Marguerite Olagnier (née Joly) (1844 – 12 September 1906) was a French vocalist, composer and poet[1] who began her musical life singing at the Théâtre des Variétées in Paris.

Marguerite Olagnier (1844–1906)

Career edit

While traveling in Egypt with her husband Eugène Olagnier, it is believed that she wrote both words and music of an "exotic opera" in four acts, Le Saïs [fr],[1] which "aimed at the fantasies and desires of women."[2] It was staged at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris on 18 December 1881 and was later performed by Victor Capoul, an Opéra-Comique tenor.[2]

Later in life she directed her own company, the Théâtre de l'Oratorio, in weekly performances of 18th- and 19th-century oratorios. Olagnier also composed a number of songs and two more operas, Le Persan and Lilipa, which were never performed. Her only known novel was never finished.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Middlemiss, Lucie (2001). "Olagnier [née Joly], Marguerite : Oxford Music Online - oi". oxfordindex.oup.com. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.48614. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b Henson, Karen (1 October 1999). "Victor Capoul, Marguerite Olagnier's "Le Saïs", and the Arousing of Female Desire". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 52 (3): 419–463. doi:10.2307/831790. ISSN 0003-0139. JSTOR 831790.
  3. ^ Fuller-Maitland, John Alexander; Grove, Sir George; Pratt, Waldo Selden (1922). Grove's dictionary of music and musicians: Volume 1.

External links edit