1801–63, French

The French soprano Laure Cinti-Damoreau was only 15 when she made her debut at the Théâtre Italien in 1816 in Vicente Martín y Soler’s (1754–1806) 30-year-old opera Una cosa rara (‘A Rare Thing’, 1786). Ten years later, Cinti-Damoreau created several leading roles at the Paris Opéra, for example in Rossini’s La siège de Corinthe (‘The Siege of Corinth’) and in his last opera, Guillaume Tell (‘William Tell’). Cinti-Damoreau’s voice was classed as ‘exceptionally pure’. She had the clear, controlled mastery of ornamentation that led the Belgian scholar, critic and composer François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871) to write of her beau talent – ‘beautiful talent’. The French writer Stendhal (1783–1842) apparently referring to her diminutive stature, wrote of Cinti-Damoreau as ‘that charming little singer’. The soprano was certainly versatile, able to encompass both grand opéra and roles in Auber’s works that were performed at the Opéra-Comique between 1837 and 1841.

Introduction | Early Romantic | Opera
Personalities | Isabella Colbran | Early Romantic | Opera
Houses & Companies | Opéra-Comique | Early Romantic | Opera
Houses & Companies | Paris Opéra | High Romantic | Opera