Violante Doria

Engraving of the first scene of the Ballet Comique de la Reine. Click to enlarge.

Violante Doria (Genoa, fl.1560s-1580s) was an Italian soprano in France, and the first singer in a French opera, the Ballet Comique de la Reine of 1581.

She was married to the bass singer Girard de Beaulieu, better known under the incorrect name "Girard de Beaulieu" as the composer of the music for the opera-ballet Circe in 1581, at the court of Henri III. Violante sang the role of Tethys.^[1][2] Their daughter, Claude de Beaulieu, also became a court musician.^[3][4]

References

1. Richard Wistreich Warrior, Courtier, Singer: Giulio Cesare Brancaccio 2007 Page 163 "The print, which is in the form of a lavish presentation volume designed to demonstrate the marvels of the entire event, reproduces only the melody lines, which were apparently sung by the soprano Violante Doria and her husband, the bass Girard de Beaulieu..."
2. Jeanice Brooks Courtly Song in Late Sixteenth-Century France 2000 - Page 200 "... for example, featured an intermede for four female musicians, two lute players and two singers, as well as the more elaborate role of Tethys, sung by the Genoese soprano Violante Doria.27
3. Diana Maury Robin, Anne R. Larsen, Carole Levin Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England 2007 Page 278 "The Genoese soprano Violante Doria, active in the second half of the sixteenth century, married a French musician and worked with him at the French royal court.Their daughter, Claude de Beaulieu, became a court musician too."
4. Jeanice Brooks Courtly Song in Late Sixteenth-Century France - Page 201- 2000 "Virtually all of the musicians identified as such were male,- Doria and her daughter Claude de Beaulieu were the only women ever paid explicitly for musical services in royal accounts. Even Doria, however, was remunerated only rarely as a "