Marie Godfrend

The mezzo-soprano Marie Godfrend, sometimes given as Godfroid, was a pupil of the tenor Gilbert Duprez. She joined the Paris Opéra in 1862, making her debut as Azucena in Verdi’s Il trovatore [French: Le trouvère]. She also sang in La xacarilla (Lazarillo), in Moïse (Marie), in Guillaume Tell (Edwige), and La favorita (Inès).

In 1867 she married the French tenor François-Pierre Villaret (1830-1896).

She is sometimes confused with the opéra bouffe singer Coralie Geoffroy, who in 1858 created the role of Cupidon in Offenbach’s Orfée aux enfers at the Bouffes-Parisien.