Description

JOSÉ BECKMANS (LIÈGE, BELGIUM 4 / 1 / 1897 – VICHY, FRANCE 13 / 08 / 1987)

He was a nephew of the bass-baritone Guy Beckmans (1875-1956). He received his education in Brussels and Paris. To finance his studies at the Conservatoire of Liège, he performed in music halls and cabarets. He made his stage debut in 1916 in Verviers as Escamillo in Carmen. Later, he sang with success at the Antwerp Opera and subsequently appeared in Nancy and Montpellier. In 1925, he made his debut at the Opéra-Comique in Paris as Escamillo. There, he performed Balthasar in the premiere of Lévy’s Le Cloître and Simonson in Alfano’s Risurrezione (1927). In 1935, he joined the Grand Opéra in Paris and made his debut as Rigoletto. Since 1933, he made several guest appearances at the Opéra Monte-Carlo. In 1934, he sang in the French premiere of Richard Strauss’s Arabella as Mandryka. At Monte Carlo, his repertoire included Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde (with Frida Leider) and Golo in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, one of his star roles. In 1935, he performed at the Opéra de Nice in the premiere of Charles Silver’s Quatre-Vingt-Treize. The same year, he guest-starred in London (Covent Garden, as Escamillo), Rome, and Buenos Aires, and in 1939 undertook a tour of France and Belgium with his own opera troupe, the José Beckmans Compagnie Lyrique Française. After retiring, he became a successful opera director at the Paris Opéra and the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. He was married to the mezzo-soprano Suzanne Duman.

Chronology of some appearances

1916 Belgium Verviers Carmen (Escamilio)

1925 Paris Opera-Comique Carmen (Escamilio)

1927 Paris Opera-Comique Le Cloître (Balthasar)

1927 Paris Opera-Comique Risurrezione (Simonson)

1934 Opéra Monte-Carlo Arabella (Mandryka)

1935 Paris Grand Opera Rigoletto (Rigoletto)

1935 London Covent Garden Carmen (Escamilio)

TRACKLIST

1. Carmen (Bizet) Air du toréador Pathé 7173 N201415
2. La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) Air des Roses Polydor 62695 F2138
3. La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) Serenade Polydor 62695 F2139
4. Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame (Massenet) Légende de la sauge Pathé X 7173 N201517
5. Muette de Portici (Auber) Amour sacré with Kaisin Polydor 566038 1863½BMP
6. Otello (Verdi) Credo Je crois en un Dieu cruel Columbia LFX655
7. Otello (Verdi) Desdémone coupable Pt 1, pt 2 and pt 3 with Georges Thill Columbia CLX2260, CLX2261, CLX2262, LFX654, LFX655, LFX656 29 05 1942
8. Pelleas & Melisande (Debussy) Scene du souterrain with André Gaudin Polydor 566052
9. Richard Coeur de Lion (Grétry) Grand Duo with Franz Kaisin Polysor 566048
10. Tosca (Puccini) Vous permettez Polydor 566039
11. Guillaume Tell (Rossini) Reste immobile Polydor 566053
12. Paillasse (Leoncavallo) Prologue Polydor 566039
13. Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach) Scintille diamant Polydor 524062
14. Rigoletto (Verdi) Courtisans Race Vile Polydor 566053
15. La Bohème (Puccini) Act 4 with Germaine Corney, Madeleine Sibille, Marcel Claudel and André Gaudin Polydor 27362A- 27364A