Vuillaume began her career at the Opera, where every operatic career in the country was then decided, with a well-timbred voice of uncommon range. She died in 1933. Few inscriptions record an act of generosity in this way. What is carved sets on the same level the house where she sang and the bequest she made to the civil hospitals of Lyon.
The story
The epitaph runs to a single line and puts two things on the same footing: “Marie VUILLAUME de l'Opéra, bienfaitrice des hospices civils de Lyon, 1861-1933” — of the Opéra, benefactress of the civil hospices of Lyon. The bequest is cut into the stone at the same rank as the house where she had sung.
Born in Paris on 26 December 1861, Marie Vuillaume made her début at the Paris Opéra, where every French singing career was decided. Her voice was praised, well pitched and of great range, along with a sense of the stage that few singers had to the same degree.
She died in 1933. Her grave is in Division 42, on the avenue Carette. The singer was a Parisian and the Opéra had made her: it was in Lyon that she chose to leave something behind.
The grave
A one-line inscription that gives as much room to an act of generosity as to a career: “Marie VUILLAUME de l'Opéra, bienfaitrice des hospices civils de Lyon, 1861-1933.” — Marie Vuillaume of the Opera, benefactress of the civil hospitals of Lyon. The bequest to the Lyon hospitals is carved there on the same rank as the house where she had sung. Few epitaphs at Père-Lachaise record an act of generosity in this way — that of Edmé Champion, “le petit manteau bleu”, is the other example in the cemetery.
On site, do not miss
The inscription sets the bequest on the same level as the career: “Marie VUILLAUME de l'Opéra, bienfaitrice des hospices civils de Lyon, 1861-1933.” — Marie Vuillaume of the Opera, benefactress of the civil hospitals of Lyon.
Visitors' questions
Where is Marie Vuillaume's grave?
In Division 42, avenue Carette, second row. The inscription runs to one line and two titles: “Marie VUILLAUME de l'Opéra, bienfaitrice des hospices civils de Lyon, 1861-1933” — of the Opera, benefactress of the Lyon hospices. She died in 1933, at seventy-one.
François Richard-LenoirWhat was her voice?
That of a soprano, well pitched and of great range — carried by a fine musician and a real feel for the stage. She had begun at the Paris Opera, where any singing career was made or lost.
Célestine Galli-MariéWhat did she leave to Lyon?
Her stone calls her “bienfaitrice des hospices civils de Lyon”, benefactress of the Lyon hospices: she left them all or part of her fortune. The title is cut beside the one from the Opera, as though the two weighed the same.
Sophie CruvelliWhy put the bequest on the stone?
Because it shaped the end of her life as singing had shaped its beginning. Few epitaphs at Père-Lachaise cut a bequest into the stone — this one does, and on a level with the singing career.
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