Marie Caroline Miolan-Carvalho

Marie Caroline Miolan-Carvalho (31 December 1827 in Marseille – 10 July 1895 in Château-Puys, near Dieppe) was a famed French operatic soprano, particularly associated with light lyric and coloratura roles.

Born Marie Caroline Félix-Miolan, she studied first with her father, François Félix-Miolan, an oboist, and later at the Conservatoire of Paris with Gilbert Duprez. After winning the first prize at the Conservatorie, she began touring throughout France, making her stage debut in Brest, as Isabelle in Robert le Diable, in 1849. Upon returning to Paris the following year, Marie Miolan made her debut in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Grand Opera on December 14, 1849. She went on to sing in Le Pré aux clercs, Les Huguenots, Der Freischütz, Hamlet, etc.

From 1849-55 and 1868–85, Miolan-Carvalho sang in Paris at the Opéra-Comique as Caroline Carvalho. In 1853, she married Léon Carvalho, a French impresario and director of Théâtre Lyrique. After their marriage, she began to use the name Caroline Carvalho instead of Marie Miolan becoming the prima donna at the Théâtre Lyrique appearing from 1856 to 1867. She performed mostly in Mozart and Rossini roles, but also created there an estimated 30 roles, notably by Charles Gounod such as Marguerite in Faust (1859) where she notably inspired Gounod to remove sections of the score. Other works include Baucis in Philémon et Baucis (1860), the title role in Mireille (1864) and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette (1867), but also Louis Clapisson's La Fanchonnette, Victor Massé's Les noces de Jeanette, Ambroise Thomas's La cour de Célimène.

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