Louis Gaulard Dumesny

Biography

To quote Wikipedia:

Louis Gaulard Dumesny was a French operatic tenor. His surname is sometimes found spelt Du Mesny, Dumény, or Dumesnil.

Little is known about Dumesny's early life, legend has it that he was working as a cook when Jean-Baptiste Lully heard him singing and was impressed by his natural and well focused voice, his vocal range was then known as haute-contre.

He made his stage debut in 1677, singing a small part in Isis, and then went on creating all roles within his range in operas by Lully; Atys, Thésée, Persée, Amadis, Renaud, Acis, Achille. After Lully's death he created several other roles in operas by different composers, notably; Énée et Lavinie by Pascal Collasse, Médée by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, L'Europe galante by André Campra, Issé and Amadis de Grèce by André Cardinal Destouches.

An excellent actor with a powerful voice, he seemed to have learned all his roles by memory as he did not know how to read music. Reputed as a libertine, and for his dispute with La Maupin.