Before this class, I had never heard of Jane Bathori, which I am surprised by considering how talented and influential she became.
In the scholarly article The Performer As Catalyst: The Role Of The Singer Jane Bathori (1877–1970) In The Careers Of Debussy, Ravel, “Les Six,” And Their Contemporaries In Paris, 1904–1926 by Linda Cuneo-Laurent it gives more detail about her life as a performer and a person.
As a woman soprano, I chose to research her because I think women were underappreciated in music for so many years and could argue that they still are. She came from modest means and parents of underdeveloped musical skills. At the age of seven, she began to study piano and gradually excelled into a well-known singer of her time.1
(Darius Milhaud, “Les Soirées de Pétrograd” op 55 – L’Ancien Regime (Bathori, Milhaud))
Bathori was an accomplished musician, a smart and perfect singer, an artist full of intelligence and sensitivity, yet she wasn’t known to have the perfect voice. What I think is important is that she is known for her brain and her intelligence, not just for her beautiful voice.
(Trois Mélodies, 1916, Erik Satie)
Here is a popular melody talked about in class with Erik Satie and Jane Bathori. Trois Mélodies is a common melody, one we even listen to in class.
Composers like Debussy, Ravel, and Satie would choose Bathori to introduce their songs because of her impeccable talent for sight-reading and her musicality.2 She would later become close with Les Six as a performer.Now knowing this, it is hard to understand how I have not heard of her before. It may be because I do not sing a lot of French and the French I have sung is Faure, but her raw talent is not something to forget.