Charton-Demeur, Anne
Charton-Demeur, Anne
Charton-Demeur, Anne, prominent French mezzo-soprano; b. Saujon, Charente Maritime, March 5, 1824; d. Paris, Nov. 30, 1892. She studied in Bordeaux with Bizot, making her operatic debut there as Lucia di Lammermoor in 1842. After appearances in Toulouse and Brussels, she made her first appearance in London as Madeleine in Le Postillon de Longjumeau on July 18, 1846. In 1847 she married the Belgian flutist Jules-Antoine Demeur in London and took the professional name of Charton-Demeur. In 1849–50 she was the leading female member of Mitchell’s F French troup in London, and in 1852 she sang at Her Majesty’s Theatre; she also appeared in concert with the Phil. Soc. in 1850. After singing at the Paris Opéra-Comique, she appeared with notable success in St. Petersburg, Vienna, and America; she also became a great favorite at the Paris Théâtre-Italien. She was befriended by Berlioz and did much to promote his music. She created the roles of Béatrice in his Béatrice et Benedict (Baden-Baden, Aug. 9, 1862) and Dido in his Les Troy ens à Carthage (Paris, Nov. 4, 1863). From 1869 she pursued a concert career.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire