Marie Cabel (31 January 1827 – 23 May 1885) was a Belgian coloratura soprano. She is probably best remembered for having created the role of Philine in Ambroise Thomas's opera Mignon.
Biography
Early life and career Born Marie-Josèphe DreuletteKutsch and Riemens 2003, p. 675, give her birth name as Marie-Josèphe Dreulette; Walsh 1981, p. 375, as Marie Josephe Dreulette; Fétis 1878, p. 137, as Marie-Josèphe Dreullette. in Liège, she was the daughter of a former cavalry officer in Napoleon's army, who after his discharge had become an accountant for various theatres in Belgium. Pauline Viardot, who at that time lived in a chateau near Brussels, happened to hear Cabel sing as a child and predicted a great future for her.Fétis 1878, p. 137. Cabel first studied voice in Liège with Bouillon,Chitty and Rosenthal 1992. and, her father having died, gave music lessons to help support her mother. Cabel's younger brother Edmond also became a singer and in 1863 created the role of Hylas in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens.Walsh 1981, pp. 170, 317, 375.
Cabel later studied voice in Brussels with Ferdinand Cabel and Louis-Joseph Cabel.Louis Joseph Cabel né Cabu (? – 1884), a baritone, was a member of Adolphe Adam's Opéra-National at the Cirque Olympique in Paris in 1847–1848 (Walsh 1981, pp. 360, 375). He rejoined the revived company (renamed Théâtre Lyrique), in the fall of 1853, along with Marie Cabel, who was his sister-in-law (Walsh 1981, pp. 39, 43). In 1847 she married Georges Cabel, the brother of Louis-Joseph and also a voice teacher.Georges Cabel né Cabu (? – 1881) (see Walsh 1981, pp. 43, 375). Fétis 1878, p. 137, states that Cabel married her voice teacher Louis-Joseph Cabu dit Cabel. Walsh was aware of Fétis's article (Fétis's book is listed in his bibliography on p. 367) and repeats some portions of it. Nevertheless, Fétis's information concerning the identity of Marie Cabel's husband is more or less replicated by Kuhn 1992, p. 114; Sadie 1992, vol. 1., p. 667; Chitty and Rosenthal 2001; and Kutsch and Riemens 2003, p. 675. As the marriage was unhappy, they soon separated and ultimately divorced. That same year she gave a concert in Paris and continued her studies at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1848–1849.Kutsch and Riemens 2003, p. 675.
Cabel made her operatic debut in Paris at the Château des Fleurs in 1848, and in 1849 sang the roles of Georgette in Halévy's Le val d'Andorre and Athénaïs in Halévy's Les mousquetaires de la reine at the Opéra-Comique, where she went almost unnoticed.Kutsch and Riemens do not specify which opera Cabel performed in her 1848 debut at the Théâtre Chateau des Fleurs or whether it was a concert performance or a fully staged one. Fétis 1878, p. 137, describes it somewhat differently: "En 1847, Mme Cabel vint à Paris et se fit entendre au chateau des Fleurs, établissement de concerts situé aux Champs-Elysées, puis elle obtint un engagement à l'Opéra-Comique, où elle débuta au mois de mai 1849 dans la rôle de Georgette du Val d'Andorre, après quoi delle se montra dans les Mousquetaires de la Reine. Elle passa alors completement inaperçue..." ("In 1847, Madame Cabel went to Paris and was heard at the Chateau des Fleurs, a concert establishment situated on the Champs-Elysées, then she obtained an engagement at the Opéra-Comique, where she debuted in the month of May 1849 in the role of Georgette of Le val d'Andorre, after which she appeared in Les mousquetaires de la reine. She passed then completely unnoticed..."). Moving back to Brussels, she sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie from 1850 to 1853 with greater success. In 1852 she also appeared in Lyon, at a salary of 3,000 francs per month, and the following year in Strasbourg and Geneva.
At the Théâtre Lyrique
Jules Seveste It was in Lyon that she was discovered by Jules Seveste, the director of the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris.Walsh 1981, p. 43. Seveste engaged her for the 1853–1854 season at his theatre, where she made her debut creating the role of Toinon in Adolphe Adam's Le bijou perdu on 6 October 1853. Fétis described her as "young, fresh, winsome, cheerful, having the devil of a body, lacking at the time taste and musical style, but blessed with an adorable voice, of a marvelous purity, whose brilliant and silvery timbre produced an amazing effect on the public, with which she launched the most difficult lines with amazing confidence and assurance…"Fétis 1878, p. 137. "Jeune, fraîche, accorte, souriante, ayant le diable au corps, manquant à la fois de goût et de style musical, mais douée d'une voix adorable, d'une pureté merveilleuse et dont le timbre brillant et argentin produisant un effet étonnant sur le public, avec cela lançant les traits les plus difficiles avec une crânerie et une sûreté surprenantes…" Georges Bousquet, writing in the Revue et Gazette Musicale of 9 October 1853, reported that the hit of the show was Cabel's performance of the aria "Ah! qu'il fait donc bon cueillir la fraise".Walsh 1981, p. 43. Walsh gives the first line of this aria as "Ah! qu'il fait donc beau cuellir des fraise"; the vocal score (p. 118 as reprinted by Alphonse Leduc) has "Ah! qu'il fait donc bon, qu'il fait donc bon cueillir la fraise". See , vocal scores, file #71241 She became such a popular star that the company, located in the working class district of the Boulevard du Temple, began to attract a well-heeled audience, including Emperor Napoleon III and his new bride Eugénie de Montijo.
Cabel continued singing at the Théâtre Lyrique, creating the roles of Corbin in François-Auguste Gevaert's Georgette ou Le moulin de Fontneoy (28 November 1853) and Marie in Louis Clapisson's La promise (16 March 1854).Antoine Louis Clapisson (born Naples, 15 September 1810; died Paris 19 March 1866), French composer, curator, and teacher (Bran-Ricci and Lacombe 2001). The Musical World of 25 March 1854 suggested that "although not a work of the first class, it [La promise] will probably have a run, owing to the manner in which the principal part is sustained by Mlle Marie Cabel…."Quoted by Walsh 1981, p. 47. This proved to be true, as it was performed a total of 60 times, that season and the next.Walsh 1981, p. 304. Near the end of the season in May, Cabel was on leave and appeared in Bordeaux and Nantes, but was announced, and may have returned, for a benefit performance of La promise at the Théâtre Lyrique on 1 June.Walsh 1981, p. 48.
London – Summer of 1854 After the season in Paris was over, during the summer break, a contingent of the company led by Lafont went to London's St James's Theatre. The London company was not officially the Théâtre Lyrique, as Seveste had refused to take part and remained in France in order to prepare for the fall season in Paris. This distinction was generally ignored by the press, however. The London contingent presented a two-month season at St James's, which opened with Cabel singing in Le bijou perdu. The Illustrated London News (10 June 1854) opined that the opera was "exceedingly immoral—a thing of no importance in Paris, but not yet disregarded, we trust, in London." Cabel also appeared as Catarina in Daniel Auber's Les diamants de la couronne and Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment. The Musical World (29 July 1854) reported in detail on Cabel's performances:
In spite of intense heat of the weather, which has helped mightily to thin most of the London theatres, the St. James's has been attended by fashionable audiences every evening on which the charming and fascinating Marie Cabel has appeared. The Diamants de la Couronne has proved the most attractive opera produced by the company of the Théâtre Lyrique, and, independently of the superiority of Auber's music to that of any other composer whose work has been produced, we do not hesitate to say that Madame Marie Cabel's Caterina is the most striking and interesting character in which she has appeared in London. Perhaps it was because it was the last, and consequently made the deepest impression. The fair artist, however, could hardly be of that opinion; since, on the occasion of her benefit, Wednesday last, she selected La Fille du Régiment in preference to Les Diamants de la Couronne. After all it is a mere matter of choice whether Madame Cabel's Caterina or Maria is preferable. Many doubtless think the former, having no other reason than that they like the music of Auber better than the music of Donizetti. Mad. Marie Cabel was welcomed by an audience of true devotees on Wednesday night. The hot weather seemed to have no effect upon her voice, unless it was to render it still more soft and flexible. If Jenny Lind be entitled to be called the "Nightingale", and Alboni the "Thrush", surely, without any stretch of metaphor, Marie Cabel may be called the "Lark". No lark, indeed, could sing more sweetly, or pour forth its unpremeditated lay more joyously than she on Wednesday night. Her singing was the very exhilaration of pleasant sounds, and her acting perfection, both as the Vivandière in costume and the Vivandière out of costume, as the daughter of the regiment, and as the daughter of her newly-found mother. In the second act Madame Cabel introduced the scene from M. Adolphe Adam's Taureador, in which the variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" were introduced. This was one of the most finished and brilliant displays of bravura singing to which we have listened for a long time, and was a genuine triumph for Madame Cabel, who was ably supported by MM. Legrand and Louis Cabel in the two male parts. Madame Cabel was re-called at the end of the opera, received with enthusiastic applause, and honoured with a shower of bouquets."Dramatic. St. James's Theatre—Opera Comique", The Musical World (29 July 1854), p. 502.
The success of the company in London was somewhat tarnished, however, as Jules Seveste had died unexpectedly on 30 June in Meudon.Walsh 1981, p. 49.
Émile Perrin Émile Perrin took over as director of the Théâtre Lyrique on 26 July 1854, while retaining his position as the director of the Opéra-Comique as well. Marie Cabel had been under contract to Seveste and was now free to go elsewhere, but Perrin was able to persuade her to sign a five-year contract with him for 40,000 francs per year and three months annual leave. The new season opened with Cabel in La promise.Walsh 1981, pp. 52, 54.
Adolphe Adam had recently written two new works for Perrin, Le dernier balLe dernier bal was apparently never performed or published (Champlin and Apthorp 1893, p. 8). for the Opéra-Comique and the 3-act opéra-comique Le muletier de Tolède for the Théâtre Lyrique. It was thought that producing both works at the same time would cause jealousies to arise, so Adam was given a choice of one or the other. Since he had written Le muletier for Cabel, he did not have to think twice. The opera premiered on 16 December 1854 with Cabel in the leading soprano role of Elvire, and although it is often considered to be one of Adam's weakest works, it turned out to be one of Perrin's more successful new productions at the theatre, receiving 54 performances that year and the next. Its ephemeral success can be attributed almost entirely to Cabel. As The Musical World (30 December 1854) enthused, she was "neatly bound as to the feet in the very jauntiest little morocco boots…. She is the fauvette of the boulevards, the very sweetest of warblers; and her acting is quite equal to her singing."Walsh 1981, pp. 55–56, 305.