Marguerite Ugalde

Who was Marguerite Ugalde?

Marguerite Ugalde was a French mezzo-soprano. She was the daughter of the singer and theatre manager Delphine Ugalde.

After studies in Paris with her mother, her first professional engagement was in 1879 at Étretat; she made her debut at the Opéra Comique on 19 April 1880 as Marie in La fille du régiment. She created the roles of Mnazile in Le Bois and Nicklausse in the first performance of Les contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach in 1881. On the 18 November 1881, before the unveiling of a bust of Offenbach Ugalde and Adèle Isaac sang, and encored, the barcarolle from Hoffmann.

After this short period at the Opéra Comique Ugalde moved over to operetta, both in Paris and elsewhere. At the Théâtre des Nouveautés she created Manola in Le Jour et la Nuit, Wladimir in Fatinitza, Falka in Le droit d'aînesse, Stenio Strozzi in L’Oiseau bleu, Denisette in Le Petit Chaperon rouge and Rosette in Serment d'amour.

She sang the first D’Artagnan in Les petits mousquetaires at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, as well as, after a serious illness, triumphing as René Belamour in Suppé’s Juanita.