Massol, Eugène (1802-1887)

Massol, Eugène

OPERA SINGER (FRANCE)

BORN 23 Aug 1802, Lodève, Hérault - DIED 30 Oct 1887, Paris: 17e
BIRTH NAME Massol, Jean Étienne Auguste
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 22, ligne 02, numéro 32, avenue Cordier)

Eugène Massol was the son of a wigmaker. In 1822 he married Rose Deleuze. He attended the Conservatory in Paris from 1823 where Charles-François Plantade was his teacher. He won a first prize in singing and debuted at the Opéra in Paris in 1825. He appeared in many world premieres of operas by Meyerbeer and Halévy between 1831 and 1843, mostly performing secondary tenor parts and sometimes performing bariton parts.

In 1845 he left for Brussels where he sang main parts at the Theátre La Monnaie. In 1848-1849 he was also the manager of this theatre. In 1850 he returned to Paris. During his last performance on 14 January 1858, Felice Orsini tried to murder emperor Napoleon III but failed. After the death of his first wife he married the Belgian Jeanne Haranger on 8 November 1864 in Paris.

Events

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. [Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Meyerbeer, Giacomo][Nourrit, Adolphe][Taglioni, Marie]
20/6/1832	Premiere of the ballet-opera "La Tentation" by Jean Corelli. The music was written by Fromental Halévy with Casimir Gide. Edmond Cavé wrote the libretto. Performers included Joseph Mazilier, Pauline Leroux, Julie Dorus, Pauline Duvernay, Eugène Massol, Lise Noblet and Pauline Montessu. [Halévy, Fromental][Leroux, Pauline]
29/2/1836	Premiere of Meyerbeer's opera "Les Huguenots" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris [Falcon, Cornélie][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Meyerbeer, Giacomo][Nourrit, Adolphe]
5/3/1838	Premiere of Fromental Halévy's "Guido et Ginevra" at the Salle Peletier in Paris. The librett owas written by Eugène Scribe. Performers included Nicolas Levasseur, Gilbert Duprez, Julie Aimée Dorus-Gras, Rosine Stolz, Ferdinand Prévôt, Eugène Massol and Maria Flécheux. It was a moderate success. [Halévy, Fromental][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper][Scribe, Eugène]
10/9/1838	Premiere of Berlioz's opera "Benvenuto Cellini" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. François Habeneck was the conductor. Singers were Julie Dorus-Gras, Rosinze stolz, Gilbert Duprez and Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol. [Berlioz, Hector]
22/12/1841	Premiere of Halévy's "La reine de Chypre" at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. The libretto was by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. Habeneck was the conductor. Rosine Stolz performed the title part of this grand opera and Gilbert Duprez was Gérard. Joseph Mazilier was the choreographer. Adéle Dumilâtre, Natalie Fitzjames and Pauline Leroux were in the ballet. Richard Wagner was in the audience and praised the opera. [Halévy, Fromental][Leroux, Pauline][Wagner, Richard]
15/3/1843	Premiere of Halévy's opera "Charles VI" at the Salle Peletier in Paris. The libretto was written by the brothers Casimir and Germain Delavigne. The performers included Gilbert Duprez, Paul Barroilhet, Nicolas Levasseur, Rosine Stoltz and Julie Dorus-Gras. [Halévy, Fromental][Levasseur, Nicolas-Prosper]
23/4/1852	Premiere of Halévy's opera "Le Juif Errant" at the Salle Pelletier in Paris. The libetto was written by Eugène Scribe and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. Narcisse Giard was the conductor. Perofemers were Eugène Massol, Louis-Henri Obin, Gustave-Hippolyte Roger, Fortunata Tedesco and Emma la Grua. [Girard, Narcisse][Halévy, Fromental][Scribe, Eugène]
14/1/1858	Felice Orsini's attempt to kill Napoleon III fails. With his three accomplices he threw three bombs at the imperial carriage in Paris. Eight people died and 150 people were injured, but the emperor and the empress were not hurt. Shortly afterwards they appeared before the public in their box in the theatre. Eugénie wrote to her mother that there was a hole in the emperor's hat. Orsini was wounded and arrested the next day. He was sentenced to death and executed on 13 March 1858. [Napoleon III Bonaparte]