Odette Le Fontenay

Odette Le Fontenay (October 6, 1885 – November 24, 1965), born Odette Le Flaguais, was a French soprano opera singer and music educator based in the United States after 1913. She sang with the Metropolitan Opera in its 1916-1917 season.

Odette Le Fontenay
Odette Le Fontenay, from a 1917 publication.
Born
Odette Le Flaguais

October 6, 1885
Paris
DiedNovember 24, 1965
Broward County, Florida
NationalityFrench, American
Other namesOdette le Fontenay, Odette le F. Coudert
Occupationopera singer
Known forsang with the Metropolitan Opera (1916-1917)

Early life and education

Odette Le Flaguais was born in Paris and raised in London, the daughter of Louis Adrien Georges Le Flaguais and Félicie McDougald Bouligny. Her parents divorced in 1895. Her mother was from New Orleans, Louisiana, a descendant of Spanish Louisiana governor Francisco Bouligny. Odette's great-grandfather was congressman John Edward Bouligny.[1] She studied in Italy and Spain, in her youth.[2]

Career

Le Fontenay began her career at Covent Garden in London,[3] and with the Opéra-Comique in Paris, before moving to the United States. In 1914 she sang as a soloist with the John Philip Sousa band.[4][5] In 1916 she sang in a "suffrage operetta" called Melinda and her Sisters,[6] with Frances Alda, Emmy Wehlen, Marie Dressler, Marie Doro, and other performers at the Waldorf Astoria's grand ballroom.[7] In the 1916-1917 season, she sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York,[8] debuting in the same season as soprano Marie Sundelius.[9] She had roles in The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, and Hansel and Gretel.

She toured across the United States giving concerts and recitals after her season with the Metropolitan Opera.[2][10] A 1921 reviewer said that Le Fontenay gave a "rather unusual and altogether interesting" program, and that she "displayed a voice of presentable quality and serviceable vocal equipment".[11] She made recordings for the Edison Records and Victor companies, and even performed "duets" with recordings of her own voice in concerts, as demonstration of Edison's "re-creation" technology.[12][13]

Later in the 1920s, Le Fontenay also sang on radio programs,[14][15] sometimes sharing a program with her husband.[16] After a divorce, she taught voice at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut from 1935 to 1943.

Personal life

In 1914, Odette Le Fontenay married fellow opera singer Philippe Gustave Coudert (1879-1944), a baritone, in New York.[17] They had three children (Odette-Corinne, Marie Yolande, and Philippe Jr.) and divorced in 1932.[18] She died in 1965, aged 80 years, in Florida.[19]

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References
  1. Obituary for Marie-Yolande "Yo" Coudert McLennan, South Florida Sun-Sentinel (December 11, 2002). via Newspapers.com
  2. "Odette le Fontenay to Concertize" Musical Courier (February 8, 1917): 53.
  3. Morris Paul, "Metropolitan Opens Brilliantly" The Theatre (December 1916): 344.
  4. "Amusements" The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 4, 1914): 7. via Newspapers.com
  5. Mona Bulpitt Kreitner, "“A splendid group of American girls”: The women who sang with the Sousa Band" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Memphis 2007): 153-154. via ProQuest
  6. Kendall H. Winter, "'Melinda and Her Sisters': Reconsidering a Suffrage Operetta as Pageantry" (M. A. thesis, Tufts University 2018): 7. via ProQuest
  7. "Suffrage Opera Tonight" New York Times (February 18, 1916): 11. via ProQuest
  8. "New Operas and Singers Announced in Metropolitan Prospectus" Musical America (October 7, 1916): 40.
  9. "Metropolitan Again Sponsors American Opera" Musical America (October 14, 1916): 8.
  10. "To Give Concert Here" Santa Ana Register (October 16, 1917): 5. via Newspapers.com
  11. "Odette Le Fontenay" Musical Courier (December 8, 1921): 30.
  12. "Odette Le Fontenay" The Jeffersonian-Democrat (December 2, 1920): 8. via Newspapers.com
  13. "Mme. Odette Le Fontenay Will be Heard Here in Notable Recital" San Francisco Chronicle (October 7, 1917): 3. via Newspapers.com
  14. Radio schedules, The Evening Journal (February 3, 1927): 11. via Newspapers.com
  15. Radio schedules, Pottsville Republican (January 25, 1926): 3. via Newspapers.com
  16. Radio schedules, Passaic Daily Herald (June 27 1929): 15. via Newspapers.com
  17. "Coudert-Le Fontenay" The Sun (March 18, 1914): 9. via Newspapers.com
  18. "Divorce Suits Filed" Nevada State Journal (July 27, 1932): 8. via Newspapers.com
  19. "Opera Star Fontenay Dies Here" Fort Lauderdale News (November 26, 1965): 18. via Newspapers.com
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