Joséphine Fodor

Joséphine Fodor (13 October 1789 or 1793 – 10 August 1870), also known under the name Joséphine Fodor-Mainvielle, was a French 19th-century lyrical artist (soprano).[1]

Joséphine Fodor

Biography

Geneviève Joséphine Fodor, the daughter of composer and violinist Josephus Andreas Fodor (1751–1828) and Louise Edme Marmet, was born in Paris in 1789 or 1793.[2] Her parents left France for Russia when she was only a few months old,[3] emigrating probably because of the French Revolution. She grew up in Saint Petersburg where her father, a teacher of the imperial children, taught her the harp and piano.[4]

In 1810, she made her debut in Fioravanti's (1770–1837) opera Le cantatrici villane at the Impérial Opera of Saint Petersburg,[4][5] singing in both Russian and French.[6]

In 1812, she married Jean-Baptiste Tharaud-Mainvielle, an actor at the French theatre of Saint Petersburg.[5] Shortly afterwards, the couple left St. Petersburg, which was under attack during the French invasion of Russia and went to France via Finland.[6]

After a few performances at the Opéra comique in Paris, she was engaged by the Comédie-Italienne and made her debut on 16 November 1814 in Griselda.[5] She performed in London and Venice afterwards, before her return to the Comédie-Italienne in 1819[7] to sing in Il matrimonio segreto, Don Giovanni, Le Barbier de Séville and La gazza ladra.[5]

She went to Italy for her health, and toured to Naples where she triumphed in Otello and Vienna before returning to Paris in 1825 for further performances at the Comédie Italienne. Shortly afterwards, she suffered from vocal difficulties, gradually ended her operatic career and withdrew from the stage.[5] She stayed for a while in Passy.[6][8] where she worked for charities,[9] then in Limoges. A widow, she moved to Lyon where her son Martial Tharaud-Mainvielle lived.[10]

In 1857, she published Réflexions et conseils sur l'art du chant.[11]

She died in Saint-Genis-Laval on 10 August 1870, in the country house of her daughter-in-law.[12]

Her daughter Henriette, who was also a singer, was engaged by the Königsstädtisches Theater in Berlin between 1846 and 1849.[13]

Bibliography

References
  1. Alice-Marie Hanson, Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna) (p. 65), Cambridge University Press, 1985, ISBN 9780521257992
  2. Several books and references mention 1789, which corresponds to the year deducted from the age indicated in her death certificate, but most of the works published in the 19th century give priority to 1793. His birth certificate does not appear in the reconstituted Parisian civil register.
  3. George Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Fodor-Mainvielle, Joséphine, 1900, consultable sur Wikisource.
  4. Musicologie.org, biographie de Joséphine Fodor, Read online
  5. Camille Dreyfus, La Grande encyclopédie, inventaire raisonné des sciences, des lettres et des arts, volume 22, Read online,
  6. Bulletin de la Société historique d'Auteuil et de Passy, 1904, Read online
  7. Notice BNF, Read online
  8. Rochegude (Félix, marquis de), Promenades dans toutes les rues de Paris par arrondissements, 1910, Read online
  9. Annuaire administratif, biographique, statistique, industriel et commercial de la ville de Passy, 1858 Read online
  10. Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin, 1894, Read online
  11. Otto Ebel, Les femmes compositeurs de musique. Dictionnaire biographique, 1910, Read online
  12. Archives du Rhône, death act Read online.
  13. George Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Fodor-Mainvielle Joséphine, 1900, consultable sur Wikisource.
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