Giannotti was a tailor until his voice was discovered. He first studied at the conservatory in Nice,
then at the Paris Conservatory. He started his career in 1934 singing operettas at the Théâtre Mogador.
He sang in the French province before being hired by the Opéra-Comique.
His career took place from the 1930s to the 1950s.
He took very often part in radio broadcasts.
Opéra-Comique
He made his debut on October 14th, 1939 in Le médecin malgré lui (Léandre),
during a radio broadcast from the Opéra-Comique,
but with no audience in the auditorium. On December 9th, 1939, this time with an audience,
he sang in La traviata (Un domestique).
He took part in following local creations:
Amphitryon 38 (Sosie), Ariane à Naxos
(Un officier), Carmosine (Un marchand), La chanson de Paris
(Un moissonneur), L'étoile (Patacha), Ginévra (Grimaldi).
He sang also in Angélique (Le diable, L'Italien),
Le bon roi Dagobert (Le guetteur), Le chemineau (Toinet),
L'école des maris (Un clerc), Les contes d'Hoffmann
(Nathanael), L'enfant et les sortilèges (La rainette),
Grisélidis (Alain), Habanéra (1er Compère, 2e Aveugle),
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (Moine poète), Lakmé (Gérald),
Louise (Noctambule, Marchand d'habits, Étudiant, Bohème),
Madame Bovary (Eugène), Madama Butterfly (Yamadori), Mignon
(Wilhelm Meister), Mireille (Andreloun, Vincent),
Les nozze di Figaro (Don Curzio), Pagliacci (Beppe),
Les pêcheurs de perles (Nadir), Philémon et Baucis
(Philémon), Le roi malgré lui (d'Elbeuf), Rossignol
de Saint-Malo (Servant d'amour), La bohème
(Parpignol, Rodolfo), La vie brève (Le forgeron),
Werther (Schmidt).
Paris Opéra
Debut on February 19th, 1950 in
Le marchand de Venise
(Un Juif). His further roles were: Boris Godunov
(Simpleton, 1950), Bolivar
(Musicien, Homme du peuple, 1950; Ibarra, 1952),
Carmen
(Le Remendado, 1960).
As an actor, Giannotti performed in "Volpone",
a movie released in 1941, in which he portrayed Le donneur de
sérénade.
Oustide France, Giannotti sang in Florence (1939/1954/1955 at the Maggio musicale Fiorentino, 1955 in the first Italian performance of
Angélique by Ibert; and 1964 at the Teatro Comunale), Milano (Scala, 12 March 1948 in L'enfant et les
sortilèges with Danco/Micheau, Jeantet, Notti, Rizzatti/Micheau, Ticozzi, De Sabata – total 4 performances), Napoli (San
Carlo 1952), Palermo (1968/69 Massimo) and Geneva.
He is burried at the cemetery of Charenton-le-Pont with his
spouse Raymonde Notti-Pagès
(Raymonde Viguier-Gianotti: 1914–1999) a mezzo
who sang at the Opéra-Comique where she made her debut in 1942 in
Werther and sang in many local creations including Ciboulette.
Reference: Kutsch & Riemens
| Pierre Giannotti sings | Mireille: Ô Magali, with Janine Micheau
|
I want to thank Gilles Bresciani for the recording (Pagliacci).
I want to thank Claude Ribou for the picture (left).
