Simone Couderc
Simone Couderc (3 June 1911 – 16 November 2005) was a French operatic mezzo-soprano. She was particularly well known in the major roles of the mezzo-soprano repertoire: Amneris (Aida), Dalila (Samson and Dalila), Orphée (Orfeo ed Euridice), Kundry (Parsifal), Carmen, Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Baba la turque (The Rake's Progress), the mother (Louise), etc.
Simone Couderc
- Full name
- Simone Suzanne Andrée Lucie Couderc.
- Born
- 1911 · Cruzy.
- Died
- 2005 · Toulon.
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- singer · musician
- Education
- Conservatoire de Paris · Conservatoire de Rouen
- Languages
- French
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wikidata · Q3484556 · wikipedia · Simone Couderc
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Biography
Biography
Born in Cruzy (Hérault), her family settled in Rouen, and she enrolled at the École supérieure d'art et design Le Havre-Rouen to attend courses in painting, sculpture and drawing, but by chance Reynaldo Hahn heard her as she sang in a church. The composer advised her to take singing lessons. Couderc enrolled at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Rouen in tenor Henri Saint-Cricq 's class. After obtaining her prizes, she joined the Conservatoire de Paris in Suzanne Cesbron-Viseur's class. She first joined the chorus of the Paris Opera, where she was also given a few small roles as in Fauré's Pénélope. She left the Paris Opera and began a solo career in her own right. During the 1944–1945 season she sang Werther (Charlotte), with José Luccioni and Margared in Le Roi d'Ys beside her former Professor Saint-Cricq at the Nice Opera. In French theatres she achieved success as Dalila, Orpheus, Azucena (Il trovatore), Léonore (La Favorite), Vénus (Lohengrin), etc. Often compared to the Italian mezzo Ebe Stignani for the range of her voice (from do² to counter-D), she performed all over the world: at Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, in Belgium, Athens, Algiers and Oran, Switzerland, Copenhagen, etc. Retired from the stage in 1976, she devoted herself to teaching. She was married to critic and writer Stéphane Wolff. Couderc died in Toulon 16 November 2005.
Documentary record
Simone Couderc, a musician, singer and opera singer, was born on 3 June 1911 and died on 16 November 2005. Simone Couderc was born in Cruzy, according to the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The Bibliothèque nationale de France records the fuller form Cruzy (Hérault). Simone Couderc died in Toulon, according to the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The Bibliothèque nationale de France records the fuller form Toulon (Var).
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Cruzy.
Birth place
Toulon.
Death place
Discography
• Georges Bizet / Jules Massenet: Mélodies - Pléiade (45 tours) • Donizetti's La Favorite (Léonore), with Guy Fouché, Charles-Antoine Cambon - Pléiade (33 rpm) • Franck's Les Béatitudes (the Virgin), with Denise Monteil, Xavier Depraz, Pierre Cochereau (dir.) - CL 340 6 (2CDs) • Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (Urbain), with Renée Doria, Jeanne Rinella, Guy Fouché, Henri Médus, Adrien Legros, Jean Allain (dir.) - Pléiade /86 (33 rpm) - Recorded in 1953 at the Théâtre de l'Apollo. • Verdi's Otello (Emilia), with Régine Crespin, José Luccioni, René Bianco. Georges Sébastian conducting - live Opéra de Paris, 1955 - Malibran Music CDRG 186 (2CD) • Albert Wolff / Colette: Poèmes intimes, Répit - Mercury MPL 7073. Prix d'honneur de l'Académie du disque français • Airs d'opéras français et mélodies espagnoles - Malibran Music MR 598 • Les Plus Belles Pages de l'opéra: La Favorite, Orphée, Carmen, Samson et Dalila - Pléiade - 45141 (45 rpm)
Bibliography and sources
• Stéphane Wolff, Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900-1950), éd. André Bonne, Paris, 1953 • Revue Le Guide du concert et du disque, years 1959–1960 • Revue L'Entracte, years 1960–1961 • Stéphane Wolff, L'Opéra au Palais Garnier (1875-1962), L'Entracte, Paris, 1962; Rééd. coll. Ressources, Champion-Slatkine, Geneva, 1983 • Jean-Philippe Mousnier, Albert Wolff – Eugène Bigot, series Univers musical, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2001 • Erik Baeck, André Cluytens, itinéraire d'un chef d'orchestre, Mardaga, Wavre, 2009
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Simone Couderc, revision 1339418572 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 29 August 2026.
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