A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Faure, Jean-Baptiste

by George Grove

FAURE, Jean-Baptiste, son of a singer in the church at Moulins, where he was born Jan. 15, 1830. When he was 3 the family removed to Paris, and when he was 7 his father died. In 1843 he entered the solfeggio class in the Conservatoire, and soon after the maîtrise of the Madeleine, where he was under Trevaux, an excellent teacher, to whom he owes his sound knowledge of music. After the breaking of his voice he took up the piano and double bass, and was for some time a member of the band at the Odeon theatre. When his voice had recovered he joined the chorus of the Theatre Italien, and in Nov. 1850 again entered the Conservatoire, and in 52 obtained the first prizes for singing and for opéra comique. He made his début Oct. 20, 52, at the Opera Comique, in Masse's 'Galathée,' after which he advanced steadily through various rôles until his creation of the parts of Crèvecœur in Gevaert's 'Quentin Durward' (March 58) and Hoël in Meyerbeer's 'Pardon de Ploermel' (April 59) placed him in the first rank. In the winter of 1861 he made his first appearance at the Grand Opera, since which time he has been regularly retained there. In London he first appeared at Covent Garden, April 10, 1860, as Hoël in 'Dinorah,' and has since that time been a regular visitor at one or other of the Italian Opera houses. At Brussels also he is often heard, and in 1874, during the war, he undertook the first class of singing in the Brussels Conservatoire. In 1861 he appeared in Berlin at Meyerbeer's request, but the tremolo in his voice did not please the Germans, and he has not revisited that country.

Faure is a good musician and a fine actor. He is also a collector of pictures and a man of great culture. His voice is a baritone of great extent and of very fine quality. His characters comprise Mephistopheles, Hamlet, Nelusco (Africaine), Posa (Don Carlos), Don Giovanni, and many more. In 1857 he was for a short time Professor of Singing at the Paris Conservatoire, and in 1859 he married Mlle. Lefebvre (born Dec. 21, 1828), the chief actress of Dugazon rôles at the Opéra Comique. He has published 2 books of songs (Heugel).

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