Mady Mesplé was a French coloratura soprano, seen as following in the tradition of the famous French coloratura, Mado Robin. Mesplé did not have an enormous voice, and this restricted her somewhat in the choice of roles that she could sing. She was part of a French tradition that allowed the musical line to tell a story rather than attempting to color individual words.
She sang French mélodies in an understated way. You will hear this in the first piece that I have posted.
Reynaldo Hahn, L’heure exquise
La lune blanche
Luit dans les bois;
De chaque branche
Part une voix
Sous la ramée…
Ô bien aimée.
L’étang reflète,
Profond miroir,
La silhouette
Du saule noir
Où le vent pleure…
Rêvons, c’est l’heure.
Un vaste et tendre
Apaisement
Semble descendre
Du firmament
Que l’astre irise…
C’est l’heure exquise.
Reynaldo Hahn, The Exquisite Hour
The white moon
Shines in the woods;
From every branch
There comes a voice
Beneath the boughs…
O my beloved.
The pond reflects,
Deep mirror,
The silhouette
Of the black willow
Where the wind is weeping…
Let us dream, it is the hour.
A vast and tender
Consolation
Seems to fall
From the sky
The moon illumines…
It is the exquisite hour.
Vivaldi, RV 626 In furore iustissimae irae
N. 1 – Aria
In furore iustissimae irae
Tu divinitus facis potentem.
Quando potes me reum punire
Ipsum crimen te gerit clementem.
N. 2 – Recitativo
Miserationum Pater piissime
Parce mihi dolenti peccatori
Languenti
O Jesu dulcissime
N3. – Aria
Tunc meus fletus evadet laetus
Dunc pro meum laguiscit cor
Fac me plorare
Mi Jesu care
Et fletus laetus fovebit cor.
N4. – Alleluia
Alleluia!
Vivaldi, RV 626, In most righteous fury
N. 1 – Aria
In the fury of the most righteous wrath
You, of divine nature, show great strength
When able to punish me, the guilty one
You are lenient towards the crime (I committed)
N. 2 – Recitatiovo
Most pious Father of compassion
Spare me, weary suffering sinner
O sweetest Jesu
N. 3 – Aria
Then my weeping will become happy
While for you my heart weakens
Let me cry
Dear Jesu
And my happy tears will keep warm my heart.
N. 4 – Hallelujah
Hallelujah!
Léo Delibes, Lakmé, “Sous dôme epais”
Lakmé: Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs
Jettent déjà leur ombre
Sur le ruisseau sacré
qui coule, calme et sombre,
Eveillé par le chant des oiseaux tapageurs.
Mallika: Oh! maîtresse, c’est l’heure
où je te vois sourire,
L’heure bénie où je puis lire
Dans le coeur toujours fermé
De Lakmé!
Lakmé: Dôme épais le jasmin
Mallika: Sous le dôme épais où le blanc jasmin
L.: À la rose s’assemble,
M.: À la rose s’assemble,
L.: Rive en fleurs, frais matin,
M.: Sur la rive en fleurs, riant au matin,
L.: Nous appellent ensemble.
M.: Viens, descendons ensemble.
L.: Ah! glissons en suivant
M.: Doucement glissons; De son flot charmant
L.: Le courant fuyant;
M.: Suivons le courant fuyant;
L.: Dans l’onde frémissante,
M.: Dans l’onde frémissante,
L.: D’une main nonchalante,
M.: D’une main nonchalante,
L.: Gagnons le bord,
M.: Viens, gagnons le bord
L.: Où l’oiseau chante,
M.: Où la source dort.
L.: l’oiseau, l’oiseau chante.
M.: Et l’oiseau, l’oiseau chante.
L.: Dôme épais, blanc jasmin,
M.: Sous le dôme épais, Sous le blanc jasmin,
L.: Nous appellent ensemble!
M.: Ah! descendons ensemble!
L.: Mais, je ne sais quelle crainte subite
s’empare de moi.
Quand mon père va seul à leur ville maudite,
Je tremble, je tremble d’effroi!
M.: Pour que le Dieu Ganeça le protège,
Jusqu’à l’étang où s’ébattent joyeux
Les cygnes aux ailes de neige,
Allons cueillir les lotus bleus.
L.: Oui, près des cygnes aux ailes de neige,
Allons cueillir les lotus bleus.
L: Dôme épais le jasmin
M: Sous le dôme épais où le blanc jasmin
L.: À la rose s’assemble,
M.: À la rose s’assemble,
L.: Rive en fleurs, frais matin,
M.: Sur la rive en fleurs, riant au matin,
L.: Nous appellent ensemble.
M.: Viens, descendons ensemble.
L.: Ah! glissons en suivant
M.: Doucement glissons; De son flot charmant
L.: Le courant fuyant;
M.: Suivons le courant fuyant;
L.: Dans l’onde frémissante,
M.: Dans l’onde frémissante,
L.: D’une main nonchalante,
M.: D’une main nonchalante,
L.: Gagnons le bord,
M.: Viens, gagnons le bord
L.: Où l’oiseau chante,
M.: Où la source dort.
L.: l’oiseau, l’oiseau chante.
M.: Et l’oiseau, l’oiseau chante.
L.: Dôme épais, blanc jasmin,
M.: Sous le dôme épais, où le blanc jasmin
L.: Nous appellent ensemble!
M.: Ah! descendons ensemble!
Léo Delibes, Lakmé, The Flower Duet
Come, Mallika, the flowering lianas
already cast their shadow
on the sacred stream
which flows, calm and dark,
awakened by the song of rowdy birds.
Oh! Mistress, this is the hour
when I see you smile,
the blessed hour when I can read
in the always closed heart
of Lakmé!
Thick dome of jasmine
Under the dense canopy where the white jasmine,
Blends with the rose,
That blends with the rose,
Bank in bloom, fresh morning,
On the flowering bank, laughing in the morning,
Call us together.
Come, let us drift down together.
Ah! Let’s glide along
Let us gently glide along; For its enchanting flow
The fleeing current;
Let us follow the fleeing current;
On the rippling surface,
On the rippling surface,
With a nonchalant hand,
With a nonchalant hand,
Let’s go to the shore,
Come, let’s go to the shore
Where the bird sings,
Where the spring sleeps.
the bird, the bird sings.
And the bird, the bird sings.
Thick dome, white jasmine,
Under the dense canopy, Under the white jasmine,
Call us together!
Ah! Let’s drift down together!
But, an eerie feeling of distress
overcomes me.
When my father goes into their accursed city
I tremble, I tremble with fright!
In order for him to be protected by Ganesh
To the pond where joyfully play
The snow-winged swans
Let us pick blue lotuses.
Yes, near the swans with wings of snow,
And pick blue lotuses.
Thick dome of jasmine
Under the dense canopy where the white jasmine,
Blends with the rose,
That blends with the rose,
Bank in bloom, fresh morning,
On the flowering bank, laughing in the morning,
Call us together.
Come, let us drift down together.
Ah! Let’s glide along
Let us gently glide along; For its enchanting flow
The fleeing current;
Let us follow the fleeing current;
On the rippling surface,
On the rippling surface,
With a nonchalant hand,
With a nonchalant hand,
Let’s go to the shore,
Come, let’s go to the shore
Where the bird sings,
Where the spring sleeps.
the bird, the bird sings.
And the bird, the bird sings.
Thick dome, white jasmine,
Under the dense canopy, Under the white jasmine,
Together call us!
Ah! Let’s drift down together!
Mady (Magdeleine) Mesplé
March 7, 1931 – May 30, 2020
Mady Mesplé was known for her prodigious technical control; she could maintain pitch unwaveringly even in the highest register. Her coloratura was flawless and the molding of phrases always impressive. Operetta was a genre in which she excelled,
Born in Toulouse into a musical family, Mesplé was a keen pianist, and her studies were encouraged by her mother, who worked in a clothing firm. Mesplé studied at the Toulouse Conservatory, and following her success with Liège Opera was soon engaged at La Monnaie, the opera house in Brussels, singing Lucia and the Queen of Night in The Magic Flute.
In 1956 she joined the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where she created the role of Kitty in Menotti’s The Last Savage alongside Gabriel Bacquier (1963).
Other contemporary works in which she took roles included those by Hans Werner Henze (Elegy for Young Lovers), Betsy Jolas and Charles Chaynes.
Her debut at the Paris Opéra was as Sister Constance of St Denis in the French premiere of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites (1958). Other roles she sang included the ingénue Sophie in Massenet’s Werther, Norina in Don Pasquale, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera and Marie in La Fille du Régiment.
She made her Metropolitan debut as Gilda in Rigoletto (1973), and although she sang throughout Europe and America, her career was essentially centered on France.
She retired from the operatic stage in 1985, but continued to perform in concerts and give recitals for a number of years. In the mid-90s she began to suffer from Parkinson’s disease and wrote a book, Voix du Corps (Voice of the Body, 2010), about her career, describing the experience of living with the illness. She was appointed grand officier of the Legion of Honor in 2015.