Jacques Jansen
French baritone who made Debussy’s Pell—as his own.
Jacques Jansen, the distinguished French baritone and actor, who has died aged 88, was renowned as the foremost exponent of the role of Pell—as in Debussy’s opera Pell—as et M’lisande for the two decades from 1940 to 1960. He sang the part – memorably – in the ground-breaking wartime recording conducted by Roger D’sormi’re which many consider to be unassailable as an authentic interpretation, even today. He also sang the role when the Opéra-Comique, under the same conductor, gave three performances of the work at Covent Garden in June 1949, by all accounts an unforgettable experience.
The part might have been written with Jansen’s high baryton Martin (named after the early-19th-century Opéra-Comique singer of exceptional range) in mind. His acute enunciation of the text lent further depth and precision to his portrayal, which his successors have found hard, if not impossible, to emulate. Jansen recorded the part again in 1956, with Victoria de los Angeles as his M’lisande and with Andr” Cluytens conducting, but by then something of the eagerness and bloom had gone. By a sad coincidence, his M’lisande in the earlier version, Ir’ne Joachim, predeceased him by only a few months.
For the 1988 CD reissue of the 1941 recording, Jansen wrote an extraordinarily vivid account of his introduction to, and interpretation of, his role. He studied it with a coach who had worked with the singers of the opera’s premiere. Then, under the influence of the conductor Desir’e Inghelbrecht, he became obsessed with the role: “My first encounter with Pell—as was the fateful moment of my life. I have never since felt such profound joy. No other score overwhelmed me so completely. Never again did I experience the same feeling of approaching something absolute.” No wonder his interpretation remains such a marvel.
In total contrast, Jansen was also a magnetic interpreter of the raffish Danilo in The Merry Widow, a role he performed some 1,500 times in France. This part exploited his gifts as an excellent actor, also deployed in several wartime films. In addition, he dubbed the singing voice of Alain Cluny in Marcel Carn“’s classic film, Les visiteurs du soir (1942).
So it is no surprise to find that Jansen, born in Paris with the real name Toupin, had aspirations to be an actor and studied with that great exponent of French drama, Louis Jouvet. His singing teachers were the baritone Charles Panzera, himself a notable Pell—as and a noted interpreter of m’lodies, and Claire Croiza.
In 1940, after winning a singing prize, Jansen made the irrevocable decision to give up acting at the Com’die-Française and join the Opéra-Comique, making his debut in 1941 as Pell—as. The war over, he sang the part successively at the Metropolitan, La Scala, the Teatro Col’n (Buenos Aires), and in many French houses.
Among other roles undertaken at the Comique were Rabaud’s Mrouf, Elsenstein in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Valerien in Hahn’s Malvina. At the Aix Festival in 1956 he sang Cith’ron in Rameau’s Plat’e, which he also recorded. Previously, in 1952, he had sung Ali at the Paris Opéra in the revelatory staging of the same composer’s Les Indes Galantes, his debut at the house. In 1969, he sang Pell—as again at the Comique, and also directed the opera, and as late as 1972 he sang Alcibiades in Satie’s Socrate at Marseilles.
Jansen also gained a notable reputation as an interpreter of m’lodies, which he recorded for Decca. After quitting the stage, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire until he retired in 1982.
Jacques Jansen (Toupin), baritone, born November 22 1913; died March 13 2002.
