Mlle Saint-Christophle
Mlle Saint-Christophle | |
|---|---|
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Soprano |
| Years active | 1663 – 1682 |
Mlle Saint-Christophle, sometimes spelled Mlle Saint-Christophe (fl. 1663 – c. 1682), was a French soprano who flourished during the 17th century. As early as 1663 she was a musician in the court of King Louis XIV. She is particularly associated with composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, performing in the world premieres of several of his operas staged between 1674 and 1682. Her career as a musician ended when she entered a convent voluntarily in 1682.
Biography
Mlle Saint-Christophle worked as a musique du roi (English: Musician of the King) in the court of Louis XIV, and as early as 8 January 1663 was listed as a "musicienne de Sa Majesté" (English: "His Majesty's musician") when she sang in Lully’s Ballet des arts.[1] She was described by one of her contemporaries as a "grande, bien faite, belle et vertueuse" (English: "tall, well-formed, beautiful, and virtuous") woman.[2] According to University of Nottingham music professor Philip Weller, she was described in a period source as having a "nobility and taste in deportment, gesture and action, in addition to great beauty of voice."[1]
Saint-Christophle was one of Lully's favored singers while he was creating his early tragédie en musique.[2] She created the title role in the world premiere of Lully's Alceste on 19 January 1674 with the Académie Royale de Musique.[3] It was the first opera created by Lully that was staged at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.[2] On 10 January 1676 she performed the part of the goddess Cybèle in the premiere of Lully's Atys at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[4] She portrayed the mother of Proserpine, Cérès (Ceres), in Lully's Proserpine (1680) in which she was given four solo scenes.[5]
Other original operas by Lully that Saint-Christophle starred in included Thésée (1675, as Médée),[6] Isis (1677, as Juno),[1] Psyché (1678, most likely as Venus),[6][A] Bellérophon (1679, as Sténobée),[6] and Persée (1682, as Cassiope).[5] She also portrayed the part of Night in Lully's ballet Le triomphe de l’amour (1681).[1] According to musicologist Antonia Banducci it is possible, but not certain, that she portrayed Climène in the premiere of Lully's Phaëton (1683).[5][6] Banducci lists the role of Climène as a potential part played by Saint-Christophle in the premiere of the opera in her table of role premieres in Lully operas.[6] However, the scholar acknowledges that other sources say Saint-Christophle retired earlier, and that it may be the role was only crafted with her in mind.[5]
Multiple sources state Saint-Christophle's career ended when she voluntarily entered a convent in 1682.[1][2] It is unknown exactly when she died after this.[1]
Notes and references
Notes
- ↑ Grove Music Online states she played the Queen in this opera.[1] However, there is no queen character in the opera. Banducci proposes that she played Venus, but this is not for certain.[6]
Citations
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Weller, Philip (2002). "Saint-Christophle [Saint-Christophe], Mlle de". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O005531.
- 1 2 3 4 Somerset-Ward 2004, p. 26.
- ↑ Sadie & Macy 1996, p. 16.
- ↑ Sadie & Macy 1996, p. 50.
- 1 2 3 4 Banducci, Antonia L. (2017). "Acteurs and Actrices as Muses: The Case for Jean-Baptiste Lully's Repertory Troupe (1672–86)". Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music. 21 (1).
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Banducci, Antonia L. (2017). "Table 1. Lully's Star Performers and Their Roles in His Operas (1673–97): Roles Premiered (in Bold) and Reprised (post-1686)" (PDF). Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music. 21 (1).
Bibliography
- Sadie, Stanley; Macy, Laura, eds. (1996). The New Grove Book of Operas, Second Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195309072.
- Somerset-Ward, Richard (2004). Angels and Monsters: Male and Female Sopranos in the Story of Opera, 1600-1900. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300099683.