Paul Derenne
Encyclopedia
Paul Derenne (1907, Rennes
– 18 April 1988, Bec-Hellouin
) was a French tenor
whose eclectic repertoire allowed him a successful career on stage and on the concert platform.
(who suggested his stage name based on his home town). After taking part in a competition in 1935 organised by the magazine Comœdia, he made his debut under Charles Munch
in the French premiere of Hin und Zurück
by Hindemith. Hugues Cuénod
, who also took part, introduced him to Nadia Boulanger
from which he took part in the historic recording of Monteverdi madrigals, which won the Grand Prix du Disque
for 1937.
Derenne made his debut at the Paris Opéra Comique
in 1937 in the French premieres of Le testament de la tante Caroline
by Albert Roussel
(Noel) and of Ariadne auf Naxos
by Richard Strauss
(Brighella) alongside de Germaine Lubin
and Janine Micheau
, both operas conducted by Roger Désormière
.
Called up in 1940 and captured by the Germans, he was imprisoned at Longvic
, near Dijon
. Freed after a few months, Derenne joined the company of the Palais de Chaillot, singing many leading lyric roles of the opéra comique repertoire, such as Fortunio
, George Brown in La dame blanche
, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (in French) and Gérald in Lakmé
. He also sang in the first performance of surviving fragments of Chabrier's Vaucochard et Fils 1er on 22 April 1941 at the Salle du Conservatoire.
During the Occupation he came to know Henri Sauguet
, and sang in the premiere of La Gageure imprévue (Détieulette) at the Opéra Comique in 1944, also premiering the song cycle 'Les Pénitents en maillot rose', (poems by Max Jacob
). Sauguet introduced Derenne to other members of Groupe des Six and also recorded Socrate
with him in 1954.
After the war Derenne appeared in Great Britain, at the Edinburgh Festival
, in Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and Italy, where he appeared at Fenice
in Venice
and La Scala
in Milan
in L'heure espagnole
and L'Enfant et les sortilèges
, which he recorded under Ernest Ansermet
in 1953. With Henri Sauguet he participated in many radio concerts exploring the repertoire of the French mélodie.
After retiring from singing he taught for many years. His wife wrote a book of memoirs: Jacqueline Paul Derenne, Une vie en duo, Rouen, Éditions Médianes, 1992.
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
– 18 April 1988, Bec-Hellouin
Le Bec-Hellouin
Le Bec-Hellouin is a commune in the department of Eure in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.It is best known for Bec Abbey and has recently been voted one of the "most beautiful villages of France".-History:...
) was a French tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
whose eclectic repertoire allowed him a successful career on stage and on the concert platform.
Life and career
Derenne undertook studies in architecture while also pursuing vocal studies with Marguerite Babaïan. She recommended him to Reynaldo HahnReynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
(who suggested his stage name based on his home town). After taking part in a competition in 1935 organised by the magazine Comœdia, he made his debut under Charles Munch
Charles Munch
Charles Munch may refer to:*Charles Munch , American artist*Charles Munch , orchestral conductorSee also:*Charles Munch discography, recordings of Munch, the conductor...
in the French premiere of Hin und Zurück
Hin und zurück
Hin und zurück is an operatic 'sketch' in one scene by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer....
by Hindemith. Hugues Cuénod
Hugues Cuénod
Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod was a Swiss tenor known for his performances in opera, operetta, both traditional and musical theatre, and on the concert stage, where he was particularly known for his light, romantic and expressive interpretation of mélodie...
, who also took part, introduced him to Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
from which he took part in the historic recording of Monteverdi madrigals, which won the 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...
for 1937.
Derenne made his debut at the Paris Opéra Comique
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in 1937 in the French premieres of Le testament de la tante Caroline
Le testament de la tante Caroline
Le testament de la tante Caroline is an opéra bouffe or operetta by composer Albert Roussel and librettist Nino . The original production was in the Czech language and in three acts, but the work was later revised into a one act operetta in the French language...
by Albert Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
(Noel) and of Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
(Brighella) alongside de Germaine Lubin
Germaine Lubin
Germaine Lubin was a French dramatic soprano best known for her association with the music of Richard Wagner...
and Janine Micheau
Janine Micheau
Janine Micheau was a French singer, one of the leading lyric sopranos of her era in France.Janine Micheau was born in Toulouse, and studied voice at the Paris Conservatoire...
, both operas conducted by Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière was a French conductor.Désormière was born in Vichy in 1898. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his professors included Philippe Gaubert , Xavier Leroux and Charles Koechlin , and Vincent d'Indy...
.
Called up in 1940 and captured by the Germans, he was imprisoned at Longvic
Longvic
Longvic is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Population:-References:*...
, near Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
. Freed after a few months, Derenne joined the company of the Palais de Chaillot, singing many leading lyric roles of the opéra comique repertoire, such as Fortunio
Fortunio (opera)
Fortunio comédie lyrique or opera in 4 Acts and 5 tableaux by composer André Messager. The French language libretto by Gaston Arman de Caillavet and Robert de Flers is based on Alfred de Musset's comedy Le Chandelier. A stage work in the opéra comique tradition, the opera contains some spoken...
, George Brown in La dame blanche
La Dame blanche
La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...
, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (in French) and Gérald in Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...
. He also sang in the first performance of surviving fragments of Chabrier's Vaucochard et Fils 1er on 22 April 1941 at the Salle du Conservatoire.
During the Occupation he came to know Henri Sauguet
Henri Sauguet
Henri Sauguet , was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux as Henri-Pierre Poupard, he adopted his mother's maiden name as his pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies , concertos, chamber and choral music and numerous songs, as well as film music...
, and sang in the premiere of La Gageure imprévue (Détieulette) at the Opéra Comique in 1944, also premiering the song cycle 'Les Pénitents en maillot rose', (poems by Max Jacob
Max Jacob
Max Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
). Sauguet introduced Derenne to other members of Groupe des Six and also recorded Socrate
Socrate
Socrate is a work for voice and piano by Erik Satie. First published in 1919 for voice and piano, in 1920 a different publisher reissued the piece "revised and corrected". A third version of the work exists, for small orchestra and voice, for which the manuscript has disappeared and which is...
with him in 1954.
After the war Derenne appeared in Great Britain, at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, in Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and Italy, where he appeared at Fenice
Fenice
*Fenice, a font designed by Aldo Novarese *La Fenice - Italian opera house in Venice, one of the most famous theatres in Europe.*Fenice server, main part of the ³ - Libre Streaming, Libre Software, Libre Standards Open source audio/video streaming software project....
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in L'heure espagnole
L'heure espagnole
L'heure espagnole is a one-act opera, described as a comédie musicale, with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on his play of the same name first performed at the Théâtre de l'Odéon on 28 October 1904...
and L'Enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first being L'heure espagnole...
, which he recorded under Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
in 1953. With Henri Sauguet he participated in many radio concerts exploring the repertoire of the French mélodie.
After retiring from singing he taught for many years. His wife wrote a book of memoirs: Jacqueline Paul Derenne, Une vie en duo, Rouen, Éditions Médianes, 1992.
Discography
- Maurice Ravel, L'Heure espagnole (Gonzalve) 1953 (Decca)
- Johannes Brahms, Liebeslieder Walzer with Nadia Boulanger
- Claudio Monteverdi, Madrigals directed by Nadia Boulanger, 1937
- French vocal ensembles by Josquin des Prés, Clément Janequin, Orlando de Lassus etc. ; directed by Nadia Boulanger, 1951
- Extracts from operettas Virginie (Van Parys), La Maréchale Sans-Gêne (Pierre-Petit)
- Mélodies françaises, songs by Gounod, Satie, Rosenthal, Milhaud, Sauguet, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Poulenc, with Henri Sauguet (piano), 1957 and 1959 (INA, collection "Mémoire vive")
- Mélodies rares, works by Koechlin, Delage, Manziarly, Cliquet-Pleyel, Delannoy, Durey, Caplet, Ciry, Sauguet, Beydts, Françaix, Jaubert, Jacob; with various accompanists, 1958-1961 (INA, collection "Mémoire vive")