Jean Giraudeau

Jean Giraudeau (1 July 1916 in Toulon – 7 February 1995), was an artist and French tenor, and later theatre director, particularly associated with the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and described in Grove as having a “lyrical voice” as well as being “a superb character actor”. He left a wide selection of recordings from both his operatic and concert repertoire, and created roles in several contemporary operas.
Life and career.
Giraudeau's parents were both teachers at the conservatoire in Toulon. After obtaining a degree in law, Giraudeau studied music, winning prizes in song, opera and cello in 1941. His stage debut was at the Opéra de Montpellier in 1942 (Wilhelm Meister) in "Mignon". He took part in the premiere of "Martine" by Henri Rabaud at the Strasbourg Opera House before joining the main opera companies in Paris.
Having sung in a pioneering BBC broadcast of "Les Troyens" recorded in May and June 1947, Giraudeau made his debut at the Opéra-Comique on 23 July that year as Nadir in "Les pêcheurs de perles", going on to create roles in "Il était un petit navire" by Germaine Tailleferre in 1951 (Valentin) and in "Marion, ou la Belle au tricorne" by Pierre Wissmer in 1951 (Fabrice).
At the Opéra-Comique Giraudeau also sang in "Madame Bovary" by Emmanuel Bondeville (Charles Bovary), "Blaise le savetier" by Philidor (Blaise), "Ariane à Naxos" (Bacchus), "Lakmé" (Gérald), "Le Barbier de Séville" (Almaviva), "Così fan tutte" (Ferrando), "Les Indes galantes" (Valère), "Manon" (Des Grieux), "Madama Butterfly" (Pinkerton) "Les Mamelles de Tirésias" (le Mari) and "L'Heure espagnole" (Gonzalve).
At the Paris Opera he made his first appearance two weeks after his Salle Favart, debut playing Tamino in "La Flûte enchantée", following this with David in "Die Meistersinger", Alfredo in "La Traviata", and created Nicador in "Bolivar", and sang the Chevalier de la Force in the French premiere of "Dialogues des carmélites". Appearances outside France included Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoy.
Giraudeau sang Du Bartas in the premiere of the comédie lyrique "Colombe" by Jean-Michel Damase and Jean Anouilh in Bordeaux on 5 May 1961, sang in the premiere of Marcel Landowski's "L'Opéra de Poussière", the first 'world premiere' in the history of the Avignon Opera in 1962, and also created roles in operas by Claude Prey; Lui in "Le cœur révélateur ou Les voliges" in 1964, and "L’homme occis ou Un tunnel sous le Mont-Blanc" in 1975 (concert) and 1975 (stage).
Having been appointed as the head of vocal department in 1964, he became Director of the Opéra-Comique from 1968 to 1972, and commenced a policy of introducing more 20th-century works into the company repertoire, until, powerless and desperate, he saw the dissolution of its troupe.
Optimistic and affable, he later taught and directed and left a varied list of recordings both in the studio and from his many radio appearances.
References.
"This article contains material adapted from the French Wikipedia page"