Juliette Simon-Girard
Introduction '''Juliette-Joséphine Simon-Girard''' (8 May 1859 – 1954) was a French soprano, principally in operetta. Her father, , was an actor at the Comédie Française, and her mother was Caroline Girard, of the Opéra-Comique.
Career Girard was born at Paris. After studies at the Conservatoire in 1876 (in the class of Henri de Régnier) she made her debut at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques as Carlinette in Offenbach's ''La foire Saint-Laurent'' on 10 February 1877, and then became an overnight star by creating the role of Serpolette in ''Les cloches de Corneville'' on 19 April 1877.During the run of ''Les cloches de Corneville'' she met and married the well-known tenor Simon-Max, thereafter becoming Mme Simon-Girard.At the age of 19, she created the title role in Offenbach’s ''Madame Favart''; then ''La fille du tambour-major'' in 1879 becoming one of Paris’s most popular performers, prominent on the city's stages for 30 years.At the Folies-Dramatiques she also created roles in ''Beau Nicolas'' (1880), ''Les poupées de l'infante'' (1881), ''Fanfan la tulipe'' (1882), ''La princesse des Canaries'' (1883); moving to the Théâtre des Nouveautés she was in the premiere of ''La vie mondaine''. On return to the Folies-Dramatiques she replaced Ugalde in ''Les petits mousquetaires'' and then created the title role in ''La fauvette du temple'' (17 November 1885). After singing with her husband in the premiere of ''La chatte blanche'', at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 2 April 1887, she spent a year in Belgium which included the premiere of Lecocq's ''Ali-Baba''.Simon-Girard’s return to Paris was at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in 1888 in revivals of ''Le grand Mogul'' and ''La fille du tambour-major'', before creating the title role in ''Voyage de Suzette'' on 20 January 1890.After several productions at the Théâtre de la Renaissance (where she created ''Mlle Asmodée'' in 1891 and ''La femme de Narcisse'' in 1892, and revived ''La jolie parfumeuse'' in 1892, she went back to the Folies-Dramatiques and created Eva in Varney’s ''Miss Robinson'' on 17 July 1892.From 1893, she was at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens with more premieres including Olga in Pessard's Mam'zelle Carabin (3 November 1893). She met her second husband Félix Huguenet while performing in ''L’enlèvement de la Toledad'' in 1894, and from then on took on more comedy acting parts.In November 1899 she took the title role at the Théâtre des Variétés in a major and successful revival of ''La belle Hélène'', which ran for over five hundred performances.In 1903, Simon-Girard made recordings of songs from Offenbach operettas (''Barbe-bleue'', ''Belle Hélène'', ''Madame Favart'', ''La Jolie Parfumeuse'', ''La Périchole'' and ''La Grande-Duchesse''), excerpts from ''Les cloches de Corneville'', and songs by Messager, Audran and Lecocq. '''Complete discography (all 23 titles were cut in Paris, in 1903, for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company)'''Catalogue numberMatrix numberTitle, excerpt, composer331891740FMadame Boniface : Couplets de la Marguerite (Lacôme)331901741F Miss Robinson : Valse des ramiers (Varney)333091751FLa Belle Hélène : Amours divins (Offenbach)333101752F Madame Favart : Ronde des vignes (Offenbach)333111753FLa Femme de Narcisse : C'est la fille à ma tante (Varney)333121754F La Fille de Madame Angot : Jadis les rois (Lecocq)333131755FMalagueña - Valse chantée (Fahrbach)333161830FLes Cloches de Corneville : On dit (Planquette)333171831FLes Cloches de Corneville  Dans ma mystérieuse histoire333271912F La Jolie Parfumeuse : La famille Bruscambille (Offenbach)333281913FLa Fauvette au Temple : Valse de la fauvette (Messager)333291914FLa Fauvette au Temple : Rondeau des blés333301915F Les Cloches de Corneville : Chanson du cidre (Planquette)333311916FLe grand Mogol : Le petit vin de Suresnes (Audran)333321917FLe Voyage de Suzette : Valse d'ivresse (Baggers)340181918F La Mascotte : Duo des dindons (Audran) duet with Jean Delvoye333582029FLes Dragons de Villars : Couplets de l'hermite (Maillart)333592030FCarmen : Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante (Bizet)333712113FLe Grand Mogol : Allons, petit serpent (Audran)333722114F La Périchole : Air de la lettre (Offenbach)333732115FLa Périchole : Couplets de l'aveu333742116FLa Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein : Légende du verre (Offenbach)333752117FLa Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein : Dites-luiShe died at Nice. Her son was Aimé Simon-Girard.
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