Hugues Cuénod

Hugues Cuénod with the Dutch violinist Jeroen van der Wel in his apartment on February 22, 2010

Hugues Adhémar Cuénod (born June 26, 1902 in Corseaux , † December 6, 2010 in Vevey ) was a Swiss opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Cuénod received his training at the Institut de Ribaupierre in Lausanne and at the conservatories in Geneva , Basel and Vienna . He began his career in Paris in 1928 in Krenek's Jonny plays on . The following year he made his first in the United States , in Bitter Sweet by Noël Coward on. From 1930 to 1933 he worked in Geneva, then in Paris until 1937. An extensive tour took him again to North America from 1937 to 1939 . In 1943 he ended his active operatic career with Die Fledermaus in Geneva. He then had individual appearances at La Scala in Milan (1951), at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1954 and at the London Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1954, 1956 and 1958). In 1987, when he was almost 85 years old, he made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in the role of the emperor in Puccini's Turandot .

From 1940 to 1946 Cuénod had a teaching position at the Geneva Conservatory . He left behind extensive recordings, including some first recordings such as Couperin's Lamentations . His repertoire included almost everything from Guillaume de Machaut to Igor Stravinsky . He appeared as Mozart's Basilio and as Sellem in the premiere of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951). He was particularly interested in the French song, where he worked with the composers Arthur Honegger , George Auric , Albert Roussel and Francis Poulenc .

After being with the former federal civil servant Alfred Augustin (* 1943) for over 20 years, they registered their partnership under the new partnership law at the beginning of 2007 .

literature

• Jacques Tchamkerten: Hugues Cuenod . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz - Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse. Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 419 f. (French)

Web links

• Biography with photos
• Discography
• Music Obituaries: Hugues Cuenod , Daily Telegraph obituary, December 7, 2010

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le ténor vaudois Hugues Cuénod décède à 108 ans. In: 24 hours . December 7, 2010, accessed July 30, 2011.
2. ↑ Obituaries on Hommages , accessed July 30, 2011.
3. ^ History of sung music. In: FAZ . December 17, 2010, accessed July 30, 2011.
4. ↑ Cuenod, at 84, makes peace with Puccini. In: New York Times . March 8, 1987, Retrieved July 30, 2011.
5. ^ A 106 ans, Hugues Cuenod, le ténordu hors. ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: 24 hours . June 25, 2008, accessed July 30, 2011.