From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emma Bardac
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Born
| Emma Moyse
10 July 1862
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Died
| 20 August 1934
(1934-08-20)
(aged 72)
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Resting place
| Cimetiere de Passy
, Paris
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Occupation
| Singer
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Spouses
|
Sigismond Bardac
(
m.
;
div.
)
(
m.
1908; died 1918)
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Partner
| Gabriel Faure
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Children
| Raoul Bardac
Helene, Madame Gaston de Tinan
Claude-Emma Debussy
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Emma Bardac
(nee
Moyse
; 10 July 1862 ? 20 August 1934) was a French singer and the mutual
love interest
of both
Gabriel Faure
and
Claude Debussy
.
Of Jewish descent, Emma married in the
Synagogue of Arcachon
,
[1]
[2]
aged 17, Parisian banker Sigismond Bardac, by whom she had two children:
Raoul
, and Regina-Helene (later
Madame Gaston de Tinan
(1892?1985)). Emma was an accomplished singer and brilliant conversationalist. Faure wrote his
Dolly Suite
in the 1890s for Regina-Helene and
La bonne chanson
for Emma.
After her affair with Faure, Emma was introduced to Debussy in late 1903 by her son Raoul, one of his students.
[4]
In the summer of 1904, after a secret vacation with Emma in
Jersey
, Debussy wrote to his wife Rosalie ("Lilly") Texier announcing the end of their marriage. Distraught, Texier attempted suicide with a revolver. The ensuing scandal alienated Bardac and Debussy from friends and family, and in the spring of 1905 they fled to England, where they finalized their divorces, Emma from Sigismond on 4 May, Debussy from Rosalie on 2 August. They returned to Paris in time for the birth, on 30 October, of their daughter Claude-Emma, nicknamed "Chouchou", and dedicatee of his
Children's Corner Suite
composed in 1909.
[5]
The couple bought a large house in a courtyard development off the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne (now
Avenue Foch
), where Debussy would reside for the rest of his life.
[6]
Bardac eventually married Debussy in 1908, their troubled union enduring until Debussy's death 10 years later. Claude-Emma died while recovering from
diphtheria
in 1919 when the doctor gave her the wrong treatment, the year after her father's death.
[7]
Emma Bardac died in 1934 and, like Claude-Emma, was laid to rest in Debussy's grave in the
Cimetiere de Passy
in Paris.
Media
[
edit
]
In a documentary film called
The Loves of Emma Bardac
directed by Thomas Mowrey, the duo-pianists
Katia and Marielle Labeque
perform a selection of pieces by composers Bizet, Faure and Debussy. Bardac is portrayed by
Iza Teller
in
Ken Russell
's
The Debussy Film
released in 1965, starring
Oliver Reed
in the title role.
[8]
Notes
[
edit
]
Bibliography (further reading)
[
edit
]
- Nichols, Roger
The Life of Debussy
(New York & Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998).
ISBN
0-521-57026-3
.
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Opera
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Ballet
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Orchestral
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Chamber
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Piano
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Songs
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Other vocal
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Related
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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