This was a great voice; a large lyric soprano. Born in Garons, France, Guiot studied voice with the tenor Marcello Santalouna and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris for four years. She won the First prizes in singing and opera of the Conservatoire de Paris as well as the prix Osiris in 1955.

Guiot then joined the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux (France) and was a member of the Opera Company from 1956 to 1973. From 1959 onwards, she played major roles at the Paris Opera: Marguerite in Charles Gounod’s Faust (1959), and created that of Micaëla when Georges Bizet’s Carmen was first given there. She said farewell to her theatrical career in Strasbourg in 1975, as Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlos.

From 1977, Andréa Guiot was Professor at the Paris Conservatoire and subsequently gave highly sought-after individual lessons. She is a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite and Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Herodiade, Acte I, Il est doux, il est bon

Celui dont la parole efface toutes peines,
Le Prophète est ici! c’est vers lui que je vais!

Il est doux, il est bon, sa parole est sereine:
Il parle… tout se tait…
Plus léger sur la plaine
L’air attentif passe sans bruit…
Il parle…

Ah! quand reviendra-t-il? quand pourrai-je l’entendre?
Je souffrais… j’étais seule et mon coeur s’est calmé
En écoutant sa voix mélodieuse et tendre,
Mon coeur s’est calmé!

Prophète bien aimé, puis-je vivre sans toi!
Prophète bien aimé, puis-je vivre… vivre sans toi!
C’est là! dans ce désert où la foule étonnée
Avait suivi ses pas,

Qu’il m’accueillit un jour, enfant abandonnée!
Et qu’il m’ouvrit ses bras!
Il est doux, il est bon,
Sa parole est sereine,
Il parle… tout se tait… plus léger sur la plaine…
L’air attentif passe sans bruit…
Il parle!

Ah! quand reviendra-t-il?
Quand pourrai-je l’entendre?
Je souffrais… j’étais seule et mon coeur s’est calmé
En écoutant sa voix mélodieuse et tendre,
Mon coeur s’est calmé!

Prophète bien aimé, puis-je vivre sans toi!
Prophète bien aimé, puis-je vivre… vivre sans toi!
Ah! quand reviendra-t-il? quand pourrai-je l’entendre!
Prophète bien-aimé, puis-je vivre sans toi!

Herodiade, Act I, Il est doux, il est bon

He whose words remove all pain,
The Prophet is here! It is toward him that I go!

He is kind, he is good. His words are peaceful:
He speaks . . .everything is quiet
Everything is lighter on the plain
The attentive air goes by without a sound . . .
He speaks . . .

Ah, when will he return? When might I hear him?
I was suffering . . .I was alone and my heart calmed itself
While listening to his melodious and tender voice,
My heart calmed itself!

Beloved prophet, can I live without you!
Beloved prophet, can I live . . .live without you!
It is there! in the desert where the astonished crowd
Had followed his steps,

That he greeted me one day, an abandoned child!
And he opened his arms to me!
He is kind, he is good,
His words are peaceful,
He speaks, everything is quiet . . .lighter on the plain
The attentive air goes by without a sound
He speaks!

Ah, when will he return?
When could I hear him?
I was suffering . . .I was alone, and my heart calmed itself
While listening to his melodious and tender voice,
My heart calmed itself!

Beloved prophet, can I live without you!
Beloved prophet, can I live . . live without you!
Ahm when will he return? When might I hear him!
Beloved prophet, can I live without you!

Don Giovanni, K. 527, Act II: Aria. “In quali…Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata” (Elvira)

Donna Elvira:

In quali eccessi, o Numi, in quai misfatti
orribili, tremendi
è avvolto il sciagurato!
Ah no! non puote tardar l’ira del cielo,
la giustizia tardar. Sentir già parmi
la fatale saetta,
che gli piomba sul capo! Aperto veggio
il baratro mortal! Misera Elvira!
Che contrasto d’affetti, in sen ti nasce!
Perchè questi sospiri? e queste ambascie?

Mi tradì, quell’alma ingrata,
Infelice, o Dio, mi fa.
Ma tradita e abbandonata,
Provo ancor per lui pietà.
Quando sento il mio tormento,
Di vendetta il cor favella,
Ma se guardo il suo cimento,
Palpitando il cor mi va.

Donna Elvira:

In what abysses of error, into what dangers,
Thy reckless path pursuing,
Have guilt and folly brought thee!
The wrath of heaven will surely overwhelm thee,
It is swift to destroy.
The lightning flash of retribution impendeth,
It will soon be upon thee!
Eternal ruin at last will be thy doom. Wretched Elvira!
What a tempest within thee, thy heart divideth!
Ah, wherefore is this longing? These pangs of sorrow?

Cruel heart, thou hast betray’d me,
Grief unending upon me he cast.
Pity yet lingers, I’ll not upbraid thee,
Ne’er can I forget the past, the happy past.
When my wrongs arise before me,
Thoughts of vengeance stir my bosom,
But the love that at first he bore me,
Binds my heart to him at last.

Compare with Lisa Della Casa:

In comparing the Guiot version to the Della Casa version, you may notice that the orchestra in the Della Casa version gets much more profundity out of its part than in the first version. This second version is from a film that Furtwängler made about 3 months before his death.

Andréa Guiot
Born July 11 1929 or January 11, 1928 – Died February 15, 2021

Guiot made her stage debut in 1955 at the Opéra de Nancy portraying Marguerite in Gounod’s “Faust.” A few years later she joined the Opéra-Comique in Paris where she appeared as Antonia in Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” and became a regular with the company from 1957 to 1972. She would perform such roles as Gounod’s “Mireille” and Marguerite, Massenet’s “Manon,” Micaëla in Bizet’s “Carmen,” and Mimi in Puccini’s “La Bohème.”

In 1959 she became a member of the Opéra de Paris where she would sing leading roles in the French and Italian repertoire. Over the years she would become one of the great interpreters of “Mirelle” and it would become her signature role. She was also well known for her work in Mozart’s operas.