Marie Caroline Miolan-Carvalho by Erwin frères (1)

Marie Caroline Miolan-Carvalho, born Marie Caroline Félix-Miolan (1827-1895); French soprano who sang in various premières. The best known are in opera's by Charles Gounod: Marguerite in "Faust" (1859), Baucis in "Philemon et Baucis" (1860) , Sylvie in "La colombe" (1860), the title-role in "Mireille" (1864) and Juliette in "Roméo et Juliette"(1867). She studied singing at the Conservatoire National de Paris where she was a pupil of the famous tenor Gilbert Duprez. In 1849 she made her debut at the Opéra in Brest as Isabella in Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable". In that same year she was engaged in Paris at the Opéra-Comique where she debuted very successfully in the title role of "Lucia di Lammermoor". Here she remained until 1855. In 1853, she married Léon Carvalho, a French impresario and director of the Théâtre-Lyrique. After their marriage, she began to use the name Caroline Carvalho instead of Marie Miolan and became the prima donna at the Théâtre-Lyrique from 1856 to 1867. From 1868 until her retirement from the stage in 1885 she performed at the Opéra-Comique and at the Grand Opéra Paris. She made international guest appearances at London, Berlin, Brussels and St. Petersburg.


On the photo she is seen as Mireille, the role she created in 1864.