Lucien Muratore (29 August 1876 – 16 July 1954, in

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 ...

) was a French actor and operatic

dramatic tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below midd ...

, particularly associated with the French repertory. Lucien Muratore in Dejanire

Life and career

Lucien Muratore was born

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

to Italian parents from

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. He trained first as a cornist, and later as an actor. He made his debut at the Odéon theatre in Paris, where he played opposite such actresses as

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

and Réjane. He then studied at the Paris Music Conservatory, and made his operatic debut in 1902, at 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 ...

, creating the King in

Reynaldo Hahn Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100. Hahn was born ...

's ''La carmélite''. He made his debut at

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 1904, as ''

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...

'', and the following year at the

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

, as Renaud in

Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...

's '' Armide''. He created several

Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

operas such as ''

Ariane Ariane may refer to: *Ariana (name), also Ariane, Arianne Arts * ''Ariane'' (Martinů), an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, first performed 1961 * ''Ariane'' (Massenet), an opera by Jules Massenet, first performed 1906 * ''Ariane'' (film), a 1931 ...

'' and ''

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

'', at the Opéra, and ''

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

'', in Monte Carlo. He also took part in the creation of ''La Catalane'' by Le Borne, ''

Monna Vanna ''Monna Vanna'' () is an unfinished opera by Sergei Rachmaninoff after a play by Maurice Maeterlinck. Rachmaninoff had completed Act I in short vocal score, with piano accompaniment, and then he went to ask for permission to set the text in a ful ...

'' by

Henry Février Henry Février (; 2 October 18756 July 1957) was a French composer. Biography Henry Février was born in Paris, France, on 2 October 1875, the son of architect Jules Février. He married and had a son, the pianist Jacques Février. He studied ...

, ''

Déjanire ''Déjanire'' is the title of two related French works by Camille Saint-Saëns: ''Musique de scène pour ‘Déjanire’ de Gallet'' (1898) and the four-act opera, or ''drame lyrique'', ''Déjanire'' (1910, premiered 1911) for which Saint-Saëns ...

'' by

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

, and ''Pénélope'' by

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

. He became principal French tenor with the

Boston Opera Company The Boston Opera Company (BOC) was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts, that was active from 1909 to 1915. History The company was founded in 1908 by Bostonian millionaire Eben Dyer Jordan, Jr. and impresario Henry Russel ...

, the

Chicago Grand Opera Company Two grand opera companies in Chicago, Illinois, have gone by the name Chicago Grand Opera Company during the first half of the 20th century. Like many opera ventures in Chicago, both succumbed to financial difficulties within a few years, and ...

(1913–1914), the

Chicago Opera Association The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financial ...

(1915–1921), and the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financia ...

(1922). He also appeared at the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón () is a historic opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acoustics expert Leo Beranek among leadin ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. Muratore retired from the stage in 1931. He was married first to soprano Marguerite Bériza, and later to soprano

Lina Cavalieri Natalina "Lina" Cavalieri (25 December 1874 – 7 February 1944) was an Italian operatic dramatic soprano, actress, and monologist. Biography Lina Cavalieri was born on Christmas Day at Viterbo, some north of Rome. She lost her parents at the ...

, with whom he appeared in a silent movie, ''Manon Lescaut'', in 1914. In 1944 Muratore was for a few weeks Director of the

but was removed on the Liberation of Paris. His art of singing was at times almost overshadowed by his immense talent as an actor and elegance on stage. His students included

Kenneth Neate Kenneth (Ken) Neate (28 July 1914 – 27 June 1997) was an Australian operatic and concert tenor, opera producer and singing teacher, composer and author. He appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 1963 as Loge in ''Das Rheingold'' and was noted as ...

, to whom he gave some of his own costumes for Don José (

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become ...

's ''

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 ...

'').Vale Ken Neate
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Selected filmography

* '' The Shadow of Her Past'' (1915) * '' The Unknown Singer'' (1931) * ''

The Faceless Voice ''The Faceless Voice'' (French: ''La voix sans visage'') is a 1933 French drama film. It was directed by Leo Mittler, and starred Lucien Muratore, Véra Korène and Jean Servais.Oscherwitz & Higgins p. 281 Plot The singer Saltore is accused o ...

'' (1933)

References

Sources

*Roland Mancini and Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), ''Guide de l’opéra'', Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995).

External links

History of the Tenor / Lucien Muratore / Sound Clips and Narration
1876 births 1954 deaths French operatic tenors French male film actors French male silent film actors French people of Italian descent 20th-century French male actors Male actors from Marseille Musicians from Marseille 20th-century French male opera singers {{France-opera-singer-stub