Gérard Souzay
Gérard Souzay, whose real surname was Tisserand, studied philosophy in college although the family was musical (his sister was soprano Geneviève Touraine). He was a student at the Paris Conservatoire from 1940 to 1945, where he studied voice with Vanni Marcoux and Claire Croiza, but principally took master classes with the foremost French song recitalist of that period, Pierre Bernac (Poulenc's longtime companion), as well as Lotte Lehmann before and after WWII. Souzay made his first recording the same year as his professional debut, 1944. After an official Paris debut in 1945, he participated in celebrations of Fauré's centenary in London. By then 27, he was the first of his generation after WWII to give song recitals internationally, preceding his younger colleague Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b. 1925) by several years.
The French baritone made his U.S. debut in New York City's Town Hall in 1950, but did not sing opera until 1957, at Aix-en-Provence: Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. In 1960 Stokowski invited him to sing the title-role in Monteverdi's Orfeo with the New York City Center (later New York State) Opera. In 1962 he made his first appearance as Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande at Rome under Ernest Ansermet, then repeated the role with the Paris Opéra in a performance celebrating the centenary of Debussy's birth. Eventually he sang at the Met in 1965, as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, followed that same year by Glyndebourne (although illness limited him to a single performance), as well as debuts with the Vienna Staatsoper and Munich Opera. Other roles included Gluck's Orfeo, Méphistophélès in Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux, Massenet's Garrido in La Navarraise and Lescaut in Manon, even Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser.
However, recitals and orchestral concerts remained the principal focus of Souzay's long and distinguished career, which included annual recitals at the Salzburg Festival between 1959 and 1963. Proficient in 15 languages, he introduced Baroque music before the "original instrument" era -- especially music by Lully, Rameau, Handel, and Bach. He sang German as mellifluously and idiomatically as Fischer-Dieskau, his chief rival (whose intellectual word-stresses became increasingly intrusive), although Souzay's voice was lighter and smaller. His repertory embraced Russian, Spanish, Italian, even British songs. French chansons, withal, were his métier, beginning with Gounod, Fauré and their nineteenth century colleagues, but especially the Impressionist composers -- Duparc, Debussy, Ravel -- and the saucier Poulenc. Beginning in 1954, just as Poulenc partnered with Bernac until his death, Dalton Baldwin was Souzay's pianist, although not exclusively. They built an audience worldwide among audiences that had known only Italian or German opera. His presence onstage was elegantly handsome, and he sang with unforced, but nonetheless expressive, intense artistry that quietened even chronic coughers.
According to a comprehensive discography published in 1990 by Greenwood Press, he recorded over 750 titles on almost 50 labels -- 535 different catalog numbers -- ranging from 78-rpm discs to CD reissues, and was awarded France's Grand Pix du Disque three times. Apart from operas, however, he infrequently recorded with others, only recording duets with Germaine Lubin, Elly Ameling, and his sister Geneviève. In 1985, Souzay joined the music faculty at Indiana University in Bloomington, but also taught at the University of Texas in Austin starting in 1986, where Stephen Mims made a documentary film about him, Souzay: A Life in Art. In addition, indefatigably, he gave master classes at the Juilliard School in New York, and in Paris, Holland, England, and Japan, where he was a special favorite of audiences in German as well as French music.
© TiVo
Artistas semelhantes
-
Debussy: Mélodies
Mélodies - Lançado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) em 14 de set. de 2016
A discografia ideal da Qobuz24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré : Mélodies, La bonne chanson, L'horizon chimérique & La chanson d'Eve (Diapason n°583)
Gérard Souzay / Suzanne Danco / Irma Kolassi / Charles Panzéra
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Les Indispensables de Diapason em 25 de ago. de 2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré: Requiem, Op. 48 by Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gérard Souzay
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 4 de abr. de 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mélodies Françaises Pour Bariton
Gérard Souzay, Jacqeline Bonneau
Classical - Lançado por Regis Records em 1 de jan. de 2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Mélodies
Classical - Lançado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) em 14 de set. de 2016
A discografia ideal da QobuzQualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (Live Recording, Geneva 1969)
Eric Tappy, Gérard Souzay, Erna Spoorenberg
Opera - Lançado por Claves Records em 1 de jan. de 2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré - Chausson : French Airs
Gérard Souzay, Jacqueline Bonneau
Classical - Lançado por Decca (UMO) em 1 de jan. de 2003
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arias By Handel, Rameau & Lully
Gérard Souzay, English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1964
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré: Requiem; Pelléas et Mélisande; Masques et Bergamasques
Suzanne Danco, Gérard Souzay, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gérard Souzay Vol. 1
Classical - Lançado por Documents em 24 de jun. de 2011
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Songs of Poulenc (Remastered 2021)
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 23 de jun. de 2021
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Lieder
Gérard Souzay, Hilde Güden, Dalton Baldwin, Friedrich Gulda
Classical - Lançado por Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1964
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mélodies et Lieder (Sibelius, Wolf, Dorumsgaard, Ravel...)
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Lançado por INA Mémoire vive em 24 de mai. de 2007
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Singers of the Century: Gérard Souzay (French-Spanish Song Recital)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Jube Classic em 4 de nov. de 2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Récital" Airs Anciens D'Italie et D'Espagne / Lieder De Franz Liszt
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Claves Records em 1 de jan. de 2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liederabend 1960 (Schubert - Martin - Ravel - Strauss)
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por SWR Classic em 3 de abr. de 2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch (Elly Ameling – The Philips Recitals, Vol. 19)
Elly Ameling, Gérard Souzay, Dalton Baldwin
Classical - Lançado por Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1969
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gérard Souzay Vol. 3
Classical - Lançado por Documents em 24 de jun. de 2011
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Famous voices of the past - Gerard Souzay
Classical - Lançado por Preiser Records em 1 de ago. de 2006
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 39 und andere Lieder
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss, R.: 17 Lieder; Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch
Elly Ameling, Dalton Baldwin, Gérard Souzay
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1995
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo