Edmond Clement

Although he sang in choirs as a kid, Edmond Clement began his university studies to become civil engineer, but quickly quit to enter the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with Victor Warot. He produced his debut as Vincent in Gounod’s Mireille in the Opera-Comique in 1889. He continued to be a member of this organization until 1910 and offered occasional guest shows there until 1916. Although he made an appearance in Brussels, London, Madrid, and Monte Carlo, his many renowned performances beyond Paris were in america. He produced his Metropolitan Opera debut as Werther and later on he sang Fenton in Falstaff under Toscanini, the functions of Des Grieux and Fra Diavolo. He sang using the Boston Opera Organization where his most significant functions had been Werther, Des Grieux, Don Jose and Hoffmann. In 1913, he produced a thorough tour of america and Canada. He came back to France in 1914 to become listed on the French Military in the outbreak of fighting with Germany. He was wounded, but continued to amuse the soldiers. In 1921, he came back to NY to provide a recital, and in Dec, 1927, he offered his last recital, simply 90 days before his loss of life. Blessed with a pleasant lyric tenor tone of voice, Clement sang almost all from the French and Italian functions suitable to his tone of voice. By properly monitoring his vocal wellness, he could take on a number of the heavier jobs such as for example Hoffmann and Don Jose, but he was most well-known as Des Grieux and Werther. He was a observed Rodolfo in La Bohème and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and a Tamino in Die Zauberflote and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Obviously, many of these jobs had been sung in France. In 1893, he starred in Phyrne by Saint-Saëns and in 1907 he made the function of Armand in Massenet’s Therese. He also made jobs in operas by Godard, Dubois, Bruneau, Erlange, and Dupont. Among his various other important jobs had been Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, and John Dark brown in Boieldieu’s La dame blanche. He was also respectable being a recitalist. The final 10 years of his profession was spent offering recitals all over the world. The recordings of Clement, that have always been extremely respectable by enthusiasts, are dominated with the 1905 Odeons as well as the Victor recordings from the first 1910s (Romophon 82002). His initial documenting is certainly Almaviva’s initial aria from Barbiere di Siviglia where Clement shows his subtlety and versatility to great impact. The Victor recordings carries a gorgeous version from the well-known duet from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers with Marcel Journet. The documenting doesn’t have the visceral influence from the Bjorling-Merrill documenting, but the wonderful soft performing and exemplary phrasing is a lot even more in the French design. The stunning documenting from the aria from La dame blanche by Boieldieu is definitely from his later on Pathe recordings (Romophon 82016). With this, he shows service and control hardly ever encountered on later on recordings and throughout he maintains a pleasant audio. Edmond Clement offers a direct connect to the fantastic composers from the past due nineteenth century and really should end up being symbolized in the assortment of all opera fans.