Liliane Delaquerrière Richardson
Louis Achille Delaquerrière (1856-1937) was a tenor at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. Born in Normandy, he attended the Petit Séminaire de Rouen - where he obtained his Baccalauréat ès Lettres - and was a choir boy in the Maîtrise de la cathédrale de Rouen. His vocal teachers included Louise de Miramont and Jean-Baptiste Faure. He married his teacher, soprano Louise de Miramont (1845-1911) in 1880.
Delaquerrière’s stage career began at the Opéra-Comique in Le Chalet (1881); his roles included: ‘Almaviva’ - Barber of Seville, ‘Don José’ - Carmen; he also appeared in Mignon (A. Thomas), La Dame Blanche (Boieldieu), La Traviata (Verdi), L’Ombre (Flotow) and Le Postillon de Lonjumeau (Adam). He created the roles of ‘le Comte de Nangis’ in Chabrier’s Le roi malgré lui (1887) and that of “Pierre” in Messager’s Madame Chrysanthème (1893); he sang the première of Flon’s Le panache blanc (Brussels, 1884).
Delaquerrière’s pedagogical career spanned some twenty-five years; his students were recruited by the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique, and included: Lucienne Bréval, Paul Franz, Paul Visconti, Jeanne Campredon, Jacques Isnardon, Germaine Lubin, as well as his own son José Delaquerrière.
Louis Delaquerrière’s Album contains mementos of his career, including: newspaper clippings; letters and cards from composers, performers, librettists, poets, painters, sculptors, caricaturists, and students; manuscript scores; menus; programmes; sketches; invitations to serve as a juror for the Paris Conservatoire’s admissions juries and examinations; an invitation to Gounod’s funeral; and photographs. In particular, several of the composers’ letters offer insights into contemporary vocal performance practice.