Fugère, Lucien
Fugère, Lucien
Fugère, Lucien, remarkable French baritone; b. Paris, July 22, 1848; d. there, Jan. 15, 1935. He was a student at the Paris Cons, of Raguneau and Batiste. In 1870 he began his career singing at the Café- Concert, Ba-ta-can. In 1874 he joined the Bouffes-Parisiens. He made his debut at the Paris Opéra-Comique in 1877 as Jean in Masse’s Les noces de Jeannette, and remained on its roster until 1910. He appeared in over 100 roles there, including the premieres of Chabrier’s Le roi malgré lui (1887), Messaged La Basoche (1890), Saint-Saёns’ Phryné (1893), Massenet’s Cendrillon (1899), and Charpentier’s Louise (1900). In 1897 he sang at London’s Covent Garden. After appearing at the Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris (1910–19), he returned to the Opéra-Comique, where he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a singer on March 5, 1920. He continued to make appearances until he was 80, singing his farewell performance in La Basoche in Le Touquet in 1928, the year he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. He was particularly celebrated for his portrayals of Leporello, Papageno, Figaro, and Bartolo. Mary Garden was among his students.
Bibliography
R. Duhamel, L F. (Paris, 1929).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire