Lucienne Bréval

Lucienne Bréval (4 November 1869 in Zürich – 15 August 1935 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a Swiss dramatic soprano who had a major international opera career from 1892-1918. Although she appeared throughout Europe and in the United States, Bréval spent most of her career performing with the Opéra National de Paris where she became a greatly admired interpreter of French grand opera roles and Wagner heroines. She also specialized in the works of Gluck and Rameau, becoming particularly associated with the title roles in Gluck’s Armide and Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie. A favorite of the composers of her day, such as Massenet and Dukas, Bréval sang in numerous world premières during her career.

Born with the name Bertha Agnès Lisette Schilling, Bréval initially studied to be a pianist at Lausanne and briefly in Geneva before deciding to pursue an opera career. She studied voice with Victor Warot at the Paris Conservatoire before making her debut at the Opéra National de Paris in 1892 as Selika in l'Africaine by Giacomo Meyerbeer.

Bréval became a principal soprano at the Paris Opéra and remained there until 1919. Her roles with the company included several world premières including Augusta Holmès's La Montagne Noire (1895), Camille Erlanger's Le fils de l' étoile' (1904), Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-bleue (1907), Massenet's Bacchus (1909), and the title roles in Massenet's Ariane (1906) and Henry Février’s Monna Vanna (1909). She also was Kundry in France's first performance of Wagner's Parsifal (1914). Her other notable roles at the Paris Opera included Brünnhilde in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre (1893), Venus in Wagner's Tannhäuser (1895), Marguerite in Hector Berlioz's La damnation de Faust (1897), and the title role in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie (1908).

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