Georgette Bréjean-Silver, ‘the third Manon’

While her name is primarily associated with Massenet, Bréjean-Silver distinguished herself in many other roles and deserves to be regarded as the great French coloratura soprano of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Paris on 22 September 1870, she came from a modest background: her father, François-Adolphe Sixsout, declared his occupation on the birth certificate as ‘wine merchant’s assistant’. Although her mother is listed there as Émilie ‘Bréjeon’, it was clearly her surname that Georgette would adopt for her career. Her parents lived on the rue du Renard, in the working-class Marais district. We have no idea how they coped with the successive hardships of the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune shortly after their daughter’s birth.