Juliette-Joséphine Simon-Girard (; 8 May 1859 – 1954) was a French soprano, principally in operetta.Gänzl K. Juliette Simon-Girard. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. Her father, , was an actor at the Comédie Française, and her mother was Caroline Girard, of the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

Career

Girard was born at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. After studies at the Conservatoire in 1876 (in the class of Henri de Régnier) she made her debut at the

Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques The Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques () was a theatre in Paris in the 19th and 20th centuries. Opened first in 1832 in the site of the old Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique on the Boulevard du Temple, under Frédérick Lemaître it became a noted ...

as Carlinette in Offenbach's ''La foire Saint-Laurent'' on 10 February 1877, and then became an overnight star by creating the role of Serpolette in '' Les cloches de Corneville'' on 19 April 1877.Martin J. ''Nos artistes des théâtres et concerts.'' Paul Ollendorff, Paris, 1895. During the run of ''Les cloches de Corneville'' she met and married the well-known tenor Simon-Max, thereafter becoming Mme Simon-Girard. At the age of 19, she created the title role in Offenbach’s '' Madame Favart''; then ''

La fille du tambour-major ''La fille du tambour-major'' (, ''The Drum Major's Daughter'') is an opéra comique in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. It was one of the composer's last works, premiered less than a year bef ...

'' in 1879 becoming one of Paris’s most popular performers, prominent on the city's stages for 30 years. At the Folies-Dramatiques she also created roles in ''Beau Nicolas'' (1880), ''Les poupées de l'infante'' (1881), ''Fanfan la tulipe'' (1882), ''La princesse des Canaries'' (1883); moving to the

Théâtre des Nouveautés The Théâtre des Nouveautés ("Theatre of the New") is a Parisian theatre built in 1921 and located at 24 boulevard Poissonnière (Paris, 9th arr.). The name was also used by several earlier Parisian theatre companies and their buildings, begin ...

she was in the premiere of ''La vie mondaine''. On return to the Folies-Dramatiques she replaced Ugalde in ''Les petits mousquetaires'' and then created the title role in ''

La fauvette du temple LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

'' (17 November 1885). After singing with her husband in the premiere of ''La chatte blanche'', at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 2 April 1887, she spent a year in Belgium which included the premiere of Lecocq's ''

Ali-Baba ''Ali-Baba'' is an opéra comique in three acts, first produced in 1887, with music by Charles Lecocq. The French libretto based on the familiar tale from the Arabian Nights was by Albert Vanloo and William Busnach. After some initial success th ...

''. Simon-Girard’s return to Paris was at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in 1888 in revivals of ''Le grand Mogul'' and ''La fille du tambour-major'', before creating the title role in ''Voyage de Suzette'' on 20 January 1890. After several productions at the Théâtre de la Renaissance (where she created ''Mlle Asmodée'' in 1891 and ''La femme de Narcisse'' in 1892, and revived '' La jolie parfumeuse'' in 1892, she went back to the Folies-Dramatiques and created Eva in Varney’s ''Miss Robinson'' on 17 July 1892. From 1893, she was at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens with more premieres including Olga in Pessard's Mam'zelle Carabin (3 November 1893). She met her second husband Félix Huguenet while performing in ''L’enlèvement de la Toledad'' in 1894, and from then on took on more comedy acting parts. In November 1899 she took the title role at the

Théâtre des Variétés The Théâtre des Variétés () is a theatre and "salle de spectacles" at 7–8, boulevard Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement, in Paris. It was declared a monument historique in 1974. History The theatre owed its creation to Mademoiselle Montans ...

in a major and successful revival of ''

La belle Hélène ''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy's elopement with Paris (mythology ...

'', which ran for over five hundred performances. In 1903, Simon-Girard made recordings of songs from Offenbach operettas (''Barbe-bleue'', ''Belle Hélène'', ''Madame Favart'', ''La Jolie Parfumeuse'', ''La Périchole'' and ''La Grande-Duchesse''), Crichton R. The Operettas of Offenbach. In: ''Opera on Record 3''. Blyth, A (ed). Hutchinson, London, 1984, p181. excerpts from ''Les cloches de Corneville'', and songs by Messager, Audran and Lecocq. She died at

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionAimé Simon-Girard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon-Girard, Juliette 1859 births 1954 deaths Singers from Paris Conservatoire de Paris alumni French operatic sopranos 19th-century French women opera singers 20th-century French women opera singers