Germaine Bruyère

Bruyère, Germaine

(Marie Anne) Germaine Bruyère. Soprano, b Montreal 20 Sep 1905. She studied theory with Champagne, and dramatic art and languages, then voice, with Salvator Issaurel and Rodolphe Plamondon. In New York her teachers were Edgar Schofield, Florence Easton, and Ivan Ivantzoff. After her 1930 Montreal debut she was seen in the Canadian Opera Company of Montreal concert productions of The Marriage of Figaro in 1933, and Honegger's Le Roi David and Debussy's Le Martyre de saint Sébastien in 1934. Edward Johnson arranged a six-month scholarship for her to study in New York, and while she was there she sang on the NBC, the CBS, and the MBS networks. In September 1938 she sang the title role in three Montreal performances of Xavier Leroux's opera Évangéline. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in December of that year with the New York Philharmonic, and appeared again with that orchestra in February 1939 as the soloist in Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 3, the 'Pastoral,' under Barbirolli. She was Beauty in a performance of Vittorio Giannini's opera Beauty and the Beast at Carnegie Hall in 1940. Among her numerous song recitals those featuring Debussy and Mussorgsky were notable. She took part in CBC broadcasts of such works as Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ, Massenet's Hérodiade, and Pierné's Les Enfants à Bethléem. Following her marriage in 1941 she settled first in Virginia and later in Florida, gradually abandoning her public career.