Vocal Coaching Paper

Haley Cox

M 2:30

Dr. Lovely

“Poison Aria (“Dieu! Quel Frisson cours dan mon vaines)”

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) was a French composer proficient in sacred, secular, and

instrumental works, heavily influenced by Bach. His Ave Maria is widely known, and his

operatic setting of Goethe’s play Faust is one of the most performed operas in the entire operatic

repertoire, being the 8th most performed opera at the Met. Georges Bizet, the composer of

infamous operas like Carmen and The Pearl Fishers, was a student of Gounod, influenced by the

man’s passion for music. Gounod had a well-rounded career between all of his different types of

compositions, and he was popular among his French compositional colleagues. At his funeral,

Camille Saint-Saëns played the organ and Gabriel Fauré conducted. His opera Romeo et Juliette

is another crowd-pleaser, premiering in 1859 and staged many more times after.