Jules-Sébastien Monjauze

Jules-Sébastien Monjauze (also Montjauze; 25 October 1824[1][2] or 1825[3][4] – 8 September 1877[5]) was a French operatic tenor. He created the role of Aeneas in Berlioz's Les Troyens.[6][7][8]

Monjauze, possibly in the role of Rienzi, 1869.

Life

Monjauze was born in Paris, although several contemporary publications claim he was born in Corréze.[4][9] Little is known about his life before 1848, when he journeyed to Russia to escape the February Revolution. Monjauze settled in St. Petersberg, where he met and married the widow Antoinette Lejars (née Cuzent). Antoinette came from a family of equestrian circus performers, and the cast-iron statues ornamenting the entrances to the Cirque d'Hiver and Cirque d'Été may have been crafted in her likeness.[10][11]

In 1852, Monjauze was accepted to the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied voice with Antoine Ponchard.[12][13][14] Despite this training, Monjauze was initially hired as an actor at the Théâtre-Français, where he was the protégé of Adolphe-Simonis Empis,[15] the company's administrateur général. Monjauze performed with the company until 1858, when he transitioned to the Théâtre Lyrique, one of four opera companies in Paris. There, he was cast as the principal tenor in many French language premieres, including Wagner's Rienzi and Verdi's Violetta, Macbeth, and Rigoletto.[3] In addition to Aeneas in Les Troyens, Monjauze created the roles of Maurice in Halévy's Jaguarita l'Indienne, Sélim in Reyer's La statue, and Prince Gaston de Listenay in Clapisson's La Fanchonnette, among others.

In 1865, Monjauze received a cross of the Order of Isabella after publishing a collection of original compositions that paid homage to the Queen.[16][17]

Monjauze may have died by suicide[10] or from an erysipelas infection.[18]

References
  1. Fromental Halévy (1999). Marthe Galland (ed.). Lettres (in French). Weinsberg, Germany: Musik-Edition Lucie Galland. p. 208.
  2. Robert Letellier; Nicholas Lester Fuller (2021). Fromental Halévy and His Operas, 1799-1841. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 9781527568778.
  3. Maurice Kufferath, ed. (12 February 1874). "Monjauze". Le Guide musical. Vol. 20, no. 7.
  4. Paul Decourcelle, ed. (1900). Le Panthéon des musiciens. Nice, France: V.- Eug. Gauthier. p. 59.
  5. Albert Soubies; Charles Malherbe (1893). Histoire de L'opéra-comique: 1860-1887 (in French). Ernest Flammarion. p. 262.
  6. Peter Branscombe (2008). Laura Macy (ed.). The Grove Book of Opera Singers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 552. ISBN 9780195337655.
  7. Stanley Sadie; Laura Macy, eds. (2006). New Grove Book of Operas. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 615. ISBN 9780195387117.
  8. Gustav Kobbé (1997). George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (ed.). The New Kobbé's Complete Opera Book (Revised ed.). New York City: Putnam. p. 764. ISBN 9780399116339.
  9. Édouard Noël (1878). Victorien Sardou (ed.). "Nécrologie: Monjauze (Jules-Sébastien)". Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique. Paris: Georges Charpentier. p. 660.
  10. Octave Lebesgue, ed. (1908). "La statue de l'écuyère. MMe Lejars". L'Intermédiaire (in French). Vol. 57, no. 1172. p. 91—92.
  11. Louis Sampion Bouglione; Marjorie Aiolfi (2002). Le Cirque d'Hiver. Paris: Flammarion. p. 1837. ISBN 9782080107985.
  12. Gustav Simon, ed. (1855). Revue française. Vol. 1. Paris: Bureaux de la Revue française. p. 534.
  13. Émile Abraham (1858). Les acteurs et les actrices de Paris: biographie complète. Paris: Les éditeurs, rue Grange-batelière, 13; Prosper Dondey-Dupré. pp. 46–7.
  14. Jules Lovy (14 January 1855). Jules Lovy (ed.). "Bulletin dramatique". Le Ménestrel. Paris: Heugel. p. 2.
  15. Louis Gustave Vapereau, ed. (1870). "Monjauze (Jules-Sébastien)" [Universal dictionary of contemporaries]. Dictionnaire universel des contemporains (in French). p. 1291.
  16. Yveling Rambaud; E. Coulon (1866). Les théâtres en robe de chambre: les comédiens [The Theaters in Dressing Gowns: The Comedians] (in French). Paris: Achille Faure. p. 88.
  17. "Partie non officielle: intérieur" [Non-official Part: Interior]. Moniteur belge (in French). Vol. 35, no. 218. Kingdom of Belgium. 1865. p. 4099.
  18. James William Davison, ed. (1877). "Monjauze". The Musical World. Vol. 55, no. 38. p. 639.
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