Victor Capoul

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French operatic tenor with a lyric voice and a graceful singing style. Victor Capoul was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1859, where, as a pupil of Révial (singing) and Mocker (opéra comique), he won a first prize for the latter attainment in 1861. He was engaged at the Opéra-Comique the same year and made his debut on 26 August as Daniel in Adolphe Adam's Le Chalet. He created the roles of Renaud in Lefébure-Wély's 1861 opera Les Recruteurs, Eustache in Les Absents by Ferdinand Poise on 26 October 1864, Horace in the 2-act version of Gounod's opera La colombe on 7 June 1866, Le Marquis de Kerdrel in La grand'tante on 3 April 1867, Gaston de Maillepré in Le premier jour de bonheur on 15 February 1868, and Valentin/Vert-Vert in Offenbach's opéra comique Vert-Vert on 10 March 1869. He was invited to London for a season in 1871 by Mapleson, appearing in Faust at Drury Lane and returned again until 1875; later from 1877 he was seen in Fra Diavolo at Covent Garden (which he had first sung at the Opéra-Comique in 1870), followed by Almaviva, Ernesto and Elvino. After several tours around Europe, to Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Vienna, he returned to Paris, and appeared in the premieres of Les amants de Vérone at the Théâtre Ventadour, Paul et Virginie, at the Gaité; Saïs at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and Jocelyn at the Château d'Eau. In the USA, he made his debut at the Academy of Music in 1871. Later, he appeared in the first season, that of 1883–84, at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Faust (title role), Mignon (Wilhelm Meister), La traviata (Alfredo) and Roméo et Juliette (Tybalt). He collaborated on the libretto of Jocelyn, by Godard (première 25 February 1888 at La Monnaie, Brussels), and sang in the Paris premiere at the Théâtre du Chàteau-d'Eau on 13 October 1888. His one known recording is of an aria from this opera. It was made in Paris in 1905 for the Fonotipia Company and shows a voice past its prime. By this time Capoul was almost stone deaf. In 1899, Pedro Gailhard recruited him to become artistic director of the Opéra de Paris. Capoul's later life was clouded by financial and other difficulties, and he died in reduced circumstances in Pujaudran on 18 February 1924, aged 84. Link to Wikipedia biography