Marie Roze (born Marie Hippolyte Ponsin; 2 March 1846 in Paris – 2 June 1926 in Paris), was a French operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Early years

Roze was born in Paris. At the age of 12, she was sent from France to be educated in England for two years. She then moved back across the Channel to study with Mocker and Auber at the Paris Conservatoire, where she received the first prize in singing in 1865.

Early career

That same year, at the age of 16, she made her debut 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 ...

. Her success there led to engagements with the

Paris Opéra The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

. Bizet wrote the opera Carmen with Marie Roze in mind, but she refused to create the role because she felt it too "scabrous". In early 1875 she sang in ''

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

'' with

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

Antoinette Sterling Jane Antoinette Sterling (January 23, 1841January 10, 1904) was an American contralto most known for singing sentimental ballads in Britain and the British Empire. Early life Sterling was born in Sterlingville], New York (state), New York, on ...

and Myron W. Whitney at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

Career

From 1876 she worked with the Carl Rosa Opera Company during their UK tours and in Scotland over a ten-year period. She sang more than a dozen roles ranging from Carmen and Manon to Marguerite. In 1877, she was engaged by the Max Strakosch Opera Company and made her American debut on 8 January 1878 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

as Leonora in Donizetti's ''

La favorita ''La favorite'' (''The Favourite'', frequently referred to by its Italian title: ''La favorita'') is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play ''Le com ...

''. She later toured the United States with the Carl Rosa Opera Company from 1883 to 1889 and was particularly noted for her interpretation of the title role Bizet'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 ...

''. In 1890, she set up a music school and taught singing in Paris. She made her farewell tour in 1894.

Family life

Roze was married first to the operatic

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, Julius ("Jule") E. Perkins. Her son Raymond Rôze (1875-1920) was a theatre composer and conductor. He put on a season of opera in English 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 sit ...

in the winter of 1913, including his opera ''Joan of Arc'', which was also staged at the Paris Opéra Garnier in 1917. In 1919 he founded the British Symphony Orchestra, with which he gave some concerts and made a few recordings. Her second husband was Henry, one of the sons of James Henry Mapleson (1830-1901), an impresario in London and New York.

Awards and honors

Roze received multiple medals for her actions during the German invasion of France. At her passing, the French government ordered a bust of Marie Roze in her role in Galatea to be erected over her tomb at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

, and acquired two of her portraits by Alexis Perignon and Paul Emmanuel de Pommayrac. They hang in the Paris Opera Garnier Library and the Museum of the

Philharmonie de Paris The Philharmonie de Paris () () is a complex of concert halls in Paris, France. The buildings also house exhibition spaces and rehearsal rooms. The main buildings are all located in the Parc de la Villette at the northeastern edge of Paris in the ...

References

Sources

*Baltzell, W. J.
"Roze, Marie"
in ''Baltzell's Dictionary of Musicians'', originally published in 1910, facsimile edition published by Read Books, 2007. *''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
"Mme. Marie Roze: Arrival of the New Prima Donna of the Strakosch Company"
31 December 1877. *''New York Times''
"Marie Roze as Carmen: An Immense Audience in the Boston Globe Theatre"
11 November 1880. *''Bravo''
"Finding the Real Carmen"
Fall 2016

External links

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

Portrait of Marie Roze
in the title role of

Jules 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 ...

's '' Manon''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Roze, Marie French operatic sopranos 1846 births 1926 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French women opera singers