Jacques Pottier
Encyclopedia
Jacques Pottier, is a French operatic Lyric tenor and recording artist. He was a Principal Tenor with the Opéra National de Paris.
with Rose Pocidalo with whom he made his debut in Werther in 1957. He was also taught by Paul Cabanel, Jean Claverie and Maurice Faure
, and after winning a first prize in singing at the Paris Conservatory in 1956, he was awarded a grant to study at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana
in Sienna
, Italy. While there he was noticed by the singer Gina Cigna
who invited him to work for her in Milan.
In 1961 Pottier sang in Lille
as The Unknown Prince (Calàf) in Turandot
. The following year he entered the Opéra National de Paris as Principal Tenor and played the role of An Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier
, performing with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
. By 1972 he had performed roles in Rigoletto
, Carmen
, Tosca
, Faust
, Tannhäuser
, Falstaff
, Tristan and Isolde, La Bohème
, Les Contes d'Hoffmann
, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana
, Il trovatore
, Aïda
, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lucia di Lammermoor
and Prométhée
, and sang in Verdi's Requiem, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
.
Pottier taught voice in Paris music conservatories at Longjumeau
, Viry-Châtillon
, Palaiseau
and La Celle-Saint-Cloud
. In the 1970s he taught French musical artists Dalida
, Nicole Croisille
, Sheila
and Ringo (Guy Bayle), Thierry Le Luron
and Mireille Mathieu
. In 1974 he was publicized in an article by Léon Zitrone
in the French magazine Jour de France.
In 1982 Pottier appeared in the French television program Bon Anniversiare Juliette, where he played and sang the role of Caruso.
In 1983 he migrated to Melbourne
, Australia, where he now lives, and has taught singing at Carey Baptist Grammar School
, Melbourne Girls Grammar School
and at Melbourne University's Music Conservatory. He was introduced by Bert Newton
on Australia’s Network Ten
program Good Morning Australia
.
In 1996 he taught at the Belluno
Conservatory in Italy, and in 1999 conducted Master Classes and sang recitals of Sacred Music at Damien Top’s
International Festival Albert Roussel. He gave one private recital in London, and two public recitals in Belgium and in France.
, Faust
, La fanciulla del West
, and Der Fliegende Holländer for the French Radio station ORTF. For Deutsche Grammophon
he recorded Girard de Propriac's Les trois déesses rivales or Le judgement de Pâris. Other recordings have been Saint-Saëns
Samson et Dalila directed by Georges Prêtre
, Perosi's Requiem for the Corelia company, Honegger's
Le Roi David directed by Serge Baudo
, and Stravinski's Les Noces
directed by Pierre Boulez
which received the 1966 Grand Prix du Disque
Académie Charles Cros.
In 2000 Pottier recorded in the role of Olivier in the opera Dr Couteau by David Chisholm and in 2002, a four track CD, Four Songs; French Poetry set to music by Alain Jacques with James Cannon playing guitar. The following year he recorded Florilège vol. 1, a further album of 12 French poems, again with Jacques and with the guitar accompaniment of Melchior Martin; songs from the album were played on Special Broadcasting Service
Radio in Australia. In 2006, with Jacques as artistic director, he recorded an album of 13 popular French songs: Beloved Songs of France. Later he recorded two albums of Jacques' songs: Florilège vol. 2 (2008) and Beloved French Poetry (2009). In 2010 he completed the album Beloved Opera Arias, again with Jacques.
Pottier's Ah mes amis... from the Opera La Fille du Régiment
was broadcast in 2010 during an interview with by Lindsay Cocker on 3MBS FM, Melbourne.
He was awarded the French national honours Chevalier de l'Ordre de L’Education Civique and Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
, reported in the Journal Officiel de la République Française
(4 December 1998).
Career
Pottier entered the Paris Conservatory in 1954, in the class of Ketty Lapeyrette, while taking lessons in RouenRouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
with Rose Pocidalo with whom he made his debut in Werther in 1957. He was also taught by Paul Cabanel, Jean Claverie and Maurice Faure
Maurice Faure
Maurice Faure at Azerat, Dordogne is a former member of the French Resistance and a former minister in several French governments....
, and after winning a first prize in singing at the Paris Conservatory in 1956, he was awarded a grant to study at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana
Accademia Musicale Chigiana
The Accademia Musicale Chigiana is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition...
in Sienna
Sienna
Sienna is a form of limonite clay most famous in the production of oil paint pigments. Its yellow-brown colour comes from ferric oxides contained within...
, Italy. While there he was noticed by the singer Gina Cigna
Gina Cigna
Gina Cigna was a French-Italian opera singer, one of the leading dramatic soprano of the inter-war period.- Biography :...
who invited him to work for her in Milan.
In 1961 Pottier sang in Lille
Opéra de Lille
The Opéra de Lille is a theater-style neo-classical opera house, built from 1907 to 1913 and officially inaugurated in 1923.In 1903 fire destroyed the previous Lille opera house, which had been designed by Lille architect Michael Joseph Lequeux and built in 1785. For the replacement city officials...
as The Unknown Prince (Calàf) in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
. The following year he entered the Opéra National de Paris as Principal Tenor and played the role of An Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, performing with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE was a German-born Austrian/British soprano opera singer and recitalist. She was among the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, much admired for her performances of Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf.-Early life:Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike...
. By 1972 he had performed roles in Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
, Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, Tristan and Isolde, La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, Aïda
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
and Prométhée
Prométhée
Prométhée is an opera in three acts by the French composer Gabriel Fauré. The libretto, by Jean Lorrain and Ferdinand Hérold, is based on the Greek myth of Prometheus. Although designated a tragédie lyrique, the opera resists easy categorisation. It was intended as a large-scale work with spoken...
, and sang in Verdi's Requiem, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
.
Pottier taught voice in Paris music conservatories at Longjumeau
Longjumeau
Longjumeau is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Inhabitants of Longjumeau are known as Longjumellois.-Transportation:...
, Viry-Châtillon
Viry-Châtillon
Viry-Châtillon is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Inhabitants of Viry-Châtillon are known as Castelvirois.-Transport:Viry-Châtillon is served by Viry-Châtillon station on Paris RER line D....
, Palaiseau
Palaiseau
Palaiseau is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Palaiseau is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Palaiseau....
and La Celle-Saint-Cloud
La Celle-Saint-Cloud
La Celle-Saint-Cloud is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center.-Transport:...
. In the 1970s he taught French musical artists Dalida
Dalida
Dalida , born with Italian name of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a world-famous singer and actress born in Egypt with Italian origins but naturalised French with the name Yolanda Gigliotti. She spent her early years in Egypt amongst the Italian Egyptian community, but she lived most of her adult...
, Nicole Croisille
Nicole Croisille
Nicole Croisille , is a French singer and actress. She has appeared in 24 films between 1961 and 2005 and recorded albums since 1961. Croisille made an attempt to represent France in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Tu m'avais dit," but was not selected.-External links:...
, Sheila
Sheila (singer)
Sheila is a French pop singer, who became successful as a solo artist in the 1960s and 1970s and later fronted a disco act called Sheila and B. Devotion. Sheila has sold over 24,000,000 copies of records in France and was the top selling artist in France in the 1960s and 1970s...
and Ringo (Guy Bayle), Thierry Le Luron
Thierry Le Luron
Thierry Le Luron was a French impersonator and humorist.-External links:*...
and Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu is a French chanteuse, and pop singer. Hailed in the French press as the successor to Édith Piaf, she has achieved great commercial success, recording over 1200 songs in nine different languages, with more than 120 million records sold worldwide.-Childhood to early...
. In 1974 he was publicized in an article by Léon Zitrone
Léon Zitrone
Léon Zitrone was a Russian-born French journalist and television presenter.- Biography :Léon Zitrone was born in Petrograd, Russia on 25 November 1914. He died on 25 November 1995, in Levallois-Perret ....
in the French magazine Jour de France.
In 1982 Pottier appeared in the French television program Bon Anniversiare Juliette, where he played and sang the role of Caruso.
In 1983 he migrated to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia, where he now lives, and has taught singing at Carey Baptist Grammar School
Carey Baptist Grammar School
Carey Baptist Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, Christian, international, day school consisting of four campuses in Victoria, Australia - Kew , Donvale , the Carey Sports Complex in Bulleen and an outdoor education camp near Paynesville in eastern Gippsland called Carey...
, Melbourne Girls Grammar School
Melbourne Girls Grammar School
Melbourne Girls Grammar School , is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in South Yarra, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
and at Melbourne University's Music Conservatory. He was introduced by Bert Newton
Bert Newton
Albert Watson "Bert" Newton, AM, MBE is an Australian television personality, known for hosting television series such as In Melbourne Tonight, Good Morning Australia and 20 to 1. Newton has also hosted the Logie Awards on numerous occasions through his career.-Early life:Newton was born in...
on Australia’s Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
program Good Morning Australia
Good Morning Australia
Good Morning Australia from Network Ten was the name of two different programs. This article is for Bert Newton's morning program, not to be confused with the breakfast news program of the same name....
.
In 1996 he taught at the Belluno
Belluno
Belluno , is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about 100 kilometres north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomiti's region. With its roughly 37,000 inhabitants, it the largest populated area...
Conservatory in Italy, and in 1999 conducted Master Classes and sang recitals of Sacred Music at Damien Top’s
Damien Top
Damien Top is a French tenor, musicologist and conductor, and is artistic director of the International Albert Roussel Festival....
International Festival Albert Roussel. He gave one private recital in London, and two public recitals in Belgium and in France.
Recordings
Pottier has recorded CarmenCarmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
, and Der Fliegende Holländer for the French Radio station ORTF. For Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
he recorded Girard de Propriac's Les trois déesses rivales or Le judgement de Pâris. Other recordings have been Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
Samson et Dalila directed by Georges Prêtre
Georges Prêtre
- Biography :He was born in Waziers , and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting under André Cluytens among others at the Conservatoire de Paris. Amongst his early musical interests were jazz and trumpet. After graduating, he conducted in a...
, Perosi's Requiem for the Corelia company, Honegger's
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
Le Roi David directed by Serge Baudo
Serge Baudo
Serge Baudo is a French conductor, the son of the oboist Étienne Baudo. He is the nephew of the cellist Paul Tortelier....
, and Stravinski's Les Noces
Les Noces
Les noces by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists.-History:The ballet was premiered on June 13, 1923 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, by the Ballets Russes with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska...
directed by Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
which received the 1966 Grand Prix du Disque
Grand Prix du Disque
The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
Académie Charles Cros.
In 2000 Pottier recorded in the role of Olivier in the opera Dr Couteau by David Chisholm and in 2002, a four track CD, Four Songs; French Poetry set to music by Alain Jacques with James Cannon playing guitar. The following year he recorded Florilège vol. 1, a further album of 12 French poems, again with Jacques and with the guitar accompaniment of Melchior Martin; songs from the album were played on Special Broadcasting Service
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
Radio in Australia. In 2006, with Jacques as artistic director, he recorded an album of 13 popular French songs: Beloved Songs of France. Later he recorded two albums of Jacques' songs: Florilège vol. 2 (2008) and Beloved French Poetry (2009). In 2010 he completed the album Beloved Opera Arias, again with Jacques.
Pottier's Ah mes amis... from the Opera La Fille du Régiment
La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was written while the composer was living in Paris, with a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.La figlia del reggimento, a slightly different Italian-language version , was...
was broadcast in 2010 during an interview with by Lindsay Cocker on 3MBS FM, Melbourne.
Honours
In 1975 Pottier was, as a member of the Union Professionnelle des Maîtres du Chant Français, awarded the title "Maître du Chant Français".He was awarded the French national honours Chevalier de l'Ordre de L’Education Civique and Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
, reported in the Journal Officiel de la République Française
Journal Officiel de la République Française
The Journal Officiel de la République Française is the official gazette of the French Republic. It publishes the major legal official information from the national Government of France.-Publications:...
(4 December 1998).