<!--thumb|"Mademoiselle Maupin de l'Opéra".<br />Anonymous print, ca. 1700.-->

thumb|262px|D'Aubigny's first partner was [[Louis, Count of Armagnac|Louis de Lorraine, comte d'Armagnac.]]

Julie d'Aubigny (; 1673–1707), better known as Mademoiselle Maupin or La Maupin, was a French opera singer. Little is known for certain about her life; her tumultuous career and flamboyant lifestyle were the subject of gossip, rumour, and colourful stories in her own time, and inspired numerous fictional and semi-fictional portrayals afterwards.

Her life loosely inspired the titular character of Théophile Gautier's 1835 novel, Mademoiselle de Maupin, in which she employs multiple disguises to seduce a young man and his mistress. Due to her relationships with men and women, some modern-day sources refer to d'Aubigny as bisexual or queer.

Early life

Julie d'Aubigny was born in 1673 to Gaston d'Aubigny (1640–1698), a secretary to Louis de Lorraine-Guise, comte d'Armagnac, the Master of the Horse for King Louis XIV. Her father, who trained the court pages, took care of her education teaching her academic subjects of the type given to boys but also trained her in fencing in which she gained competence from the age of 12, competing successfully against men.

By the age of 14, she became Louis de Lorraine's mistress. That year, in 1687, the Count d'Armagnac arranged for her to marry the Sieur de Maupin of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and she became Madame de Maupin (or simply "La Maupin" per French custom). Soon after the wedding, her husband received an administrative position in the south of France, but the Count kept her in Paris for his own purposes. They became lovers briefly and lifelong friends. At this time d'Aubigny sought professional singing lessons from a middle-aged musician and actor named Maréchal who, impressed by her talent, encouraged her to apply to the Paris Opera.

In Paris, and later in Brussels, she performed under the name Mademoiselle de Maupin: by tradition, women who sang or danced with the Opera were addressed as "mademoiselle" whether or not they were married. In Brussels, she performed at the Opéra du Quai au Foin. La Maupin retired from the opera and took refuge in a convent where she is believed to have died in 1707 at the age of 33.

Opera roles created

  • Magician in Henri Desmarets's Didon (Paris, 1693)
  • Clorinde in André Campra's Tancrède (Paris, 1702)
  • Diana and Thétis in Campra's Iphigénie en Tauride (Paris, 1704)
  • La Felicite and Thetys in Campra's Télémaque, ou Les fragments des modernes (Paris, 1704)
  • Mélanie and Vénus in Campra's Alcine (Paris, 1705)
  • Isabelle in Michel de La Barre's La Venitienne (Paris, 1705)

Portrayals

Apart from Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin, La Maupin has been portrayed many times in print, stage and screen, including:

  • Labie, Charles and Augier, Joanny (1839), La Maupin, ou, Une vengeance d'actrice: comedie-vaudeville en un acte Mifliez, Paris. (In French.)
  • Madamigella di Maupin (1966), film. (In Italian.)
  • Evans, Henri (1980) Amand and its sequel (1985) La petite Maupin, France Loisirs, Paris. (In French.)
  • Dautheville, Anne-France (1995), Julie, chevalier de Maupin J.-C. Lattes, Paris. (In French.)
  • Julie, chevalier de Maupin (2004), television mini-series. (In French.)
  • Gardiner, Kelly, 2014, Goddess, Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, Sydney (in English)
  • La Maupin, the Musical (2017), debuting at 2017 Fresh Fruit Festival in New York City.
  • Revenge Song: A Vampire Cowboys Creation (2020), a play that premiered at the Geffen Playhouse in 2020
  • Julie, an original opera on film by La Camerata (2020)
  • La Maupin, a folk punk musical by Fantasic Garlands Theatre at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, London (2022)
  • JULIE: The Musical, a musical co-produced by Le Gasp! Productions with book, music and lyrics by Abey Bradbury (2022)
  • Mademoiselle and the Nunnery Blaze, a song by English indie pop band Bastille in their 2024 album “&” about d’Aubigny’s first sapphic relationship that resulted in her setting fire to a convent
  • Kiss My Sword, an upcoming new opera by composer Meta Cohen, librettist Evan Bryson and director/dramaturg Alyson Campbell (2026)

References

Further reading

  • La Borde, J-B de (1780), Essai sur la musique, iii, 519 ff
  • Campardon, E (1884), L'Académie royale de musique au XVIIIe siècle, ii, 177 ff
  • Letainturier-Fradin, G (1904). La Maupin, 1670–1707, sa vie, ses duels, ses aventures