Jules Gautier & Paul Aumonier - Faust duet (RARE!!!)

Dramatic tenor Paul Franz (1876-1950), who changed his name from Franz Gauthier to avoid confusion with THIS week’s tenor, Jules Gautier (1866-1951).  Born in Marseilles, Gautier was a celebrated artist who was active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  As was the case with Paul Franz, Gautier began studying voice at a relatively late age.  During his days at the conservatory of his hometown, he took first prize in singing and was later accepted to the Paris Conservatory, where he completed his studies.  There is some disagreement as to when and where Gautier actually made his professional stage debut.  According to some sources, the tenor’s debut took place during the summer of 1896 at the Théâtre de la Haye in The Hague. Others claim that he was active as early as 1894.  Contemporary documents indicate that his official debut occurred shortly before his 30th birthday in Reyer’s Sigurd at the Opéra de Paris on July 3, 1896.  However, Gautier may have only been contracted to understudy the role.  Of the fifteen performances of Reyer’s opera given that season, Gautier sang only one. The Opéra de Paris was absolutely flush with exceptional tenors during the 1890s.  Of the thirteen tenors (including Gautier) on the roster were such world class artists as Affre, Vaguet, Alvarez and Saléza.  As fine a singer as Gautier proved to be, he was simply outclassed by the more experienced tenors and seems to have only been given comprimario roles such as Laërte in Hamlet and de Tavannes Les Huguenots during his time at the Opéra.  Disappointed with the lack of opportunity, Gautier left the company after only two seasons.  In 1901, he accepted a contract with the Opéra-Comique, where he remained until 1904.  Gautier also appeared in Lyon and was quite popular in Nice, where he sang from 1904 to 1909.  In 1908, the tenor returned to the Opéra de Paris, where he was now celebrated for his interpretations of heroic roles.  Gautier boasted more than two dozen roles in his diverse repertoire, including Jean in Hérodiade, Fernand in La Favorite, Arnold in Guillaume Tell, Raoul in Les Huguenots, Gérald in Lakmé, des Grieux in Manon, Vasco in L’Africaine, Don José in Carmen, Julien in Louise, Alain in Grisélidis, Vincent in Mireille, Eléazar in La Juive, The Duke in Rigoletto, Radames in Aïda, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and the title roles in Roméo et Juliette, Samson et Dalila, Faust and La Damnation de Faust.  Gautier continued to appear in Paris well into the mid-teens and retired from the stage at the age 50.  He then opened a voice studio in Paris where he taught for the next three decades.  Jules Gautier died in 1951 at the age of 85. Researching the life and career of Jules Gautier was a tremendous challenge.  Several of his early cylinders have been erroneously attributed to Paul Franz (whose real name, you may recall, was Franz Gauthier), leading some researchers to believe the two men were one and the same.  Muddying the waters even further is the persistent claim by some historians that Gautier, using the stage name “Charles Gauthier”, sang Manrico during the Metropolitan Opera’s April 1901 visit to Chicago.  However, Gautier’s calendar of appearances in Paris rule out any possibility of his having appeared in Chicago at that time.  There actually was a French tenor named Charles Gauthier, a stalwart member of the French Opera in New Orleans and a respected member of the faculty of Chicago Musical College and THIS was the tenor who sang Manrico with the Met, NOT Jules Gautier.