French Contralto Jeanne Gerville-Réache: Samson et Dalila (1909 & 1913)

French contralto Jeanne Gerville-Reache (1882-1915) / Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saens) / Printemps qui commence / Recorded: April 12, 1909 / Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix / Recorded: December 1, 1913 --

French contralto Jeanne Gerville-Réach (born March 26, 1882, Orthez, France - died January 15, 1915, New York). Her father was governor of Martinique and Guadaloupe and she came to Paris when she was 15 to study singing with Rosine Laborde. Through the intercession of Emma Calve, he was able to finish her studies with Pauline Viardot-Garcia. In 1899 she had a successful debut at the Opera-Comique in the title role of Orphee et Eurydice, and on April 30, 1902 she created the role of Genevieve in Pelleas et Melisande there. In 1901 she made guest appearances at the Brussels Opera and in 1905 at Covent Garden. In 1907 she came to the Manhattan Opera. Thereafter she was uncommonly successful in the United States. She also sang in Boston and Philadelphia, Chicago and Montreal. In 1910 she married the director of the Pasteur Institute in New York, Georges Ribier Rambaud. She had a sumptuous, warm-timbered contralto voice of great dynamic quality. She died at the early age of 32 from food poisoning in New York City, leaving behind her husband and two sons. She has a great-great grandson and granddaughter living in America. (Sources: Kutsch & Riemens Concise Biographical Dictionary of Singers / Chilton Book Company / 1969; wikipedia)

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