Meyrianne Héglon

Marie-Antoinette Willemsen called Meyrianne Héglon (21 June 1867 – 11 January 1942) was a Belgian opera singer. After her marriage to the composer Xavier Leroux, she was known as Madame Héglon-Leroux.

Life

Born in Brussels, Héglon studied with Marie Sax and Barthot, Tequi and Louis-Henri Obin and continued her studies with Rosine Laborde. Richard T. Soper, ''Belgian Opera Houses and Singers'' (Reprint Company 1999), p.265-266. She made her debut at the Paris Opera in November 1890, as Maddalena in ''Rigoletto''.

She sang at La Monnaie in 1894-1895 and later in 1901-1902. She performed as a guest artist in Ghent in 1898-1899.

Héglon frequently appeared at the Paris Opera from 1897 to 1907. On 7 April 1898, at the Paris Opera, she sang at the world premiere of '' Tre pezzi sacri''at the time composed of three parts by Verdi, with her and Marie Delna as mezzo-sopranos and Aino Ackté and Louise Grandjean as sopranos, as part of the concerts of the Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, conducted by Paul Taffanel. She sang the role of Omphale in the première of Leroux's '' Astarté'' in 1901 with Louise Grandjean, Albert Alvarez and Francisque Delmas..

Héglon spent a large part of her career at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. On 4 October 1898 she signed a contract for three performances of Amneris in ''Aida'', in Italian and four for the premiere of the title role of Isidore de Lara's ''Messaline''. Héglon received considerable support from Camille Saint-Saëns and sang in his '' Samson and Delilah'' in 1904.

She appeared in 1898 in the role of Anne Boleyn in ''Henry VIII'' at Covent Garden where she also performed on 13 July 1899 in the title role of ''Messaline'' with Albert Alvarez in the role of Helion and Maurice Renaud in that of Harès. She also sang in the main opera houses of Belgium.. At the Opéra-Comique, she created the role of La Vougne in Alexandre Georges' comic opera '' Miarka'', on 7 November 1905 and also sang in this opera's premiere in London.

After her retirement from the stage, she taught singing. Among her most notable students was the French soprano Ninon Vallin.

On 8 April 1917 her husband, Xavier Leroux, conducted his work ''Les cadeaux de Noël''. The participating artists were all students of Héglon. On 6 April 1918 another work by her husband was performed, ''1814''. For this performance, she came out of retirement to sing the role of The Mother.

She made four recordings for the Gramophone Company in 1904. Her voice can be heard on the anthology album
'' The Record of Singing Volume I (1899-1919)''.

Repertoire

*Cassandre ''Les Troyens''
*Uta ''Sigurd''
*Edwige ''William Tell''
*Amneris ''Aida''
*Dalila '' Samson and Delilah''
*Fricka ''Die Walküre''
*Yamina ''La Montagne Noire'' by Augusta Holmès
*La Reine ''Hamlet''
*Anne '' Henri VIII''
*Fides ''Le Prophète''

Premieres

; At the Opéra de Paris :
* 1893: Schwertleite in ''Die Walküre'', 12 May
* 1894: Myrtale in ''Thais'', 16 March
* 1894: Ourvaci in ''Djelma'', 25 May
* 1894: Emilia in ''Otello'', 10 October
* 1895: Dara in ''La Montagne noire'', 8 February.
* 1898: Pyrrha in ''La Burgonde'', 23 December
* 1901: Omphale in Leroux's '' Astarté'', February
* 1901: Title role of ''Frédégonde''
* 1901: Livie in '' Les barbares'', 23 October
* 1902: Erda in ''Siegfried'', 3 January.
* Liba in ''La Cloche du Rhin''''La Cloche du rhin''
on BnF
* Title role of Handel's ''Theodora''

References and notes

;Notes

;References

External links

Portraits
on ipernity

Publicité pour les biscuits Lefèvre-Utile
base Joconde, French Ministry of Culture.

Air de Scozzone dAscanio'' de Saint-Saëns, 1904
(YouTube)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heglon, Meyrianne
1867 births
1942 deaths
Musicians from Brussels
Voice teachers
19th-century Belgian women opera singers
Belgian sopranos
20th-century Belgian women opera singers
Belgian music educators
Belgian women music educators