Stamp of the Month: June 2023

Victor Maurel

The French baritone Victor Maurel was born in Marseille on 17.6.1848. He died on 22.10.1923 in New York City. June 2023 marks the 175th anniversary of his birth.
Victor Maurel studied singing at the Paris Conservatoire. He made his debut in Marseille in 1867 as “William Tell” in the Rossini opera of the same name. In 1868 he came to the Grand Opéra in Paris and after guest performances in St. Petersburg, Cairo and Venice, he sang at La Scala in Milan in March 1870 in the world premiere of the opera “Il Guarany” by Carlos Gomes.

Monaco 17.3.2022

Victor Maurel became famous above all as a Verdi interpreter. Verdi himself gave him the role of “Posa” in the Italian premiere of the opera “Don Carlos” in 1871. He also took part in the world premieres of Verdi’s operas “Simon Boccanegra” (1881), “Otello” (1887) and “Falstaff” (1893). Victor Maurel also celebrated great successes in London, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1894-1899) as well as in Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Berlin and at the Vienna Court Opera. After the end of his stage career, he founded an opera school in New York in 1908 and gave private lessons to leading film actors.
 

Victor Maurel sang the role of Iago at the premiere of Verdi’s opera “Otello” at La Scala in Milan on 5 February 1887. In 1904, 17 years after the premiere, he recorded the aria “Era la Notte” from this opera for a record of the “International Record Collectors’ Club” of the Columbia Records company.