Rose Caron

Rose Caron.

Rose Caron (17 November 1857 – 9 April 1930) was a French operatic soprano.

Rose Caron was born at Monnerville (Mondeville, Essonne). She studied at the Paris Conservatoire but was not taken on at the Paris Opera; her husband, an accompanist, encouraged her to take lessons from Marie Sasse who helped her to get engagements at the opera in Brussels (having made her concert debut in 1880).

Caron’s first operatic appearance in Brussels was as Alice in Robert le Diable, followed by Salomé in Hérodiade and Marguérite in Faust; noticed by Ernest Reyer, he chose her to create the role of Brunehild in Sigurd in 1884 (and the Paris premiere in 1885). The title role in Salammbo in 1890 was also created by Caron.

Her repertoire included several Wagnerian roles, Rachel in La Juive and Valentine in Les Huguenots.

At the Opéra-Comique she sang Léonore in Fidelio in 1898, Iphigénie en Tauride and Orphée (Gluck).

Caron sang a few times at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in December 1885/January 1886 (Airs from Der Freischütz by Weber and La vestale by Spontini), at the official concert of the Exposition Universelle on 20 June 1889 (Psyché by Thomas (fragments) and excerpts from Sigurd), and in March 1895 (scenes from Alceste by Gluck).

After 1895 she reduced her public appearances considerably and concentrated on teaching at the Paris Conservatoire (1904-09) and then private tuition. One of her pupils was soprano Alice Zeppilli. She left a few recordings dating from 1903 and 1904. She died in Paris.