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{{Short description|Belgian singer}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2012}}
'''Fernand Ansseau''' (March 6, 1890 in Boussu-Bois - May 1, 1972 in Brussels) was a [[Belgian people|Belgian]] [[tenor]].<ref>http://www.allmusic.com/artist/fernand-ansseau-mn0002166373</ref>
'''Fernand Ansseau''' (6 March 1890 in [[Boussu]]-Bois near [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]] – 1 May 1972 in [[Brussels]]) was a Belgian [[spinto|lyric-spinto]] [[tenor]].<ref>{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0002166373|author=Anne Feeney}}</ref>

{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Fernand Ansseau
| background = tenor
| birth_name = Fernand Ansseau
| image = ANSSEAU, Fernand, Don José, Carmen, Chicago.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1890|03|06}}
| birth_place = [[Boussu]]-Bois near [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]], Belgium
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1972|05|01|1890|03|06}}
| death_place = [[Brussels]], Belgium
| occupation = [[spinto|lyric-spinto]] [[tenor]]
| genre = Opera
}}

==Early life==

Fernand Ansseau was born 6 March 1890 in [[Boussu]]-Bois near [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]], Belgium, the younger son of the organist at St. Joseph's parish church.<ref name=decock>Unless otherwise noted, information and quotations are from {{cite journal | last=De Cock | first=Alfred | title=Fernand Ansseau | work=The Record Collector | date=January 1954 |volume=IX | issue=1 | pages=[5]{{ndash}}16}}</ref> He first attended St. Joseph's Convent School. At age 7 he moved to the boys' school of St. Charles de Bousseau-Bois. While a student at St. Charles, Monsieur Tellier, one of his teachers, recognized his voice and occasionally had him sing short solos in the children's choir.

Upon leaving school Ansseau became a typographer, though he still sang in church. Monsieur Laurent, the local priest, encouraged him to join the choir of the Institut musical de Dour. On the advice of "kindly persons" he auditioned for Jean Vanden Eede, director of the Mons Conservatory, who admitted him to the class for [[solfège|solfeggio]] but not singing or piano. Discouraged, Ansseau considered abandoning his musical studies, but Monsieur Laurent encouraged him to apply to the [[Brussels Conservatory]], where, at age 17, he was admitted and began to study voice "on trial" as a baritone with Désiré Demest. After two years of study Ansseau won only second prize, leading [[Lucien Solvay]] to write in ''L'Étoile belge'', "the one who is perhaps the most promising has not been the best rewarded." Again discouraged, Ansseau considered returning to the printing trade. However, Demest, hearing the ease with which Ansseau sang high notes, came to realize Ansseau was a tenor, and, after three more years of study as a tenor, he won "a brilliant first prize." As a reward, the conservatory's director, [[Edgar Tinel]], asked Ansseau to sing in a "communion mass" Tinel had composed for the heir to the Belgian throne, the [[Duke of Brabant]]. As a souvenir, [[Albert I of Belgium|King Albert I]] gave him a tie pin.

==Early career (1913–1918)==

Ansseau made his debut in [[Dijon]] in 1913 as Jean in [[Jules Massenet|Massenet]]'s ''[[Hérodiade]]''. An unidentified critic wrote, "The great principal actor in this triumph is without doubt Fernand Ansseau...." Later in the 1913–1914 season he sang in ''[[Carmen]]'', '' [[sigurd (opera)|Sigurd]]'', '' [[faust (opera)|Faust]]'', and '' [[louise (opera)|Louise]]'', among other works. In addition, he sang in the Dijon premiere of ''[[Les barbares]]'' by [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]] to great praise.

As a result of these successes, he received offers of engagements from many sources, but the eruption of [[World War I]] in August 1914 seriously threatened his career. During the war years, when Germany occupied Belgium, he gave many charity concerts and theatrical performances in Brussels and the provinces. On 21 December 1918, after the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]], he participated in the re-opening of the [[La Monnaie|Théâtre royale de la Monnaie]] by singing the first act of [[Daniel Auber|Auber]]'s ''[[La muette de Portici]]'' and [[Ruggero Leoncavallo|Leoncavallo]]'s ''[[Pagliacci]]''.

==Later career (1919–1940)==

In 1919 at La Monnaie he sang in ''Carmen'', ''[[Manon]]'', ''Louise'', ''Pagliacci'', ''[[Rigoletto]]'', and ''[[Aïda]]'', for a total of thirty-eight performances. On 21 May 1919 he made his [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] debut in ''Manon'' with Louise Edvina, at which the audience called for encores of two sections. Later that season he performed [[Charles Gounod|Gounod]]'s ''Faust'' with [[Nellie Melba]], [[Miriam Licette]], and Édouard Cotreuil, conducted by [[Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates]]; Gounod's ''[[Roméo et Juliette]]'', again with Melba and [[Dinh Gilly]], with [[Thomas Beecham|Beecham]] conducting; [[Tosca]] with Edvina; and other works already in his repertoire.

On 2 October 1920 he made his debut at the [[Opéra Comique]] in Massenet's ''[[Werther]]''. Exactly a year later he sang the tenor version of [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]]'s ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'' at the Opéra Comique.

In 1922 Ansseau made his debuts at [[Cannes]] and [[Monte Carlo]].

He appeared with the [[Chicago Civic Opera]] in the 1923–1924 through 1927–1928 seasons. It was in Chicago, in the 1923–1924 season, that he first sang the part of Prinzivalle in [[Henry Février]]'s '' [[Monna Vanna (Février)|Monna Vanna]]''. In the 1925–1927 season Ansseau participated in a cross-country tour that took him from San Francisco to Miami, by way of Los Angeles, [[Denver]], [[Boston]], Chicago, [[Philadelphia]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], [[Cleveland]], Detroit, and [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], appearing chiefly in ''Louise'' and ''Carmen''.

In October 1923, with an opera company in San Francisco, he appeared in '' [[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]'' by Saint-Saëns with [[Marguerite D'Alvarez]] and [[Marcel Journet]]. At one of the performances he received twelve curtain calls after Act II. In the same 1923 season in San Francisco he also appeared in ''Tosca'', ''Pagliacci'', and ''Aïda''.

At the end of 1928 Ansseau returned to Europe, where he appeared at Covent Garden, La Monnaie, the [[Paris Opera]], and the theaters of [[Antwerp]], [[Charleroi]], [[Ghent]], and [[Liège]]. After 1930 Ansseau decided not to travel abroad, and from then until the end of his career confined his activities to the principal Belgian and French opera houses. His last operatic appearances were in February 1939, at La Monnaie, in ''Pagliacci''. His last public performance was at a gala concert at [[Frameries]] in the [[Borinage]] on 5 May 1940.

==Retirement==

He refused to perform again during the German occupation of 1940. He taught at the Brussels Conservatory 1942–1944. Thereafter he spent a quiet retirement in Brussels, and passed away there on 1 May 1972 at age 82.<ref name="k-r">{{cite book | last1=Kutsch | first1=K.J. | last2=Riemens | first2=Leo | title=Grosses Sängerlexikon | place=Bern | publisher=Francke Verlag |date=1987|volume=I, columns 76–77|isbn=3-317-01638-8}}</ref>

==Roles==

Annseau performed twenty-nine roles in as many operas by nineteen composers.

His favorite operas were "''Hérodiade'' because it was the opera in which I made my debut, ''Samson and Delilah'' because it has always been my war horse; and ''Tosca'' and ''Paillasse'' because it was in these two operas that I was fully able to appreciate my qualities of 'bel canto.'"<ref name=decock/>

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
!|Composer
!|Opera
!|Role
|-
| [[Franco Alfano|Alfano]]
|''[[Risurrezione]]''
|Dimitri
|-
|Auber
|''La muette de Portici''
|Masaniello
|-
|[[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]
|''[[La damnation de Faust]]''
|Faust
|-
|Bizet
|''Carmen''
|Don José
|-
| [[Gustave Charpentier|Charpentier]]
|''Louise''
|Julien
|-
|[[Donizetti]]
|''[[La favorite]]''
|Fernand
|-
|Février
|''Monna Vanna''
|Prinzivalle
|-
|[[Gluck]]
| [[Alceste (Gluck)|''Alceste'']]
|Admete
|-
|Gluck
|''Orfeo ed Euridice''
|Orfeo
|-
|Gounod
|''Faust''
|Faust
|-
|Gounod
|''Roméo et Juliette''
|Roméo
|-
|Leoncavallo
|''Pagliacci''
|Canio
|-
| [[Pietro Mascagni|Mascagni]]
|''[[Cavalleria rusticana]]''
|Turiddu
|-
|Massenet
|''Griseldis''
|Alain
|-
|Massenet
|Hérodiade
|Jean
|-
|Massenet
|''Manon''
|Des Grieux
|-
|Massenet
|''Werther''
|Werther
|-
|[[Italo Montemezzi|Montemezzi]]
|''[[L'amore dei tre re]]''
|Avito
|-
|[[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]]
|''[[The Tales of Hoffmann]]''
|Hoffmann
|-
|[[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]]
|''[[Madama Butterfly]]''
|Pinkerton
|-
|Puccini
|''Tosca''
|Mario Cavaradossi
|-
|Reyer
|''Sigurd''
|Sigurd
|-
|Saint-Saëns
|''Les barbares''
|Rôle du veilleur
|-
|Saint-Saëns
|''Samson and Delilah''
|Samson
|-
|[[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]
|''Aïda''
|Radames
|-
|Verdi
|''[[La forza del destino]]''
|Alvaro
|-
|Verdi
|''Rigoletto''
|Duke of Mantua
|-
| [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]
|'' [[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]''
|Lohengrin
|-
|Wagner
|'' [[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]''
|Tannhäuser
|-
|}

==Recordings==
As of 13 March 2022 the Kelly Online Database lists 168 recordings made for His Master's Voice from 11 June 1919 through 5 June 1930.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kellydatabase.org|author=<!--Not stated-->|title=Search Results|website=Kelly On-line Database|access-date=13 March 2022}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


{{commons category|Fernand Ansseau}}
{{Authority control|BNF=13890814}}

==External links==
*[https://historyofthetenor.com/fernand-ansseau/ Biography and sound files], Sydney Rhys Barker

{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata
| NAME = Ansseau, Fernand
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Belgian singer
| DATE OF BIRTH = March 6, 1890
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = May 1, 1972
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansseau, Fernand}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansseau, Fernand}}
[[Category:Belgian opera singers]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:Operatic tenors]]
[[Category:Belgian operatic tenors]]
[[Category:People from Boussu]]
[[Category:People from Boussu]]
[[Category:20th-century Belgian male opera singers]]

{{Belgium-opera-singer-stub}}

Latest revision as of 17:06, 30 August 2024

Fernand Ansseau (6 March 1890 in Boussu-Bois near Mons – 1 May 1972 in Brussels) was a Belgian lyric-spinto tenor.[1]

Fernand Ansseau
Background information
Birth nameFernand Ansseau
Born(1890-03-06)6 March 1890
Boussu-Bois near Mons, Belgium
Died1 May 1972(1972-05-01) (aged 82)
Brussels, Belgium
GenresOpera
Occupationlyric-spinto tenor

Early life

[edit]

Fernand Ansseau was born 6 March 1890 in Boussu-Bois near Mons, Belgium, the younger son of the organist at St. Joseph's parish church.[2] He first attended St. Joseph's Convent School. At age 7 he moved to the boys' school of St. Charles de Bousseau-Bois. While a student at St. Charles, Monsieur Tellier, one of his teachers, recognized his voice and occasionally had him sing short solos in the children's choir.

Upon leaving school Ansseau became a typographer, though he still sang in church. Monsieur Laurent, the local priest, encouraged him to join the choir of the Institut musical de Dour. On the advice of "kindly persons" he auditioned for Jean Vanden Eede, director of the Mons Conservatory, who admitted him to the class for solfeggio but not singing or piano. Discouraged, Ansseau considered abandoning his musical studies, but Monsieur Laurent encouraged him to apply to the Brussels Conservatory, where, at age 17, he was admitted and began to study voice "on trial" as a baritone with Désiré Demest. After two years of study Ansseau won only second prize, leading Lucien Solvay to write in L'Étoile belge, "the one who is perhaps the most promising has not been the best rewarded." Again discouraged, Ansseau considered returning to the printing trade. However, Demest, hearing the ease with which Ansseau sang high notes, came to realize Ansseau was a tenor, and, after three more years of study as a tenor, he won "a brilliant first prize." As a reward, the conservatory's director, Edgar Tinel, asked Ansseau to sing in a "communion mass" Tinel had composed for the heir to the Belgian throne, the Duke of Brabant. As a souvenir, King Albert I gave him a tie pin.

Early career (1913–1918)

[edit]

Ansseau made his debut in Dijon in 1913 as Jean in Massenet's Hérodiade. An unidentified critic wrote, "The great principal actor in this triumph is without doubt Fernand Ansseau...." Later in the 1913–1914 season he sang in Carmen, Sigurd, Faust, and Louise, among other works. In addition, he sang in the Dijon premiere of Les barbares by Saint-Saëns to great praise.

As a result of these successes, he received offers of engagements from many sources, but the eruption of World War I in August 1914 seriously threatened his career. During the war years, when Germany occupied Belgium, he gave many charity concerts and theatrical performances in Brussels and the provinces. On 21 December 1918, after the Armistice, he participated in the re-opening of the Théâtre royale de la Monnaie by singing the first act of Auber's La muette de Portici and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Later career (1919–1940)

[edit]

In 1919 at La Monnaie he sang in Carmen, Manon, Louise, Pagliacci, Rigoletto, and Aïda, for a total of thirty-eight performances. On 21 May 1919 he made his Covent Garden debut in Manon with Louise Edvina, at which the audience called for encores of two sections. Later that season he performed Gounod's Faust with Nellie Melba, Miriam Licette, and Édouard Cotreuil, conducted by Albert Coates; Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, again with Melba and Dinh Gilly, with Beecham conducting; Tosca with Edvina; and other works already in his repertoire.

On 2 October 1920 he made his debut at the Opéra Comique in Massenet's Werther. Exactly a year later he sang the tenor version of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Opéra Comique.

In 1922 Ansseau made his debuts at Cannes and Monte Carlo.

He appeared with the Chicago Civic Opera in the 1923–1924 through 1927–1928 seasons. It was in Chicago, in the 1923–1924 season, that he first sang the part of Prinzivalle in Henry Février's Monna Vanna. In the 1925–1927 season Ansseau participated in a cross-country tour that took him from San Francisco to Miami, by way of Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, and Buffalo, appearing chiefly in Louise and Carmen.

In October 1923, with an opera company in San Francisco, he appeared in Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns with Marguerite D'Alvarez and Marcel Journet. At one of the performances he received twelve curtain calls after Act II. In the same 1923 season in San Francisco he also appeared in Tosca, Pagliacci, and Aïda.

At the end of 1928 Ansseau returned to Europe, where he appeared at Covent Garden, La Monnaie, the Paris Opera, and the theaters of Antwerp, Charleroi, Ghent, and Liège. After 1930 Ansseau decided not to travel abroad, and from then until the end of his career confined his activities to the principal Belgian and French opera houses. His last operatic appearances were in February 1939, at La Monnaie, in Pagliacci. His last public performance was at a gala concert at Frameries in the Borinage on 5 May 1940.

Retirement

[edit]

He refused to perform again during the German occupation of 1940. He taught at the Brussels Conservatory 1942–1944. Thereafter he spent a quiet retirement in Brussels, and passed away there on 1 May 1972 at age 82.[3]

Roles

[edit]

Annseau performed twenty-nine roles in as many operas by nineteen composers.

His favorite operas were "Hérodiade because it was the opera in which I made my debut, Samson and Delilah because it has always been my war horse; and Tosca and Paillasse because it was in these two operas that I was fully able to appreciate my qualities of 'bel canto.'"[2]

Composer Opera Role
Alfano Risurrezione Dimitri
Auber La muette de Portici Masaniello
Berlioz La damnation de Faust Faust
Bizet Carmen Don José
Charpentier Louise Julien
Donizetti La favorite Fernand
Février Monna Vanna Prinzivalle
Gluck Alceste Admete
Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice Orfeo
Gounod Faust Faust
Gounod Roméo et Juliette Roméo
Leoncavallo Pagliacci Canio
Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana Turiddu
Massenet Griseldis Alain
Massenet Hérodiade Jean
Massenet Manon Des Grieux
Massenet Werther Werther
Montemezzi L'amore dei tre re Avito
Offenbach The Tales of Hoffmann Hoffmann
Puccini Madama Butterfly Pinkerton
Puccini Tosca Mario Cavaradossi
Reyer Sigurd Sigurd
Saint-Saëns Les barbares Rôle du veilleur
Saint-Saëns Samson and Delilah Samson
Verdi Aïda Radames
Verdi La forza del destino Alvaro
Verdi Rigoletto Duke of Mantua
Wagner Lohengrin Lohengrin
Wagner Tannhäuser Tannhäuser

Recordings

[edit]

As of 13 March 2022 the Kelly Online Database lists 168 recordings made for His Master's Voice from 11 June 1919 through 5 June 1930.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Anne Feeney. Fernand Ansseau at AllMusic
  2. ^ a b Unless otherwise noted, information and quotations are from De Cock, Alfred (January 1954). "Fernand Ansseau". The Record Collector. IX (1): [5]–16.
  3. ^ Kutsch, K.J.; Riemens, Leo (1987). Grosses Sängerlexikon. Vol. I, columns 76–77. Bern: Francke Verlag. ISBN 3-317-01638-8.
  4. ^ "Search Results". Kelly On-line Database. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
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