page_title: Cornélie Falcon
section_title: Further roles at the Opéra
hierarchical_section_title: Cornélie Falcon / Further roles at the Opéra
caption_attribution_description: Costume designs for Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, No 2. Julie Dorus-Gras as Marguerite, Adolphe Nourrit as Raoul, and Cornélie Falcon as Valentine, for the Académie Royale de Musique-Le Peletier performance that opened 29 February 1836. Watercolour; probably 210 x 310 mm (Gallica lists ranges when multiple objects are in a set. The exact description is: "aquarelle&#160;; H. 120-210 x L. 080-310 mm - of which I'm presuming the smaller numbers refers to the single drawing. The crop is minimal.)
context_page_description: Cornélie Falcon was a French soprano who sang at the Opéra in Paris. Her greatest success was creating the role of Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. She possessed "a full, resonant voice" with a distinctive dark timbre and was an exceptional actress. Based on the roles written for her voice her vocal range spanned from low A-flat to high D, 2.5 octaves. She and the tenor Adolphe Nourrit are credited with being primarily responsible for raising artistic standards at the Opéra, and the roles in which she excelled came to be known as "falcon soprano" parts. She had an exceptionally short career, essentially ending about five years after her debut, when at the age of 23 she lost her voice during a performance of Niedermeyer's Stradella.
context_section_description: Falcon's other creations at the Opéra included the roles of Rachel in Halévy's La Juive (23 February 1835), Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (29 February 1836), the title role in Louise Bertin's La Esmeralda (14 November 1836), and Léonor in Louis Niedermeyer's Stradella (3 March 1837). She also appeared as the Countess in Rossini's Le comte Ory and Pamira in Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe (1836).
  By 1835, Falcon was earning 50,000 francs/year at the Opéra, making her the highest paid artist there, earning nearly twice as much as Nourrit and three times as much as Dorus.
caption: Falcon (right) as Valentine in Les Huguenots (1836), with Julie Dorus-Gras (left) as Marguerite, and Adolphe Nourrit as Raoul
exif: {}