Pol (Henri) Plançon

Portrait of Pol Plançon

Pol-Henri Plançon (June 12, 1851 – August 12, 1914) was a French operatic bass (see basse chantante) and one of the most acclaimed and popular singers around the turn of the 20th century. In addition to being one of the earliest subjects in the history of recorded sound, he was a versatile singer, with roles ranging from classical opera, such as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, to those in the premieres of several late 19th century operas. He was renowned for his exquisite legato, as well as crisp diction, precise intonation, and virtuosic mastery of ornaments and fioriture.

Biography

Plançon was born in Fumay, in the Ardennes départment of France, near the Belgian border.

Education

He began his studies with the tenor Gilbert Duprez (originator of the "chest voice high C"), who was an eminent teacher of the age. Duprez had had a distinguished career in Italy where he had created, amongst other Donizetti roles, Edgardo in Lucia di Lamermoor. Plançon followed those studies with Giovanni Sbriglia, who had seen many of the great figures of opera pass through his Parisian studio, notably the brothers Jean and Édouard de Reszke, with whom Plançon would sing quite often.

Early career

He debuted in Lyon in 1877 in the rôle of Saint-Bris in Les Huguenots and remained there until May 1879. In 1880, he took on the role of Colonna in Hippolyte Duprat's opera Petrarque at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique de Paris and finally received his first engagement at the Grand Opéra in 1883, for Méphistophélès in Charles Gounod's Faust. He spent ten years on the national stage, participating in the premieres of Jules Massenet's Le Cid in 1885, in the role of Don Gormas (along with the brothers de Reszke) and in Camille Saint-Saëns's Ascanio on March 21, 1890, in the role of King Francis I (with another soon-to-be frequent partner, soprano Emma Eames).

Success at Covent Garden

He performed on the European scene from 1891 to 1904, notably most importantly at Covent Garden, where he participated yet again in numerous premieres and creations of new roles, as on June 11, 1892 in the premiere of the opera The Light of Asia, by Isidore de Lara, on June 20, 1894 in the premiere of Massenet's La Navarraise (in the role of Garrido), on June 30, 1901 in the operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by Stanford, in 1901's in Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys and in 1904's Hérodiade, by Massenet. English critics were wildly enthusiastic about these premieres, as well as his standard repertory roles, like Rocco in Fidelio, Méphistophélès, Ramfis in Aida, Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, or Jupiter in Gounod's Philémon et Baucis. Only his Mefistofele (Arrigo Boïto), essayed in 1895, was received with reservation; Plançon's home was in the roles of a bel canto bass, for which his particular French education had prepared him. The pre-Verismo touches of Boïto's demon seemed less appropriate for him than the more subtle expressions required by Gounod's.

The Metropolitan Opera Years 

It was in the height of his glory at Covent Garden that Plançon was called to the Metropolitan Opera in New York by the impresario Maurice Grau. He debuted there on November 29th 1893, in the role of Jupiter in Philémon et Baucis and spent there the seasons of 1893-97, 1898-1901 and 1903-08. He participated in 612 performances with the Met, including both opera performances and concerts, (whether in New York or in various US cities with the touring company). One should take particular note of his eighty-five Méphistophélèses in Faust, as well as the American stage premiere of the other French Méphisto, in Hector Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in 1906, or the creation of Macinelli's opera Ero e Leandro in 1899 (in the role of Ariofarne). He left the New York temple in 1908 with a final Plunkett in Friedrich von Flotow's Martha.

During the winter of 1896-1897 the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) painted a portrait of him for Emma Raymond, which was subsequently exhibited in March 1897 at the Durand-Ruel Galleries in New York. It is now lost.

Retirement and Death

Upon returning to Paris at the age of 57, he retired from the stage and gave lessons to some chosen pupils until his death, just before the start of World War I.

Before the beginning of an era focused on verismo interpretations (or at least less naturalistic ones) during the first half of the 20th century, Plançon was probably one of the last descendants in a long line of Romantic bel canto or of French Grand Opera singers (such as Nicolas Prosper Levasseur or Luigi Lablache). Despite a less-than-ideal volume, his voice always moved with a great deal of suppleness, allowing him to execute flawless trills and rapid scale passages with remarkable precision.

Recordings

Pol Plançon recorded various arias and ensembles on the labels G&T (London, 1902-03), Zonophone (Paris, 1902), and Victor (1903-08). He also recorded four cylinders for Lieutenant Bettini's phonograph company (1897), but no trace of them seems to exist.

Repertoire

This is an alphabetical list of Pol Plançon's roles (with their respective operas and composers), appended as sources permit:

• Abimélech, in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila
• Alvise, in Ponchielli's La Gioconda
• Ariofarne, in Macinelli's Ero e Leandro
• Astolat, in Herman Bemberg's Elaine
• Balthazar, in Gaetano Donizetti's La Favorite
• Bertram, in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable
• Capulet, in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
• Claudius, in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet
• Colonna, in Duprat's Petrarque
• Des Grieux (Count), in Massenet's Manon
• Duke of Alba, in Emile Paladilhe’s Patrie
• Escamillo, in Bizet's Carmen
• Francois I, in Saint-Saëns's Ascanio
• Don Gormas, in Massenet's Le Cid
• Frére Laurent, in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
• Garrido, in Massenet's La Navarraise
• Gesler, in Gioacchino Rossini's Guillaume Tell
• Grand Inquisitor, in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine
• Heinrich (King), in Richard Wagner's Lohengrin
• Hermann, in Wagner's Tannhäuser
• High Priest, in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine
• Jupiter, in Gounod's Philémon et Baucis
• Lothario, in Thomas's Mignon
• Mefistofele, in Boïto's Mefistofele
• Méphistophélès, in Gounod's Faust
• Méphistophélès, in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust
• Oberthal (Count), in Meyerbeer's Le Prophète
• Old Hebrew, in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila
• Plunkett, in Flotow's Martha
• Pogner, in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
• Ramfis, in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida
• Rocco, in Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio
• Rodolfo, in Vincenzo Bellini's La Sonnambula
• Saint Bris (Count of), in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots
• Sarastro, in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte

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