Despite his success, Dumesny had a surprising flaw: he read music very poorly and required someone to teach him his roles note by note.
Composer Biography
Louis Gaulard Dumesny, a haute-contre singer, was originally a cook for the intendant Foucault in Montauban before being recruited by Jean-Baptiste Lully for his Parisian company.
Composer Biography
Dumesny was known to be a kleptomaniac, often robbing female singers and dancers of their jewelry.
Composition History
Dumesny premiered Jean-Baptiste Lully's last six operas, including Persée, Phaéton, Amadis, Roland, Armide, and Acis et Galatée.
Historical Context
The Centre de musique baroque de Versailles was created in 1987 to revive and promote French musical heritage from the 17th and 18th centuries, which had largely been forgotten after the French Revolution.
Composer Biography
Dumesny developed a severe alcohol addiction, drinking several bottles of Champagne during each performance in the early 1690s, which affected his stage presence.
Compositional Technique
Dumesny's inability to read music forced composers to write short, easily memorizable roles for him, yet these parts were still very demanding, oscillating between elegiac lyricism and dramatic numbers.
