Description

JOSEPH MARCEL RODOLPHE PLAMONDON (MONTREAL, 18 JANUARY, 1876 – MONTREAL, 28 JANUARY, 1940)

 

 

 

 

Plamondon studied cello with Louis Charbonneau and solfège with Frédéric Pelletier and, on the advice of his brother-in-law Charles-Onésime Lamontagne, took singing lessons with Guillaume Couture . He occasionally performed as a vocal soloist at St James Cathedral and the Gesù Church before going to France in 1895. There he continued his cello studies at the Rennes Conservatory and from 1896 in Paris with Ferdinand Ronchini . He also took singing lessons and became a student of the tenor Pierre-Émile Engel. During performances in salons and churches he met Jules Massenet and Reynaldo Hahn, among others.

After performing with Nellie Melba at London’s Windsor Hall, he made his official debut in Paris on Silver Day 1897 at the Dominican Church in Faubourg St-Honoré with the baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure and Charles-Marie Widor on the organ. In 1898 he appeared at London’s Albert Hall with Nellie Melba, Clara Butt and Pol Plançon; in the 1899 season he sang at the Vichy Opera House and in 1900 at the Cairo Opera.

Returning to Paris, he performed as a cellist at the Casino de Paris and became principal tenor at the church of St-Roch. In 1903, he married the pianist Marie Dufriche, who often accompanied him in concerts. Plamondon became a successful concert and opera singer; he sang leading roles in Gounod’s Faust, Boito’s Mefistofele and Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and made his debut at the Paris Opéra in 1906 in the title role of Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust.

Plamondon had already ended his opera career before the start of the First World War. However, he had long since built up a reputation as a concert and oratorio singer. In 1917 he travelled with Camille Saint-Saëns through the South of France and sang the premiere of the song cycle La Cendre rouge with the composer at the piano. Like Vincent d’Indy, Saint-Saëns held him in great esteem as a singer and dedicated his last work, the song À Saint-Blaise, to him.

During a visit to Canada in 1920, he gave a concert with the pianist Jean Dansereau at the Monument national in Montreal, playing songs by Beethoven, Berlioz, Debussy, Fauré, Franck and Méhul. In 1923–1924, he went on concert tours through Europe and Canada with the bassist Ulysse Paquin. In 1924, he sang the world premiere of Rodolphe Mathieu’s Harmonie du soir at the Concerts Lamoureux in Paris, conducted by Paul Paray.

In 1926 he gave a subscription concert at the Monument national with Marie-Thérèse Paquin, Jean-Baptiste Dubois and the Assciation Chorale Brassard, which brought in a prize of $2000. During this time he made about a dozen recordings for the Starr label. At the Canadian Pacific Railway Festival in 1928 he appeared in the premiere of Healey Willan’s L’ordre du bon temps. In 1930 he undertook a concert tour of Canada with his son, the cellist Lucien Plamondon.

In the 1930s, Plamondon opened his own music school in Montreal, and he also taught at the École supérieure de musique d’Outremont in 1935–36 and 1939–40 . His students included the singers Louise André, Germaine Bruyère, Reine Décarie, Richard Manning and Georges Toupin and the music producer Claude Garneau. His brother Arthur Plamondon was also a singer, his nephew Ernest-Gill Plamondon was a violinist and conductor, and the poet and librettist Luc Plamondon is also related to Rodolphe Plamondon. In 1911, a street in Montreal was named after him.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Ave Maria (Bach – Gounod) Starr 18009 2133
2. Coeur solitaire (Moreau) Starr 18008 2031
3. Faust (Gounod) Salut demeure chaste et pure 1-5068 Mpt366f 1905-02 a
4. Il neige (Bemberg) Starr 18010 2121
5. La fontaine de Caraouet (Letorey) Starr 18007 2006
6. Le Noe¨l des me´sanges (Missa) Starr 18012 2708
7. Les cloches sont revenues (Fijean) Starr 18014 2734
8. Les rameaux (Faure) Starr 18014 2733
9. Lettre a` Je´sus Noe¨l d’enfant (Mulder) Starr 18012 2707
10. Manon (Massenet) Ah! Fuyez, douce image 1-5052 Mpt356f 1905-02 a
11. Minuit, chre´tien (Adam) Starr 18005 1988
12. Notre Pe`re qui es aux cieux (Busser) Columbia 34032F 1991
13. O Canada, mon pays, mes amours! (Labelle) Starr 18006 1995
14. Pauvre laboureur (Tiersot) Starr 18006 1992
15. Paysage (Hahn) Starr 18007 2005
16. Rosemonde (Moreau) Starr 18008
17. Serenade (Schubert) Starr 18009 2131
18. Une fe´e (Gaubert) Starr 18010 2122