GAVEAUX-SABATIER [née BÉNAZET], Émilie (b Paris, c 1821; d 24 rue de Richier, Paris, 12 October 1896)

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century singer Emilie Benazet. Mme Sabatier or, after her remarriage, Gaveaux-Sabatier was Paris's 'fauvette des salons' for twenty years and more. Her first public appearance is said to have been in 1841, at a Parisian concert, when she sang the Guillaume Tell duet with Poultier. She was spotted at Saint Omer in May 1842, singing Puget's 'Marjolaine', 'La Couronne de bleuets' and 'Il me l'a dit cent fois', and the spectacular 'Veuvage' aria from Auber's Le Cheval de bronze. On 8 March 1845, Emilie promoted her own concert at the Salle Herz. On 18 February 1850, 'la rentree de Madame Gaveaux-Sabatier' took place at a concert given by Géraldy at Vincennes. Through the 1850s, Madame Gaveaux-Sabatier remained a phenomenon of the Paris scene, her 'salons' and series of 'at-home' concerts attracting the most fashionable guests of the time and place.