Suzanne Juyol was a French opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer, the leading dramatic soprano

Dramatic soprano

A dramatic soprano is an operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually mean less agility than lighter voices but a sustained, fuller sound. Usually this voice has a lower tessitura than...

 of her era in France.

Suzanne Juyol studied at the Paris Conservatory, and made her professional debut at the Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

, in 1942, as Margared in Le roi d'Ys

Le roi d'Ys

is an opera in three acts and five tableaux by the French composer Édouard Lalo, to a libretto by Édouard Blau, based on the old Breton legend of the drowned city of Ys, which was, according to the legend, the capital of the kingdom of Cornouaille. It premiered at the Opéra Comique in Paris on 7...

, followed by Fauré

Faure

Faure or Fauré is a French family name and may refer to:People:* Edgar Faure, French politician* Élie Faure, French art historian and essayist* Émile Alphonse Faure, lead battery pioneer* Cédric Fauré, French football striker...

's Pénélope, Dukas's Ariadne, Marguerite in Berlioz's La damnation de Faust and in Gounod's 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...

. Her debut at the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

 took place in 1946, as Charlotte in Werther

Werther

Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....

, other roles included: 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...

, Santuzza in 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...

, etc.

She made her debut at the Monte Carlo Opera in 1947, where she began singing Wagner roles such as Kundry, the two Brunhildes and Ortrud. The success was such that she was invited to sing at the Berlin Staatsoper in Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...

, opposite Max Lorenz, in 1951.

Just as an international career was in the making, Suzanne Juyol retired from the stage in 1960, aged only 40. She was married to Victor Serventi, a voice teacher at the Paris Opera.

Selected recordings

• 1951 - Bizet - Carmen - Suzanne Juyol, Libero de Luca, Janine Micheau, Julien Giovanetti - Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Albert Wolff - DECCA

• 1953 - Massenet - Werther - Charles Richard, Suzanne Juyol, Agnes Léger, Roger Bourdin - Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique, Georges Sebastian - URANIA

Sources

• Dictionnaire des interprètes, Alain Paris, (Robert Laffont, 1982). ISBN 2-221-06660-X

• Guide de l’opéra, Roland Mancini & Jean Rouveroux, (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6