Marcel Claudel
Marcel Claudel (real name Marcel Buydens) was born at Courcelles, near Charleroi in the Belgian province of Hainaut, on January 31st, 1900. While still a child, he received lessons in theory and violin from Hanse, a teacher in Roux. In 1919, Edgar Druine encouraged him to attend the classes of an exceptional teacher, Désiré Demest, at the Brussels conservatory, where he won a runner-up prize for singing in 1921. In May 1922, he was invited by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium to sing at the palace of Laeken. He took the small role of the Second Soldier in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea in a conservatory production. He was immediately spotted by Corneil de Thoran, director of La Monnaie, Brussels, who was looking out for a light tenor for the 1923/24 season. His debut took place on August 1st, 1923 in the role of Wilhelm in Mignon. During the next four seasons, Claudel was able to put his personal repertoire together: Bohème, Traviata, Hérodiade, Barbiere, and Francesca da Rimini. For the 1927/28 season, Claudel accepted a contract at Lyon. After appearing in London in Charpentier's Louise he joined the Paris Opéra-Comique in 1930. His reputation brought him invitations to perform in many places all over francophone Europe and North Africa: Algiers, Tunis, Bordeaux, Cannes, Le Touquet, Lyon, and Geneva. 1932 to 1934, he performed in Monte Carlo. He damaged his voice by trying to go into a more heroic direction. For the last 21 years of his career, 1937 to 1958, he was back at La Monnaie, but now almost exclusively as a comprimario. While still singing, Claudel became a successful stage director, and finally a long-term theater manager in Charleroi. From 1959 to 1969, Claudel also coached opera students at the Mons conservatory. He died in Charleroi on April 6th, 1981.
Mignon (Wilhelm Meister) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 2 August 1923 Francesca da Rimini (Malatestino) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 9 November 1923 Sorochinskaja jarmarka/The fair at Sorochintsi (Afanasij Ivanovich) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 12 January 1925 Un songe d'une nuit d'été (Roi de elfes, composer Vreuls) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 17 December 1925 L'enfant et les sortilèges (La théière, Le vieillard arithmétique, La rainette) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 11 February 1926 Skazka o tsare Saltane/The legend of Tsar Saltan (Old man) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 15 April 1926 Le miracle de Saint Antoine (Gustave, composer Brumagne) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 10 March 1927 Hérodiade (Jean) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Marouf – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Mireille (Vincent) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 La fille de Madame Angot (Ange Pitou) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Lakmé – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Falstaff (Fenton) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Pedrillo) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Le jongleur de Notre Dame (Jean) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Il barbiere di Siviglia (Almaviva) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 La bohème (Rodolfo) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 La traviata (Gastone) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 La traviata (Alfredo) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (David) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1923–27 Manon – Lyon, Opéra, 1927/28 Louise – London, Covent Garden, 1928 Prodaná nevěsta (Jeník) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928 Le roi malgré lui – Paris, Opéra-Comique Georges Dandin (Clitandre, composer d'Ollone) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1930 Cantegril (composer Roger Ducasse) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1931 Le Sicilien (Adraste, composer Lully) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1933 Il matrimonio segreto (Paolino) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 La dame blanche (Georges Brown) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 Frasquita (Armand) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 Le juif polonais (Christian) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 Le pré aux clercs (Mergy) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 La rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque (Ménétrier) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 Les voitures versées (Armand, composer Boïeldieu) – Paris, Opéra-Comique, 1928–37 Boris Godounov (Grigorij) – Monte Carlo, Garnier, 1932–34 La périchole (Piquillo) – Monte Carlo, Garnier, 1932–34 Pélléas et Mélisande (Pélléas) – Monte Carlo, Garnier, 1932–34 Les contes d'Hoffmann (Hoffmann) – Monte Carlo, Garnier, 1932–34 Thaïs (Nicias) – Monte Carlo, Garnier, 1932–34 La belle Hélène (Paris) – Lyon, Opéra, 1933 Faust – Algiers, Opéra, 1933 Fortunio – Algiers, Opéra, 1933 Rheingold (Mime) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Siegfried (Mime) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937 I quattro rusteghi (Filipeto) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 18 March 1938 La reine Fiammette (Lucagnolo, composer Leroux) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 30 September 1939 La basoche (Léveillé) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1940 Fidelio (Jacquino) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 9 May 1940 Knjaz Igor (Skula, Eroshka) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 12 December 1940 Boccaccio (Prinz Pietro) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1 June 1941 La fille de Madame Angot (Pomponnet) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 29 June 1941 Der Rosenkavalier (Valzacchi) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 27 November 1941 Mignon (Laerte) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 29 April 1942 Lucia di Lammermoor (Arturo) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 27 May 1942 Die Fledermaus (Alfred) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 18 June 1942 Ciboulette (Antonin, composer Hahn) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 10 July 1942 Madama Butterfly (Goro) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 26 November 1942 Cendrillon (Le doyen de la faculté, composer Isouard) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 21 January 1943 L'heure espagnole (Torquemada) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1943 Falstaff (Bardolfo) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 28 January 1943 Si j'étais roi (Piféar) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 8 April 1943 Tannhäuser (Heinrich der Schreiber) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Tannhäuser (Walther von der Vogelweide) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 14 October 1943 Marouf (Le chef des marins) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 21 October 1943 Parsifal (Zweiter Knappe) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1944 Prodaná nevěsta (Vašek) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 20 January 1944 Paganini (Felice Bacciocchi) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 25 May 1944 Walzer aus Wien (Leopold) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 5 July 1944 Les contes d'Hoffmann (Four Servants) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 14 December 1944 L'aiglon (L'attaché militaire français, composers Honegger and Ibert) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 25 January 1945 Le nozze di Figaro (Don Basilio) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 12 October 1945 Die Zauberflöte (Monostatos) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 19 February 1945 Der tapfere Soldat (Bumerli, composer Oscar Straus) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1 June 1945 La bohème (Parpignol) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1946 Boris Godunov (Shujskij) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 11 January 1946 La fanciulla del West (Nick) – Bruxelles, 20 January 1946 La sirène au pays des hommes (Un compère, composer Samuel) – Bruxelles, 20 March 1946 Gräfin Mariza (Penižek) – Bruxelles, 16 June 1946 Knjaz Igor (Ovlur) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1 October 1946 Angélique (Le diable, composer Ibert) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 21 November 1946 Fansou (Tchang, composer Absil) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 25 April 1947 Salome (Fourth Jew) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 2 June 1947 Die keusche Susanne (Alexis) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 21 July 1947 Das Dreimäderlhaus (Novotny) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 5 October 1948 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Zorn) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 13 December 1949 Bonsoir Monsieur Pantalon (Lelio, composer Albert Grisar) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 26 September 1950 Au soleil du Mexique (Matalongo, composer Yvain) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 9 July 1952 Salome (Second Jew) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 22 January 1954 David (Chamma, composer Milhaud) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 19 November 1955 La Périchole (Marquis de Tarapote, Un vieux prisonnier) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 14 January 1956 Die Fledermaus (Blind) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 25 October 1956 Der Schauspieldirektor (Herz) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 22 November 1956 La vie parisienne (Prosper) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1 June 1957 Le chemineau (Toinet) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Guillaume Tell (Ruodi) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 La fille du régiment – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Die Walküre (Siegmund) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Mona Lisa – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Gillette de Narbonne (composer Audran) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Les petites Michu – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 S.A.R. – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Drei Walzer (composer Oscar Straus) – Bruxelles, Monnaie, 1937–58 Le pays du sourire Zigeunerliebe Les cloches de Corneville Il tabarro Norma Evgenij Onegin L'oiseau bleu (composer Wolff) Dantons Tod Zampa (Alphonse) I wish to thank Vladimir Efimenko for the Mignon recording, pictures and biographical notes. Many thanks to Anton Bieber for the Mireille recording and label scan. References: Les grandes voix du Hainaut à l'époque du 78 tours, Belgium, 1985 |
