Pierre-François Wartel

Overview

French tenor and singing teacher, born at Versailles in 1806, died in Paris in 1882. After 1842 he gave himself mainly to teaching and was counted among the best teachers of his day; his pupils included Christine Nilsson and Zelia Trebelli. He was married to the pianist Thérèse Wartel; their son Émile was also a singer and teacher (Wikipedia, "François Wartel"). Sources differ on the day of his death (3 or 12 August 1882).

Relevance to Marie

On 14 July 1876 Mme de Mouzay takes Marie, disguised as a poor Italian girl recommended from Italy, to Wartel's rooms, «n° 37, rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin», to hear the truth about her voice from «le premier professeur de Paris» (063.0236). He finds a mezzo-soprano, «de l'étoffe, un organe», and says the voice needs «trois grandes années» of work (063.0257, 063.0290, 063.0298); Marie then reveals the hoax (063.0302) and resolves «Je dois étudier avec Wartel» (063.0316). The edition's index calls him «Wartel (M.) 1er professeur de chant» (Mon Journal t.8, index, pp.276–281).

In December 1876 she recalls the day («comme le jour où je suis allée chez Wartel», 067, 1876-12-06) and names «Wartel et les leçons de harpe» among the reasons that draw her to Paris (067, 1876-12-11).

References in Diary

• 1876-07-14 (063.0236–063.0316): the audition
• 1876-12-06 (067): recalled
• 1876-12-11 (067): reason to go to Paris

See also #Mouzay, #Music_theme.