Freda Betti

Biography

Freda Betti (26 February 1924 – 13 November 1979), whose birth name was Frédérique Thérèse Augusta Betti, was a French mezzo-soprano singer whose career was mainly confined to France. She left a range of recordings representative of her repertoire.

Early life and education

Freda Betti was born at 52 rue des Ponchettes in the old town in Nice into a modest family: her father was a house painter and her mother a fishmonger. Her paternal family originated from the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy: her grandfather was born in Parma and he emigrated to Nice with his wife and children in 1893. She studied music and especially singing at the Conservatory of Nice with Édouard Rouard, where she obtained a Premier Prix de Chant in 1943.

Career

She made her debut at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1947 as Siébel in Faust by Charles Gounod. She appeared frequently with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France of the RTF in the early 1950s, before entering the troupe of the Opéra-Comique in the 1960s. She sang the title role of Carmen more than 150 times and recorded, and her repertoire also included Fricka, Brangaene, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte and Suzuki.
Betti sang on major national stages (Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg, Toulouse) and European (Monte-Carlo, La Scala), as well as in numerous opera festivals, including Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Bayreuth. Betti recorded for Philips and EMI. Among published recordings she took part in were The Snow Maiden (Bobilicka), Démophon, Tosca (shepherd boy) and Philippine (Isabelle). In 1958 she recorded excerpts from Carmen with Ken Neate, Gabriel Bacquier and Andréa Guiot on Philips P 77118 L.
She participated in the original production of L'Opéra d'Aran by Gilbert Bécaud, in 1962, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Betti sang the title role of La Périchole on French Culture radio in 1964. In the 1970s she was a vocal teacher at the Conservatory of Monaco.

Personal life

Betti was married on 29 October 1949 in Levallois-Perret to René Clermont (1919–1976). The couple had two children. She was the sister of Henri Betti and the great great-aunt of Alexy Bosetti (but has no family relationship with Laura Betti and Priscilla Betti).

Death

Freda Betti died at her home in Nice in 1979, at the age of 55, and was buried in the family vault "Famille Betti" with her husband and his parents in the Cimetière du Château ("Carré de l'O.N.U").

Repertoire

List of roles, including recordings:

1947: Faust by Charles Gounod – Marthe Schwertlein
1950: Le domino noir by Daniel Auber – Ursule
1951: L'ivrogne corrigé by Christoph Willibald Gluck – Mathurine
1952: Le joueur de flûte by Hervé – Busa
1952: Véronique by Andre Messager - Ermerance
1952: Jenůfa by Leoš Janáček – the mayor's wife
1953: La Rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque by Charles-Gaston Levadé – Jeannette
1953: Les saltimbanques by Louis Ganne - Marian
1954: Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod – Gertrude
1955: The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini – Berta
1955: The Snow Maiden by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Bobilichka
1955: Oedipe by Enescu - Mérope
1956: Le jour et la nuit by Charles Lecocq – Sanchette
1956: Le Médium by Gian Carlo Menotti – Madame Nolan
1956: La Périchole by Jacques Offenbach – Mastrillas, Brambilla
1956: Madame l'archiduc by Jacques Offenbach – the Countess
1957: Gillette de Narbonne by Edmond Audran – Gillette de Narbonne
1957: Les bavards by Jacques Offenbach – Béatrix
1958: The Love for Three Oranges by Sergei Prokofiev – Linette
1960: Le Médecin malgré lui by Charles Gounod – Martine
1961: Padmâvatî by Albert Roussel – a woman of the people and the second woman of the palace
1961: Lavinia by Henry Barraud – Nunziatina
1961: Rip Van Winkle by Robert Planquette – Kate
1962: Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach – Public Opinion
1962: Rhodope by Louis Ganne – Nausicaa
1963: Giroflé-Girofla by Charles Lecocq – Aurore
1964: La chanson de Fortunio by Jacques Offenbach – Babet

Television

1956: Le Médium (adaptation of The Medium) by Claude Loursais : Madame Nolan. (RTF)
1957: Les Bavards (adaptation of Les bavards) by Bronislaw Horowicz : Béatrice. (RTF)
1960: Le Médecin malgré lui (adaptation of Le médecin malgré lui) by Claude Loursais : Martine. (RTF)