Nourrit, Adolphe (1802-1839)

Nourrit, Adolphe

OPERA SINGER, COMPOSER, LIBRETTIST, MUSIC TEACHER (FRANCE)

BORN 3 Mar 1802, Montpellier, Hérault - DIED 8 Mar 1839, Napoli, Campania
CAUSE OF DEATH suicide by jumping from window
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 22)

Adolphe Nourrit was the son of the singer and diamond trader Louis Nourrit. He studied with Manuel Garcia and debuted at the Opéra in Paris as Pylades in Gluck's "Iphigénie en Tauride". Performances in Rossini's "Guillaume Tell" and Halévy's "La Juive" followed. He also appeared in Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable". He married Adèle Duverger, the daughter of the manager of the Opéra-Comique. They had seven children. After his rival Gilbert Duprez was engaged at the Opéra in 1836 as well he feld offended and he left Paris.

He travelled to Italy but he fell ill and this damaged his voice. His career went downwards and he suffered from a fatal liver cirrhosis. He killed himself in Naples by jumping out of a window from the third floor of the Hotel Barbaia. He was buried at the Madonna del Pianto cemetery, but a month later his body was transported to Marseille and during a requiem mass in the Église Notre-Dame-de-Mont in Marseille, Frédéric Chopin played Schubert's "Die Gestirne" on the organ in the presence of George Sand. Nourrit's remains were then taken to Paris and a funeral service was held at the Église Saint-Roch. He was buried at the Montmartre Cemetery. A few months later his wife died after the birth of his last son and she was buried beside him.

Related persons
• was teacher of Falcon, Cornélie
• was pupil of Garcia, Manuel

Events

17/10/1825	Premiere of "Don Sanche" by Franz Liszt at the Salle Le Peletier, Paris. Rodolphe Kreutzer was the conductor and Adolphe Nourrit sang. Liszt had written this opera in one act in 1824-1825. The French libretto was by Théaulon and de Rancé. The score was lost for thirty years until it was found in 1903. [Kreutzer, Rodolphe][Liszt, Franz]
9/10/1826	Premiere of Rossini's "Le Siège de Corinth" Opéra in Paris. It was an opera in three acts with a libretto by Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet. François Habeneck was the conductor. Performers were Louis Nourrit, Laure Cinti-Damoreau, Adolphe Nourrit, Henri-Étienne Dérivis and Gerdinand Prévost. [Cinti-Damoreau, Laure][Rossini, Gioacchino]
26/3/1827	Premiere of Rossini's "Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le Passage de la mer Rouge" at the opera in Paris. The libretto was written by Luigi Balocchi and Etienne de Jouy. Nicolas Levasseur was Moses. Adolphe Nourrit was Amenophis and Laure cinti Damoreau was Anaïde. [Cinti-Damoreau, Laure][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Rossini, Gioacchino]
29/2/1828	Premiere of Auber's "La muette de Portici". It was performed by the Opera of Paris at the Salle Le Peletier. Henri Valentino was the conductor. Adolphe Nourrit, Alexis Dupont, Laure Cinti-Damoreau and Lise Noblet sang the main parts. [Auber, Daniel][Cinti-Damoreau, Laure]
20/8/1828	Premiere of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory" at the Salle Pelletier in Paris. It was his penultimate opera.The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Delestre-Poirson. François Habeneck was the conductor. The performers included Adolphe Nourritt, Nicolas Levasseur, Henri-Bernard Dabadie, Laure Cinti-Damoreau and Eugène Massol. [Cinti-Damoreau, Laure][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Massol, Eugène][Rossini, Gioacchino][Scribe, Eugène]
3/8/1829	Premiere of Rossini's "Guillaume Tell" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. It was Rossini's last opera. The libretto was written by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis based on the play by Friedrich Schiller. François Habenack was the conductor. Perfomers included Henri Bernard Dabadie, Laure Cinti-Damoreau, Adolphe Nourrit and Nicolas Levasseur. [Cinti-Damoreau, Laure][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Rossini, Gioacchino][Schiller, Friedrich von]
25/8/1830	Revolution in Brussels after the performance of the opera "La Muette" by Auber. Adolphe Nourrit performed the leading tenor role. The opera started the Belgian Revolution against the Dutch. [Auber, Daniel]
21/11/1831	Premiere of Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable" at the Opéra in Paris. It included a ballet in the third act with Marie Taglioni as the ballerina. François Habeneck was the conductor and singers included Adolphe Nourrit as Robert and Laure Cinti-Damoreau as Isabelle. [Cinti-Damoreau, Laure][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Massol, Eugène][Meyerbeer, Giacomo][Taglioni, Marie]
12/3/1832	Premiere of "La Sylphide" with Marie Taglioni at the Salle Pelletier in Paris. The ballet was created for her. The music was written by Jean Schneitzhoeffer and the libretto was by Adoplhe Nourrit. The choreography was by her father Filippo Taglioni. Her brother Paul Taglioni and her sister-in-law Amalia Taglioni-Galster were among the performers. In 1836 a new version with different music was produced with August Bournonville as choreographer. The original version hasn´t survived and Bournonville´s version is now on of the oldest surviving ballets in the world. [Taglioni, Marie][Taglioni, Paul][Taglioni-Galster, Amalia]
23/2/1835	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Ja Juive" at the Opera in Paris. The librett owas written by Eugène Scribe. François Habeneck was the conductor. Performers were Asolphe Nourrit, Cornélie Falcon, Julie Dorus-Gras, Niclas Levasseur and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. [Falcon, Cornélie][Halévy, Fromental][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Scribe, Eugène]
29/2/1836	Premiere of Meyerbeer's opera "Les Huguenots" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps. François Habeneck was the conductor. Julie Gras was Marguerite de Valois, Cornélie Falcon was Valentine, Maria Flécheux was Urbain, Adolphe Nourrit was Raoul de Nangis, Prosper Dérivis was Le Comte de Nevers, Alexis Dupont was Tavannes, François Wartel was Bois-Rosé and Nicolas Levasseur was Marcel. [Falcon, Cornélie][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Massol, Eugène][Meyerbeer, Giacomo][Scribe, Eugène]
28/11/1836	Premiere of the second version of "La Sylphide" at the Royal Danish Theatre. The original version had been staged on 12 March 1832 in Paris. The music was now by Herman Severin Løvenskiold and August Bournonville was the choreographer. The libretto was still by Adolphe Nourrit. Lucile Grahn and Bornonville himself were the main performers. [Grahn-Young, Lucile]