Fanny Heldy

Who was Fanny Heldy?

Fanny Heldy was a lyric soprano opera singer.

Born Marguerite Virginie Emma Clémentine Deceuninck in Ath, Hainaut, Belgium. she graduated from the Liége Conservatoire. Heldy made her professional debut as a substitute in the premiere of Ivan the Terrible, by Raoul Gunsbourg. Between 1914 and 1918 she sang a number of major roles at Opéra de Monte-Carlo, making her first Paris appearance at the Opéra-Comique in 1917 as Violetta in La traviata. She portrayed Juliette in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Paris Opéra in 1920.

In 1923, she made the historic recording of the Jules Massenet opera Manon for Pathé Records. The orchestra was conducted by Henri Büsser, and Heldy sang with tenor Jean Marny as Chevalier des Grieux. In December of that year, she sang the title role in Esclarmonde by Massenet during the opera's revival at the Paris Opéra.

For more than twenty years, Heldy was France's leading opera star, while gaining international recognition through her performances at La Scala in Milan and at the Royal Opera House in London. In 1936 she participated in the movie Opéra de Paris.