Gabriel Bacquier was a leading 20th century baritone, especially in roles in his native French. He was noted for his sophisticated and natural acting style, his smooth, warm voice, and his remarkable endurance.
Bacquier was not just a French baritone or even just the greatest French baritone of his time. He was one of the real giants of 20th-century art, a man as important to the evolution of opera as we know it today as were Feodor Chaliapin, Maria Callas and Jon Vickers.
He had a beautiful legato sound and a well-produced voice. The first selection is from Don Giovanni. Although the video has a translation in it, I have given you another one, if you care to read along.
Mozart, Don Giovannni, “Madamina”
LEPORELLO
Eh, consolatevi! Non siete voi, non foste, e non
sarete né la prima, né l’ultima.Guardate: questo
non picciol libro è tutto pieno di nomi di sue belle;
ogni villa, ogni borgo, ogni paese è testimon di sue
donnesche imprese.
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
delle belle, che amò il padron mio;
un catalogo egli è, che ho fatt’io.
Osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta,
in Almagna duecento e trentuna,
cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna,
ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre!
V’han fra queste contadine,
cameriere, cittadine,
v’han contesse, baronesse,
marchesine, principesse,
e v’han donne d’ogni grado,
d’ogni forma, d’ogni età.
In Italia seicento e quaranta, ecc.
Nella bionda egli ha l’usanza
di lodar la gentilezza;
nella bruna, la costanza;
nella bianca la dolcezza;
vuol d’inverno la grassotta,
vuol d’estate la magrotta;
è la grande maestosa,
la piccina è ognor vezzosa;
delle vecchie fa conquista
pel piacer di porle in lista.
Sua passion predominante
è la giovin principiante.
Non si picca se sia ricca,
se sia brutta, se sia bella,
se sia brutta, ricca, se sia bella;
purché porti la gonnella,
voi sapete quel che fa!
Purché porti la gonnella, ecc.
(Parte.)
Mozart, Don Giovanni, “My dear lady”
LEPORELLO
Calm yourself! You are not, were not and will not
be either the first or the last. Look: this fat little
book is entirely full of the names of his
sweethearts. Each town, each district, each
countryside testifies to his affairs with women.
My dear lady, this is a list
of the beauties my master has loved,
a list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.
In Italy, six hundred and forty;
in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
a hundred in France; in Turkey ninety-one.
In Spain already one thousand and three.
Among these are peasant girls,
maidservants, city girls,
countesses, baronesses,
marchionesses, princesses,
women of every rank,
every shape, every age.
In Italy six hundred and forty, etc.
With blondes it is his habit
to praise their kindness;
in brunettes, their faithfulness;
in the very blonde, their sweetness.
In winter he likes fat ones,
in summer he likes thin ones.
He calls the tall ones majestic.
The little ones are always charming.
He seduces the old ones
for the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favourite
is the young beginner.
It doesn’t matter if she’s rich,
ugly or beautiful;
if she is rich, ugly or beautiful.
If she wears a petticoat,
you know what he does.
If she wears a petticoat, etc.
(He leaves.)
Duparc, “Chanson Triste”, Op. 2 No. 4
Dans ton cœur dort un clair de lune,
Un doux clair de lune d’été,
Et pour fuir la vie importune,
Je me noierai dans ta clarté.
J’oublierai les douleurs passées,
Mon amour, quand tu berceras
Mon triste cœur et mes pensées
Dans le calme aimant de tes bras.
Tu prendras ma tête malade,
Oh! quelquefois sur tes genoux,
Et lui diras une ballade
Qui semblera parler de nous;
Et dans tes yeux pleins de tristesses,
Dans tes yeux alors je boirai
Tant de baisers et de tendresses
Que peut-être je guérirai.
Duparc, “Song of Sadness”, Op. 2 No. 4
Moonlight sleeps in your heart,
A gentle summer moonlight,
And to escape the cares of life
I shall drown myself in your light.
I shall forget past sorrows,
My darling, when you cradle
My sad heart and my thoughts
In the loving calm of your arms.
You will rest my poor head,
Ah! sometimes on your lap,
And will recite to it a ballad
That will seem to speak of us;
And from your eyes full of sorrows,
From your eyes I shall then drink
So many kisses and so much tenderness
That perhaps I shall be healed.
Fauré, “Automne”, Op. 13 No. 3
Automne au ciel brumeux, aux horizons navrants,
Aux rapides couchants, aux aurores pâlies,
Je regarde couler, comme l’eau du torrent,
Tes jours faits de mélancolie.
Sur l’aile des regrets mes esprits emportés,
– Comme s’il se pouvait que notre âge renaisse! –
Parcourent, en rêvant, les coteaux enchantés
Où jadis sourit ma jeunesse.
Je sens, au clair soleil du souvenir vainqueur
Refleurir en bouquet les roses déliées
Et monter à mes yeux des larmes, qu’en mon cœur,
Mes vingt ans avaient oubliées!
Fauré, Autumn, Op. 13 No. 3
Autumn with misty skies and distressing horizons,
With quick sunsets and faded dawns,
I watch flow by, like torrential water,
Your days made with sadness.
My senses, borne away on the wings of regret,
– As though our time could return again! –
Roam dreaming of enchanted hills,
Where before my youth smiled.
In the bright sun of victorious memory
I feel untied roses bloom again in bouquets,
And tears rise to my eyes, which in my heart
In my twenty years, had forgot!
Rossini, Guillaume Tell, “Sois immobile et vers la terre”
Sois immobile, et vers la terre
Incline un genou suppliant.
Invoque Dieu: c’est lui seul, mon enfant,
Qui dans le fils peut épargner le père.
Demeure ainsi, mais regarde les cieux.
En menaçant une tête si chère,
Cette pointe d’acier peut effrayer tes yeux.
Le moindre mouvement… Jemmy, songe à ta mère!
Elle nous attend tous les deux!
Rossini, William Tell, “Stand still and bow a pleading knee”
Stand still, and bow a pleading knee
Toward the ground
Plead with God: he alone, my child,
Can spare the father through the son.
Remain thus, but look up to the heavens.
Threatening such a beloved head,
That steel point may frighten your eyes.
The least movement… Jemmy (my son), think of your mother!
She is waiting for us both!
Gabriel Bacqier
May 17, 1924 – May 13, 2020
Born in Béziers, Hérault, in the Midi, he was the son of Augustin Bacquier and his wife, Fernande (née Severac). His parents, both railway employees, wanted him to become a commercial designer and he initially acceded to their wishes. After the experience of doing his national service on the railways during the Occupation, however, he changed tack. The voice lessons he had with a local teacher by the name of Madame Bastard led to his semi-professional debut as Ourrias in Gounod’s Mireille.
Gabriel Bacquier was one of the last “giants” of the opera world, and he was one of the rare French singers of his generation to pursue a career both in his native land and internationally.
After graduating from the Paris Conservatoire in 1950 with a first prize in singing and a second prize in opera and opéra-comique, Gabriel Bacquier gained experience with the troupes of the Nice Opera and La Monnaie in Brussels, after a stint in cabaret at Montmartre. In 1956 he joined the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux, which combined the Opéra-Comique and the Paris Opera, and made his operatic debut in the title role of Rigoletto, replacing an ailing singer at short notice before making his official debut in 1958 in La Traviata (Germont). His international career took off when Gabriel Dussurget invited him in 1960 to the Aix-en-Provence Festival to perform the title role in Don Giovanni, broadcast on Eurovision in front of several thousand European viewers. The same year, he played Scarpia alongside Renata Tebaldi’s Tosca at the Paris Opera. Gabriel Bacquier was one of the greatest French singers of the post-war period and also one of the few to lead an international career at that time. His career took him to the Metropolitan Opera in New York (where he was a regular guest for 18 years), London’s Royal Opera House, La Scala Milan, the Vienna Staatsoper…
His acting skills combined with his vocal talents and a remarkable feel for prosody enabled him to tackle a vast repertoire, both dramatic and comic. The Paris Opera was one of his favorite stages.
The Paris Opera subsequently offered him roles as varied as Iago in Otello, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Fra Melitone in La Forza del destino, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Sancho in Don Quichotte, Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’amore (alongside Luciano Pavarotti) and Gianni Schicchi, the role in which made his last appearance on Paris’ national stage in 1987. Gabriel Bacquier ended his career in June 1994 after a performance of Don Pasquale at the Opéra Comique, the venue where he had made his Parisian debut.