Paul Dufault

Dufault, Paul

Paul Dufault (Du Faut). Tenor, b Ste-Hélène-de-Bagot, near St-Hyacinthe, Que, 10 Dec 1872, d there 20 Jun 1930. He was a student at the Séminaire de Nicolet and studied music in Montreal with a Mr Birtz, later in Boston with a Mr Dobson, then in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a Mrs Petersen. He is also known to have studied with Hector Dupeyron of the Paris Opera and to have been active professionally by 1897. He sang with the Société symphonique de Québec (Quebec Symphony Orchestra) in 1903, when the program mentioned that he had been living in New York 'for many years,' making several concert and church appearances there. Barring the occasional oratorio appearance, his career was confined exclusively to the concert platform, and he should not be confused with the French dramatic tenor Jean Dufault, who sang with Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera. In his prime (ca 1906 to 1921) Paul Dufault appeared with great success in many parts of the world, including Australia (three visits), China, and Japan. During this period also, he toured Quebec nearly every year, concentrating on the smaller towns and villages otherwise deprived of professional concert fare. In 1921 he toured Canada. His programs, comprising exclusively French classical arias and French and English songs - notably by Botrel, Gounod, Goublier, and Tosti - were served well by a sympathetic lyric tenor of somewhat limited range. Following a typical New York recital in 1911, the Times wrote, 'Mr. Dufault has very considerable requirements in the management of a not wholly tractable organ, in the matters of diction, style, phrasing, interpretation, which are much to his credit.' His circumscribed but highly polished repertoire is well represented on records made ca 1911 to 1921 for Columbia, Edison, Victor, and Starr and listed in Roll Back the Years. Dufault is also heard on Great Voices of Canada/Les Grandes voix du Canada (Analekta AN2 7801, 7803, 1993). His name was given to a Montreal street in the Riviere-des-Prairies district in 1972.