Jeanne Maubourg

Maubourg, Jeanne

 Jeanne Maubourg. Mezzo-soprano, actress, teacher, b Namur, Belgium, 10 Nov 1875, d Montreal 9 May 1953. She received her musical training in Nancy, Algiers, and Paris. In 1897 she joined the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, and was assigned numerous roles, including Musetta (La Bohème), Hansel, and Carmen. She appeared 1900-4 at London's Covent Garden and was then engaged by the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she made her debut 31 Dec 1909 as Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana. She appeared at the Metropolitan until 1914 in an impressive number of supporting roles. After visiting Montreal to sing operetta she settled there permanently in 1917 with her husband, the conductor Albert Roberval. She took part in numerous productions of operetta before joining the Société canadienne d'opérette in 1923 and the Variétés lyriques in 1936, singing chiefly character roles with both companies. She also taught Pierrette Alarie, Fleurette Beauchamp, and Honoré Vaillancourt, and appeared frequently on radio as both an actress and a singer. In Montreal in 1965 Maubourg Ave was named in her honour. She was a member of the Union professionnelle des maîtres du chant français. The list of her recordings - about 15 titles for Starr-Gennett and Edison Diamond - appears in Roll Back the Years.