FRENCH CONTRALTO JEANNE GERVILLE-RÉACHE (1882-1915) CDR

 

JEANNE GERVILLE-RÉACHE (ORTHEZ, FRANCE, 26 MARCH, 1882 – NEW YORK CITY, USA, 5 JANUARY, 1915)

 

She was born to a French father, the governor of the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and a Spanish mother, spending her early years in Martinique. At the age of 15, she moved to Paris, where she trained under Rosine Laborde. With the assistance of Emma Calvé, she completed her studies with Pauline Viardot-García.

In 1899, she debuted at the Opéra-Comique in Paris as the title character in Gluck’s Orpheus. On April 11, 1900, she created the role of Cathérine in the world premiere of Camille Erlanger’s Le Juif polonais. Two years later, on April 30, 1902, she originated the role of Geneviève in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra-Comique.

Following a disagreement with the Opéra-Comique’s management in 1902, she joined the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, where she performed for five seasons. In 1905, she made her Covent Garden debut as Orpheus in Gluck’s Orpheus. By 1907, she had joined the Manhattan Opera House in New York, participating in several notable American premieres: Pelléas et Mélisande (1908, as Geneviève), Strauss’s Elektra (1910, as Clytemnestra), and Jean Blockx’s La Princesse d’Auberge (1909).

Her success extended throughout North America. From 1910 to 1912, she performed with the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company, singing roles such as Carmen, Dalila in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, and Fricka in Die Walküre. She also appeared with the Boston Opera and, from 1913 to 1914, with the Canadian National Grand Opera in Montreal.

In 1910, she married Georges Ribier Rambaud, director of the New York Pasteur Institute.  She died at the early age of 32 from food poisoning in New York City.

Chronology of some appearances

1899-1902 Paris Opéra-Comique

1903 Brussels Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie

1905 London Covent Garden

1907-1910 Manhattan Opera

1910-1912 Chicago Grand Opera

TRACKLIST

Victor, 1909-04-29

Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns): Mon coeur s’ouvre 88184 C6981

Sapho (Gounod): O ma lyre immortelle 88166 C7024

Victrola, 1909-04-29

Werther (Massenet): Va! laisse couler mes larmes 81091 B7022

Victor, 1909-10-30

Reine de Saba (Gounod): Plus grand, dans son obscurité 88205 C8332

Victor, 1910-12-09

Carmen (Bizet): L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) 88278 C8334

Victor, 1911-05-05

Vivandière (Godard): Viens avec nous, petit 87080 B8333

Paul et Virginie (Massé): Parmi les lianes 88317 C9700