Mlle de Taisy and Marie Godfrend by Disdéri

On the photo Marie Godfrend (left) and Mlle de Taisy (right) are seen as Isolier and Ragonde in Rossini's "Le comte Ory".

Mlle de Taisy, born Honorine François (?-?); French soprano.
From 1861 until 1866 she was engaged at the Grand Opéra Paris. Here she performed as Isolier in "Le comte Ory", Mathilde in "Guillaume Tell", Ritta in "La Xacarilla", Isabelle in "Robert le Diable", Lucia in "Lucia di Lammermoor", Urbain in "Les Huguenots", Elvire in "La muette de Portici" and SinaÏde in "MoÏse". On 30 December 1861 she created de role of Isaure in "La voix humaine" by Giulio Alary. Hector Berlioz writes in his review on 7 January 1862: "Mlle de Taisy représente avec grâce la jeune Isaure".

Marie Godfrend (?-?); French mezzosoprano.
She was a pupil of the famous tenor Gilbert Duprez. In 1862 she made her debut at the Grand Opéra Paris as Azucena in Verd's "Il Trovatore". Here she also performed as Lazarillo in "La Xacarilla", Marie in "Moïse", Edwige in "Guillaume Tell" and Inès in La Favorita". In 1867 she married the French tenor François-Pierre Villaret (1830-1896).