Victor Capoul

Joseph Victor Amédée Capoul (27 February 1839 – 18 February 1924) was a French operatic tenor with a lyric voice and a graceful singing style.

Capoul was born in Toulouse on 27 February 1839.

Victor Capoul began his studies in Toulouse. He was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1859, where, as a pupil of Révial (singing) and Mocker (opéra comique), he won a first prize for the latter attainment in 1861.

He was engaged at the Opéra-Comique the same year and made his debut on 26 August as Daniel in Adolphe Adam's Le Chalet. He sang other roles in the repertoire such as in La fille du régiment, La part du diable, La dame blanche, Le Pré aux clercs and L'étoile du nord, until leaving in 1870. He also created the roles of Renaud in Lefébure-Wély's 1861 opera Les Recruteurs, Eustache in Les Absents by on 26 October 1864, Horace in the 2-act version of Gounod's opera La colombe on 7 June 1866, Le Marquis de Kerdrel in La grand'tante on 3 April 1867, Gaston de Maillepré in Le premier jour de bonheur on 15 February 1868, and Valentin/Vert-Vert in Offenbach's opéra comique Vert-Vert on 10 March 1869.

On 1 July 1864, during a temporary closure of the Salle Favart, Capoul appeared with Balbi in The Barber of Seville at the Théâtre Porte-Saint-Martin. He took part in the performance of the prize cantata at the Conservatoire Renaud dans les jardins d'Armide, words by Camille du Locle, music by Charles Lenepveu on 4 January 1866. In 1866 he was involved in a dispute between the Opéra-Comique and the Théâtre Lyrique, which was attempting to engage him—both for his voice and his looks—as Roméo in the premiere of Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette, the part eventually going to Michot. In the same year he saw success in the title role of Joseph at the Salle Favart.

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