Mady Mesplé
Mady Mesplé was a fine French lyric coloratura soprano who was active from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Her operatic career was centered on the core coloratura roles, including Verdi's Rigoletto, Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and Mozart's The Magic Flute, but she was best remembered for the title role in Delibes' Lakmé. Many consider her EMI recording of that signature role to be definitive. She also excelled in performances of new works, and as a recitalist.
Mesplé was born in Toulouse in 1931. She attended the local music academy, winning prizes in both singing and piano, and in 1953 she made her stage debut in Liège, as Lakmé. She then added Lucia and The Queen of the Night to her resumé with the Belgian National Opera, and in 1956 she joined the Opéra-Comique in Paris. 1958 marked her debut at the Opéra de Paris, where she sang Constance in Poulenc's Dialogue of the Carmelites, Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera, and multiple roles in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges.
During the 1960s Mesplé branched out into newer music. Charles Chaynes composed his Four Poems of Sappho for her, and in 1963 she premiered Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Last Savage. She was also the first to sing the French version of Hans Werner Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers in 1965, and Pierre Boulez chose Mesplé for his performances of Schoenberg's Jacob's Ladder.
Mesplé's discography was split fairly equally between French operetta (especially Offenbach), opera, and recital literature. Although her Lakmé eclipsed her other operatic recordings in recognition and popularity, her Werther (with Georges Prêtre on EMI) and Guillaume Tell (with Lamberto Gardelli, also on EMI) are also worth a listen. Her most notable song recording is of the complete songs of Ravel with Dalton Baldwin, Gabriel Bacquier, and José van Dam. In the 1990s, Mesplé was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which ended her singing career. She died in her hometown of Toulouse on May 30, 2020 at the age of 89.
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Discography
14 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Delibes: Lakmé
Mady Mesplé, Charles Burles, Orchestre du Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique, Alain Lombard
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 4 apr. 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach: La vie parisienne
Mady Mesplé, Régine Crespin, Orchestre Du Capitole De Toulouse, Michel Plasson
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 2 okt. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grétry: Zémire et Azor
Mady Mesplé, Roland Bufkens, Orchestre de Chambre de la RTB, Edgard Doneux
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 5 nov. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Auber: Manon Lescaut
Mady Mesplé, Peter-Christoph Runge, Orchestre lyrique de Radio France, Jean-Pierre Marty
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ganne: Les saltimbanques
Mady Mesplé, Eliane Lublin, Jean Christophe Benoit, Orchestre Lamoureux, Jean-Pierre Marty
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chaynes: Variations concertantes & Quatre poèmes de Sappho
Alberto Ponce, Mady Mesplé, Orchestre De Chambre De Toulouse, Georges Armand
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 15 jan. 2021
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Album du 80e anniversaire
Klassiek - Released by Parlophone (France) on 28 feb. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Mélodies
Teresa Berganza, Felicity Lott, Mady Mesplé, Jessye Norman, Gabriel Bacquier, José Van Dam
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best Of Mady Mesplé
Klassiek - Released by Warner (France) on 7 jan. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mady Mesple - Michel Plasson
Mady Mesplé, Jane Berbié, Michel Sénéchal, Michel Plasson, Orchestre Du Capitole De Toulouse
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Auber: Fra Diavolo
Nicolai Gedda, Mady Mesplé, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monté-Carlo, Marc Soustrot
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hahn: Ciboulette
Cyril Diederich, Mady Mesplé, José Van Dam, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monté-Carlo
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lecocq: La fille de madame Angot
Mady Mesplé, Bernard Sinclair, Orchestre du Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique, Jean Doussard
Klassiek - Released by Parlophone (France) on 1 jan. 1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Valses viennoises
Mady Mesplé, Franck Pourcel Orchestra, Franck Pourcel
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 28 mei 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo