-born Canadian singer. Aramini was born in Agen, France. He is thought to have emigrated to Canada as a singer in the theatre performance company of René Harmant (floruit, fl. 1897– ...

in 1947. She died in 1953, in Montreal, in her late seventies. There is a street named for her in her adopted city. Several recordings by Maubourg, from about 1917 and 1924, survive.

References

External links

* * * * Ashot Arakelyan (September 19, 2014)
"Forgotten Opera Singers: Jeanne Maubourg"
''Forgotten Opera Singers'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Maubourg, Jeanne 1873 births 1953 deaths Belgian opera singers Belgian women singers Operatic mezzo-sopranos Belgian actresses People from Namur (city)