Mademoiselle Beaumesnil

Henriette Adélaïde Villard or Henriette-Adélaïde de Villars, known under the stage name of Mlle Beaumesnil (30 August 1748 – 5 October 1813), was a French opera singer and composer. Biography Mlle Beaumesnil began working in minor comedy roles from the age of seven and debuted as a soloist at the Paris Opera in 1766, substituting for the primadonna Sophie Arnould in the title role of Berton and Trial’s Sylvie. She later sang in many premieres and revivals, patiently hoping that she would finally replace Arnould after her retirement. When the latter left the company in 1778, however, Rosalie Levasseur was preferred and Beaumesnil protested publicly in a letter to the Journal de Paris on 27 December to the effect that she had suffered an act of injustice. She gave rise to a bitter quarrel, also managing to get some sort of compensation by being entrusted the female lead in Gluck’s unsuccessful last opera Echo et Narcisse in September 1779, and did not carry out her threat to resign until 1781, when she finally left the stage. Around the same period she married tenor “Philippe” (Philippe Cauvy, 1754-ca 1820), a celebrated member of the Opéra-Comique (or, to be precise, the Comédie Ita