Gabriel Bacquier

Gabriel Bacquier

Nascimento : 1924-05-17, Béziers, Hérault, France

Morte : 2020-05-13

História

Gabriel Bacquier (17 May 1924 – 13 May 2020) was a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertoires, he was considered a fine singing actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles and gave regular song recitals. He was a long-term member of the Opéra-Comique and the Paris Opera, but forged a long career internationally at leading opera houses in Europe and the U.S. His large discography spans five decades, and he was considered as “the ambassador of French song”. Born Gabriel Augustin-Raymond-Théodore-Louis Bacquier in Béziers, France, on 17 May 1924, he was the only child of railway employees. As a young boy, he was fascinated by everything to do with singing: records, broadcasts and photos of singers. Leaving school aged 14, he worked at his uncle's print-shop, while studying in Montpellier to become a commercial artist, but during the Vichy regime, to avoid the round-ups and deportations by the Service du travail obligatoire, his parents arranged for him to do national service in the Chantiers de Jeunesse on the railways during the Occupation. As a teenager he took voice lessons with a Madame Bastard in Béziers in his free time and made his operatic debut during the war as Ourrias in Gounod's Mireille in the town arena. After World War II, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, receiving a scholarship because of his family's modest means, and graduated in 1950. He was a contemporary of, and shared his student life with, future leading French singers Régine Crespin, Xavier Depraz, Michel Sénéchal and Michel Roux. In his final year, the director of the Conservatoire, Claude Delvincourt, allowed him leave to work at the Opéra de Nice in the 1949–50 season, singing small roles in operas and operettas; this along with regular singing spots in cinemas gave him important experience and income before his next career steps. Having already gained a first prize for opéra comique in his penultimate year, he won first prize for singing and second prize for opera at the conclusion of his formal studies. Around this time he also took a course in dramatic art. He joined the opera company of José Beckmans in 1950, and was a member of La Monnaie in Brussels from 1953 until 1956, making his debut in the title role of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. There he sang the French repertory, both in opera (Gounod's Faust, Delibes' Lakmé, Massenet's Manon and Werther) and in operetta (Angélique, La belle Hélène, Les cloches de Corneville, Miss Heylett, Monsieur Beaucaire). He also appeared there in Puccini's La bohème and Madama Butterfly, and in Smetana's The Bartered Bride. While at the Monnaie, the French soprano Martha Angelici, whose husband was François Agostini, director of the Opéra-Comique at the time, sang in Les pêcheurs de perles with him; she suggested that he audition for the Paris company, which accepted him. ... Source: Article "Gabriel Bacquier" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Perfil

Gabriel Bacquier

Filmes

Salzburg Marionette Theatre: The Tales of Hoffmann
In Luther's beer-cellar, lusty singing extols the virtues of beer and wine. For this evening, the Muse decides to deflect the poet Hoffmann's attention from amorous escapades, so that he will devote himself entirely to his art. Hoffmann tells of the three unhappy loves of his life: Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta.
Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Spalanzani / Crespel / Schemil
Live performance from the Opéra National de Lyon.
The Love for Three Oranges
Le Roi de trèfle
With neat, plain building-block designs by Jacques Rapp, Louis Erlo's energetically-staged production of Prokofiev's surreal fairy-tale for the Lyon Opera is full of cartoon characters and swift farce. Based on a play by Carlo Gozzi, "L'Amour des Trois Oranges" tells the story of a doleful, hypochondriac Prince, who can only be cured through laughter. When he breaks into hysterics at the expense of the evil witch Fata Morgana, she curses him. His fate is to fall in love with three oranges
A Vingança de Manon
Victor
Dez anos após a morte de Jean Cadoret sua esposa voltou à vida de cantora de ópera e sua filha Manon tornou-se uma bela jovem pastora que vive no campo provençal idílico. Manon resolve se vingar dos homens responsáveis ​​pela morte de seu pai.
Falstaff
Falstaff
This performance, and the film that documents it, is superb! From its comically vulgar opening in the Garter Inn, where we are introduced to a rotund (and slightly pathetic) Falstaff - in a richly nuanced performance by baritone Gabriel Bacquier cocooned in prosthetic girth (his face is too thin for the enormity to be real) - to the supremely beautiful nocturnal magic of the Finale in Windsor Park, Solti is lovingly accompanied by the sublime Vienna Philharmonic. They play with such delicacy and elan what is an undeniably delicate score, that I lost myself in the instrumentation, forgot it was Verdi, thought it was Mozart, and couldn't remember which Mozartean Opera this was. The woodwinds and strings are singled out for special praise: perfect intonation and phrasing doesn't begin to do them justice. They breathe life into this score, propel it forward, act as a Chorus commenting on the action.
Don Pasquale
Pasquale da Corneto
This John Dexter production, designed by Desmond Heeley, was a parting gift to the great American soprano Beverly Sills, who bid farewell to the Met as Norina, the smart young widow at the center of Donizetti’s comedy. The sensational Alfredo Kraus sings her beloved Ernesto. Håkan Hagegård, in his Met debut role and season, is Dr. Malatesta, the man who helps the young couple trick the crusty old bachelor of the title (Gabriel Bacquier at his comical best) into a fake marriage. This being a Donizetti comedy, it all turns out perfectly well at the end—and getting there is pure operatic fun.
The Metropolitan Opera: Don Giovanni
Leoporello
Imbuing the familiar Don Juan myth with a captivating combination of comedy, seductiveness, danger, and damnation, Mozart created an enduring masterpiece that has been a cornerstone of the repertory since its 1787 premiere. An early entry in the Met’s series of PBS telecasts, this 1978 performance captures a young James Morris in a smooth portrayal of the title role, with the legendary Joan Sutherland showing off her unsurpassed technique as Donna Anna and Gabriel Bacquier as a masterful Leporello.