Yvette Guilbert
Encyclopedia
Yvette Guilbert was a French cabaret
singer and actress of the Belle Époque
.
department store
in Paris. She was discovered by a journalist. She took voice and acting lessons on the side that by 1886 led to appearances on stage at smaller venues. Guilbert debuted at the Variette Theatre in 1888. She eventually sang at the popular Eldorado club, then at the Jardin de Paris before headlining in Montmartre
at the Moulin Rouge
in 1890. The English painter William Rothenstein
described this performance in his first volume of memoirs:
For her act, she was usually dressed in bright yellow with long black gloves and stood almost perfectly still, gesturing with her long arms as she sang. An innovator, she favored monologue-like "patter songs" (as they came to be called) and was often billed as a "diseuse" or "sayer." The lyrics (some of them her own) were raunchy; their subjects were tragedy, lost love, and the Parisian poverty from which she had come. During the 1890s she appeared regularly alongside another star of the time, Kam-Hill
, often singing songs by Tarride. Taking her cue from the new cabaret performances, Guilbert broke and rewrote all the rules of music-hall with her audacious lyrics, and the audiences loved her. She was noted in France, England, and the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century for her songs and imitations of the common people of France.
She was a favorite subject of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
, who made many portraits and caricatures of Guilbert and dedicated his second album of sketches to her. Sigmund Freud
attended performances, including one in Vienna, and called her a favorite singer. George Bernard Shaw
wrote a review highlighting her novelty.
Guilbert made successful tours of England and Germany, and the United States in 1895–1896. She performed at Carnegie Hall
in New York City. Even in her fifties, her name still had drawing power and she appeared in several silent film
s (including a star turn in Murnau
's Faust
). She also appeared in talkies, including a role with friend, Sacha Guitry
. Her recordings for Le Voix de Son Maitre include the famous "Le Fiacre" as well as some of her own compositions such as "Madame Arthur." She accompanied herself on piano for some numbers.
She once gave a performance for the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, at a private party on the French Riviera
. Hostesses vied to have her at their parties.
In later years, Guilbert turned to writing about the Belle Époque
and in 1902 two of her novels were published. In the 1920's there appeared her instructional book L'art de chanter une chanson (How to Sing a Song). She also conducted schools for young girls in New York and Paris.
Guilbert became a respected authority on her country's medieval folklore
and on 9 July 1932 was awarded the Legion of Honor as the Ambassadress of French Song.
Yvette Guilbert died in 1944, aged 79. She was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery
in Paris.
Twenty years later her biography, "That Was Yvette: The Biography of a Great Diseuse” by Bettina Knapp and Myra Chipman (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1964,) was released.
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
singer and actress of the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
.
Biography
Born into a poor family as Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, Guilbert began singing as a child but at age sixteen worked as a model at the PrintempsPrintemps
Printemps is a French department store .The flagship Printemps store is located on Boulevard Haussmann in the IXe arrondissement of Paris along with other well-known department stores like Galeries Lafayette. There are other Printemps stores in Paris and throughout France...
department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
in Paris. She was discovered by a journalist. She took voice and acting lessons on the side that by 1886 led to appearances on stage at smaller venues. Guilbert debuted at the Variette Theatre in 1888. She eventually sang at the popular Eldorado club, then at the Jardin de Paris before headlining in Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
at the Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.The Moulin Rouge is...
in 1890. The English painter William Rothenstein
William Rothenstein
Sir William Rothenstein was an English painter, draughtsman and writer on art.-Life and work:William Rothenstein was born into a German-Jewish family in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His father, Moritz, emigrated from Germany in 1859 to work in Bradford's burgeoning textile industry...
described this performance in his first volume of memoirs:
"One evening LautrecHenri de Toulouse-LautrecHenri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
came up to the rue Ravignan to tell us about a new singer, a friend of XanrofLeon XanrofLeon Xanrof was a French playwright and songwriter, noted for writing the play The Prince Consort, which was used to create the 1929 film Parade d'amour ....
, who was to appear at the Moulin RougeMoulin RougeMoulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.The Moulin Rouge is...
for the first time... We went; a young girl appeared, of virginal aspect, slender, pale, without rougeRouge (cosmetics)Rouge , also called blush or blusher , is a cosmetic typically used by women to redden the cheeks so as to provide a more youthful appearance, and to emphasize the cheekbones....
. Her songs were not virginal – on the contrary; but the frequenters of the Moulin were not easily frightened; they stared bewildered at this novel association of innocence with Xanrof's horrific double entente; stared, stayed and broke into delighted applause."
For her act, she was usually dressed in bright yellow with long black gloves and stood almost perfectly still, gesturing with her long arms as she sang. An innovator, she favored monologue-like "patter songs" (as they came to be called) and was often billed as a "diseuse" or "sayer." The lyrics (some of them her own) were raunchy; their subjects were tragedy, lost love, and the Parisian poverty from which she had come. During the 1890s she appeared regularly alongside another star of the time, Kam-Hill
Kam-Hill
Camille Périer , known by his stage name Kam-Hill, was a French cabaret performer and singer in Paris. He was the son of a musician at the Opéra-Comique and brother of the famous opera and operetta singer Jean Périer....
, often singing songs by Tarride. Taking her cue from the new cabaret performances, Guilbert broke and rewrote all the rules of music-hall with her audacious lyrics, and the audiences loved her. She was noted in France, England, and the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century for her songs and imitations of the common people of France.
She was a favorite subject of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
, who made many portraits and caricatures of Guilbert and dedicated his second album of sketches to her. Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
attended performances, including one in Vienna, and called her a favorite singer. George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
wrote a review highlighting her novelty.
Guilbert made successful tours of England and Germany, and the United States in 1895–1896. She performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York City. Even in her fifties, her name still had drawing power and she appeared in several silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s (including a star turn in Murnau
Murnau
Murnau may refer to:Place names:* Murnau am Staffelsee, a town in Bavaria, Germany** Oflag VII-A Murnau, A German WW 2 POW camp located in the Bavarian town "Murnau am Staffelsee"- Other :...
's Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
). She also appeared in talkies, including a role with friend, Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
. Her recordings for Le Voix de Son Maitre include the famous "Le Fiacre" as well as some of her own compositions such as "Madame Arthur." She accompanied herself on piano for some numbers.
She once gave a performance for the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, at a private party on the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
. Hostesses vied to have her at their parties.
In later years, Guilbert turned to writing about the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
and in 1902 two of her novels were published. In the 1920's there appeared her instructional book L'art de chanter une chanson (How to Sing a Song). She also conducted schools for young girls in New York and Paris.
Guilbert became a respected authority on her country's medieval folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
and on 9 July 1932 was awarded the Legion of Honor as the Ambassadress of French Song.
Yvette Guilbert died in 1944, aged 79. She was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
in Paris.
Twenty years later her biography, "That Was Yvette: The Biography of a Great Diseuse” by Bettina Knapp and Myra Chipman (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1964,) was released.