The Charente summer home of soprano Marthe Bailloux and her military husband yields a trove of noteworthy artifacts from France’s “Golden Age” of art and music.
The onetime summer home of the Bailloux family — soprano Marthe and her military husband Pierre — located in Courcôme (Charente Department), France. (Photo: Alistair Kendry, 2023)
Sometimes the most incredible adventures are put in motion purely by happenstance. This is certainly the case with Alistair Kendry and Mary Fisher, two English creative artists who decided to trade their native Britain for provincial France and embark on the next phase of their personal and professional lives.
Alistair Kendry is a visual artist who studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in the 1980s. Today he focuses on creating large contemporary gold-leaf paintings that also feature mixed media collage elements. Kendry also served as head of the art department at an educational institution in the UK before retiring and moving to provincial France.
Kendry’s partner, Mary Fisher, worked for 25 years at the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden in London as a supervisor in its costume department, where she created outfits and worked with renowned singers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Angela Gheorghiu. Today Fisher continues her work in France as an independent costume and handbag designer.
Col. Pierre-Augustin Bailloux and his wife, soprano Marthe Moreau Bailloux, pictured at the garden gate of their summer home in Courcôme, France in about 1940. (Photo: Courtesy of Marie-Noël Westerman)
The attraction of provincial France was practical as well as personal, enabling the couple to continue their artistic pursuits in more bucolic surroundings — with a concurrent eye on economizing. This is what brought the couple to the Charente region of France – and more particularly to the summer home in Courcôme of Col. Pierre Bailloux and his soprano singer wife, Marthe Bailloux.
I came into contact with Alistair Kendry when he got in touch with me after reading an article published on the Florent Schmitt Website + Blog about the Schmitt’s Poèmes des lacs. As it turned out, there was a direct connection between those mélodies and the incredible story Kendry was about to tell me …
And indeed, what I heard from him was nothing short of amazing – the existence of a treasure trove of history bound up in a family property that had lain dormant for many years. I quickly realized that this was a story that needed to be told. After generously agreeing to an interview, what Alistair Kendry proceeded to tell me is presented below.
PLN: How did the Bailloux summer home come into your possession?
ACK: Beginning around 2016, my partner, Mary Fisher, and I had been looking for a property in the Charente region in France. We had a dream of being able to retire and make our work there – including my gold-leaf abstract paintings and Mary’s work designing and making costumes and handbags.
Mary and a friend were the ones who looked at the house at a time when I was back in the UK. As the listing price was very attractive and the estate agent had reported that another interested party was about to close on the property, Mary made a quick decision to purchase it. It was her understanding that the house and barn had been vacant for about ten years, before which it had been the summer home of several generations of the Bailloux family.
In describing the property, Mary assured me that there was an ideal outbuilding – a barn – that would make for a fine studio space for my artwork (which, sadly, we established later wouldn’t be suitable as the lighting was so poor). Even so, the barn remains a fascinating structure; it probably dates from the 15th century and has amazing timber beams. Other clues as to the age of the structure were the medieval parts of shoes found in some of the walls – presumably placed there to ward off evil spirits. We even came across a dead cat carcass that may well date from the 16th century!
I got round to seeing the house only in 2018. The property had a magnificent garden in addition to the main house and medieval barn. The main house seemed to be in a time warp – seemingly untouched for decades. All the contents of the home had been left and came with the sale – everything including furniture, beds, carpets, clothes, books, pictures and ephemera.
PLN: Being confronted with so much in the way of contents must have seemed overwhelming …
ACK: It was! It took many weeks and months just to begin the process of sorting and processing everything. But the vast loft space of the house was the biggest challenge; it was like opening Tutankhamen’s tomb! At first we didn’t really wish to venture in, as there was so much dust and so many cobwebs, beyond which we could see furniture, prams, clothing, and … chaos.
André Gill (1840-1885). The French caricaturist’s first magazine, La Lune, was forced to close in December 1867 after Emperor Napoleon III disliked a portrait of him drawn by Gill.
The loft turned out to be filled with so many other things, too — including wartime wireless sets, French newspapers and magazines. There were hundreds of copies of the magazine Illustration, dating from the 1920s to the 1940s. We also discovered an amazing collection of newspapers featuring caricatures drawn by André Gill – firstly in La Lune from the 1860s and later Eclipse from the 1870s. The caricaturist was friendly with Manet and Courbet. His periodicals poked fun without fear or favor, and in general expressed the satirical sentiments of the day. Prominent personalities graced the covers of the magazines, and we have beautiful copies with brilliantly colored cover portraits of these men and women that surely should be framed and displayed.
There was also a large collection of prints and lithographs created by Salon artists that we found in the loft – some very important — which I’m still researching.
Nineteenth century bonnets and undergarments worn by female servents, found in a trunk in the loft of the Bailloux home. (Photo: Alistair Kendry, 2019)
I should also mention the huge trunk filled with undergarments – 19th century female bodice shirts and blouses — plus an amazing collection of caps and bonnets. We figure that they had belonged to the staff working for the family in the house. Many of the garments had initials sewn on, presumably so they could be sorted out easily in the lavoir/washing area.
PLN: You haven’t mentioned music-related artifacts yet. Considering that Marthe Bailloux, mistress of the house, was a professional singer, there must have been some of that as well …
ACK: At first, I had no idea that any scores and related music documents were here in the house, but Mary had informed me that she’d found what appeared to be some old music scores in a large chest in the loft. As it turned out, there were other scores tucked away in the house as well, left in bookcases and cupboards.
We expected that the scores were of no particular significance, figuring they’d be old sheet music such that one commonly finds at charity shops or boot sales. Mary’s idea was to donate them to a local choir rather than to throw them out, but as soon as I started looking at the scores, immediately I recognized that they were important — especially as many had inscriptions on them and a few were even in manuscript form.
Music scores found in trunks in the loft of the Bailloux home. Additional scores were found in bookcases and cupboards. (Photo: Alistair Kendry, 2019)
It turned out that there were so many scores, it took me a few years to properly sort through them all. Some of them were faded or shopworn, some others riddled with woodworm while others appeared to be nibbled at, possibly by field mice or silverfish. But others were in excellent condition.
It turns out that this was the lost archive of a soprano artist active at the highest echelons of French classical musical life during the 1920s-40s, including scores by female and other now-forgotten composers. It appeared that the scores had been organized into groupings of the alphabet based by composer, but a lot of that had gotten muddled up over the years. I decided to inspect and carefully place each score into plastic sleeve folder portfolios to prevent further deterioration or damage.
PLN: I take it that neither you nor Mary are professional musicians. What led you to understand the value of the artifacts that you were uncovering?
ACK: It is true that neither of us are musicians, but music runs in our families. My father was a brass and wind band player, and a good amateur conductor as well. He also loved classical music and opera, introducing me to Rossini, Puccini, Mahler, Shostakovich and other composers. Also, as a young teenager I had played in brass bands for a while, so I was aware of music scores.
Mary’s mother, now 97 years old, had studied music at the Royal Academy – clarinet and piano – and Mary had played the flute in her youth. So we both have an appreciation for classical music and could realize the importance of what we had discovered.
PLN: To get a flavor of the Bailloux collection of scores, what are some of the more notable items that you found?
ACK: There are so many scores – almost too many to list. Some of the better-known composers include Franck, Gounod, Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Dukas, Florent Schmitt, Albert Roussel, Charles Koechlin, Olivier Messiaen, Paul Paray, Louis Aubert, Jacques Ibert, Alexandre Tcherepnin, André Messager, Manuel De Falla and Cécile Chaminade.
Lesser-known composers’ scores include Henri Büsser, Reynaldo Hahn, Jean Clergue, Sylvio Lazzari, Elsa Barraine, Alice Sauviezis, José Antonio Donastria, René Challan, André Marchal, Pierre Nau, Augusta Holmès, Charles Levade, Renato Cairone, Charles Pons, the composer-conductor Rhené-Baton, and others.
A French composer of Italian and Austro-Hungarian origin, Sylvio Lazzari (1857-1944) served for many years as president of the Wagner Society in Paris. His 1912 opera Le Lépreux, based on a Breton plotline, utilized Breton folksongs as coloristic elements.
One Messiaen score – hand-signed to Marthe Bailloux – dates from 1937 and is titled Chants de terre et ciel. Another Messiaen score inscribed by the composer is his Vocalise-etude of 1935. Another one inscribed to her is the score to the opera Le Lépreux [The Leper] by Sylvio Lazzari, which is interesting because we don’t believe that Marthe Bailloux sang in opera. Perhaps the composer was hoping to interest her in this work!
Several of the scores are in manuscript form, including ones by Koechlin and Barraine.
PLN: Specifically pertaining to Florent Schmitt, what items did you find?
ACK: We found scores for several of the pieces that make up the Poèmes des lacs – specifically Musique sur l’eau, Demande, Tristesse au jardin and Les Barques. Several of these are inscribed to Marthe Bailloux by the composer.
Marthe Bailloux’s well-worn copy of the score to Florent Schmitt’s Musique sur l’eau.
Marthe Bailloux’s copy of the score to Florent Schmitt’s Demande — sur le lac du Bourgat.
There is also the score to Kérob-Shal, which apparently she performed with Florent Schmitt in Paris in the 1930s (we gather this from a letter written by Schmitt to Bailloux that was found in the house as well).
Florent Schmitt’s letter to Marthe Bailloux, dated March 27, 1935, discusses Mme. Bailloux’s planned performances in Paris of Demande and Tristesse au jardin, two of the pieces that make up Schmitt’s Poèmes des lacs. The letter also refers to an upcoming Bailloux performance of Schmitt’s Kérob-Shal — likely with the composer at the keyboard.
PLN: Do you think that Florent Schmitt and Marthe Bailloux were personally acquainted?
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
ACK: I think that they were. The letter we have seems to indicate that — although it doesn’t appear that they were particularly close friends or colleagues. As to which of composers Bailloux seems to have known most intimately, the most notable would probably be Koechlin and Messiaen, although we have numerous other scores inscribed to her by many others, too.
PLN: What other interesting items pertaining to Mme. Bailloux did you find left in the house?
This bust of Marthe Bailloux was cast in plaster by the sculptor Gheorghe Anghel (1904-1966). Born in Romania, Anghel studied, lived and worked in France from 1924 to 1937. The first solo exhibition of his work was in Paris in 1940. Most of Anghel’s output was in bronze, although his bust of the Romanian composer Georges Enescu was rendered in stone. The bust of Marthe Bailloux was discovered at the family’s home in Courcôme following the sale of the property. (Photo: Alistair Kendry, 2023)
ACK: We found some dresses from the 1920s and 1930s that were possibly Madame’s, plus handbags and numerous other personal items. We also discovered two oil paintings by her which appear to date from the first two decades of the 20th century, when Marthe Bailloux would have been in her twenties. They are very good; we had both of them cleaned, and one hangs in the house today.
We also came across a pastel drawing of Marthe Bailloux from the 1940s, along with a notable plaster bust of her made by the renowned Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Anghel. This artist is sufficiently esteemed to have a museum in Bucharest that is exclusively dedicated to his creative output.
PLN: Marthe Beilloux’s life and career doesn’t appear to be well-documented in French books on music history. Have you been able to learn more about her life and career accomplishments through your own research?
ACK: It is true the Marthe Bailloux merits only a few lines in several reference books. But from what we were finding in the house, it seemed that she was much more than this — indeed, a prominent and highly regarded singer. Curious to learn more, I was able to track down her only surviving grandchild, Marie-Noël Westerman, who was born in 1936 and lives in Paris today.
A photo portrait of Marthe Moreau as a young girl in Ruffec, France. (Photo: Courtesy of Marie-Noël Westerman)
From this granddaughter, I was able to learn that Marthe Bailloux was born Marthe Moreau in Ruffec, France – in the Charente department — in 1894. She married Pierre Bailloux in 1919 in Courcôme (the town is less than ten kilometers from Ruffec), and subsequently accompanied him to his military postings in Rennes, Paris, Bordeaux, Vichy, and lastly Germany following World War II.
From my understanding, Col. Bailloux had distinguished himself on the front lines as a captain during World War I, being named to the Legion l’honneur as a result in addition to being highly decorated for his military service.
A Bailloux family portrait from about 1927, including young daughters Jacqueline and Pierrette. (Photo: Courtesy of Marie-Noël Westerman)
Wedding days at Courcôme. The two Bailloux daughters were married there just two weeks apart in February 1946. (Image: Courtesy of Marie-Noël Westerman)
The couple had two daughters in the 1920s – Pierrette and Jacqueline. Both daughters married their respective spouses just two weeks apart at the Courcôme property in February 1946. Jacqueline and her husband, Jean Babaud, were the last owners of the property before Mary and I purchased it.
Mme. Westermann was unable to provide much information about Marthe Bailloux’s musical studies, but there is evidence that she studied singing with Jean Suscinio in Brittany and also studied in Rennes. Other documents indicate that she had further music study in Paris – although not at the Paris Conservatoire officially.
The couple had settled in Paris following their wedding and resided in a rather grand 16th arr. apartment on Rue Debrousse near the Eiffel Tower. Recital posters from this period identify Marthe Bailloux as “soloist of the Grands Concerts de Paris” with a voice described as a “dramatic soprano.” Apparently she didn’t sing in opera, choosing to focus instead on a recital and concert career.
Program posters from 1926 (r.) and 1934 (l.) featuring soprano Marthe Bailloux. (Click on the image for a larger view.) (Image: Courtesy of Alistair Kendry)
Marthe Bailloux, photographed with composer Charles Koechlin in Paris in 1938. Koechlin and Bailloux forged a particularly fruitful artistic relationship. (Photo: Courtesy of Marie-Noël Westerman)
While she did sing the classical repertoire, looking at Bailloux’s programs reveals that she was perhaps most active as an interpreter of contemporary music, presenting mélodies and other works by composers such as Ravel, Roussel, Schmitt, Koechlin and Messiaen. Often she would be accompanied in these performances by the composers themselves.
These words of critical praise for Mme. Bailloux’s artistry appeared in a Parisian program booklet in 1935.
A 1936 concert program performed at the Salle Gaveau under the direction of Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht featured works by several modern composers including Charles Koechlin and Florent Schmitt. Marthe Bailloux was the soloist in the Koechlin mélodies. The all-French program was broadcast via radio throughout the country. (Image: Courtesy of Alistair Kendry)
Alongside her recital and concert appearances, Bailloux sang on French National Radio during the 1930s. It appears that her performance bookings aligned geographically to a large degree with the professional activities of her husband, in lieu of undertaking a touring schedule separate from the locales of his military appointments. In this regard, we find that she sang in private salons and municipal halls in various provincial regions of France such as Charente, Brittany and Vichy, in addition to singing at various venues in Paris like the Salle Pleyel and Salle Gaveau.
She also sang at the famous Hotel Majestic in Paris – nowadays known as The Peninsula Paris hotel.
The Peninsula Paris hotel has quite a history. Opening in 1908 as the Hotel Majestic, it was one of the most exclusive hotels in Paris until it was converted to government offices in 1936. During World War II the building was requisitioned by German authorities as headquarters of the military high command in France during the occupation of Paris. In the postwar period, the Majestic served as the first headquarters of UNESCO until 1958, when it was converted into a conference center for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Vietnan War-era Paris Peace Accords were negotiated and signed at the building in 1991. More than a century after its first incarnation as a luxury hotel, the property reopened in 2014 as The Peninsula Paris, following an extensive rebuilding and remodeling project that spared no expense.
A ticket from the December 1930 Hotel Majestic concert in which Marthe Bailloux was the featured artist. (Image: Courtesy of Alistair Kendry)
From what we know, Marthe Bailloux’s late-career activities as a singer were in Germany, where her husband had been sent with the French occupation army in the Palatinate region (Neustadt, Baden-Baden and Trier) in 1945. She participated in the social life of the delegation, teaming up with several musician wives of French soldiers to organize private musical evenings as well as several vocal recitals in Baden-Baden and Göttingen. The couple lived in Germany until 1950, at which time Pierre Bailloux retired from the military.
PLN: Despite not being involved in opera, it seems that Marthe Bailloux enjoyed an interesting career that included circulating in the most prominent musical circles. What do you know about her life after 1950?
ACK: From Marie-Noël Westermann we’ve learned that the couple lived in Paris most of the time following Pierre Bailloux’s retirement, which is where both daughters had settled once they were married. This gave Marthe Bailloux the opportunity to maintain Parisian musical and personal friendships and to attend concerts, while also enjoying a fulfilling life with extended family.
One of the singer’s great traits was showing generosity to her musician friends. An example is the pianist and music critic Camille Soulier; Marthe offered her own room in Paris to care for Soulier during her last months of life.
But in addition to Paris, the house in the Charente region figured prominently in the couple’s final years. In the spring and summer months they would stay in Courcôme, which was also home to cousins and other relatives. They were devoted to the region and participated in a variety of initiatives to conserve the heritage of Courcôme – the church and cemetery chapel in particular — as well as managing some family agricultural properties inherited from ancestors and entrusted to sharecroppers in Charente and Deux-Sèvres.
The ancient chapel at the cemetery in Courcôme, France.
Col. Bailloux passed away in April 1978 as a result of complications from a fall. As it turned out, his wife survived him by fewer than six months, dying of acute kidney failure in October. They and their closest family members – ancestors and descendants — are buried in the Courcôme cemetery. These days, none of their eleven great-grandchildren live in the vicinity – instead residing the Paris region and in Annecy (Haute-Savoie).
PLN: You mention Vichy as one of the places where Marthe Bailloux and her husband were active. Was the Colonel involved with the Vichy government during World War II?
Following the armistice of June 22, 1940, the German zone of occupation in France split the Charente Department in two, with Ruffec and Courcôme falling in the German zone. (Click on the image for a larger view.)
ACK: That is an interesting question, and indeed it may be so. We found it curious to discover some Vichy government pamphlets in the house, as well as a number of documents printed on stationery bearing the Vichy cross. We also came across a framed photograph of Marshall Philippe Pétain that had been stored the loft.
Then we heard some reports that the property had housed German officials of the Berlin Opera House during the early 1940s. Apparently, Marthe Bailloux had admonished the officers for not wearing their ties upon entering the house — and she also upbraided them for playing the piano too loudly at night.
Marthe Bailloux, photographed in the 1940s. (Photo: Courtesy of Marie-Noël Westerman)
Hearing these anecdotes, I decided to do my own research, whereupon I discovered Col. Bailloux’s name in American records, listed as being on the staff of the Vichy government during the years 1942-43 as a commerce secretary pertaining to textiles. A lowly capacity to be sure, but it raises the possibility that these associations – official or unofficial — may have affected the couple’s image following the war. I also wonder if this may have played a role in Marthe Bailloux’s lack of presence in French books on modern music history and performers.
In this regard, it is also interesting to note that we were visited several years ago by one of the great-grandchildren who wished to see the property. During his visit the young man said in passing, “It’s all the past … ”
PLN: Now that these fascinating artifacts have seen the light of day after so many decades of being hidden away, what plans do you have for them besides displaying some of them in the house?
ACK: Up to this point, most of the work has gone into sorting through all of the scores and other documents. Clearly some of them have significant historical importance – particularly the items that are inscribed by composers or other noted personalities. We were pleased to find out that the two Messiaen signed scores found in the house – Vocalise and Chants de terre et de ciel — were going to be performed at the Aldeburgh Festival this year. We’ve offered to provide those signed scores for display at the festival.
This Jeune France program from 1941 featured Marthe Bailloux singing several works by Olivier Messiaen, with the composer participating as pianist. The soprano also presented works by André Thiriet, Pierre Auclert and Daniel-Lesur with the respective composers at the piano. (Click on the image for a larger view.) (Image: Courtesy of Alistair Kendry)
Beyond the music scores, some of the artwork and prints are suitable for displaying, and with that in mind we have already begun to mount and frame the best of them according to museum-quality standards.
We have also been working on renovating the main house and the barn structure, which has turned into a multi-year effort. Most of the rooms have now been refurbished, and we have decorated them with many of the artifacts found in the house. Mary is using the loft as her textiles atelier.
Mary Fisher and Alistair Kendry, photographed at their gallery space in Verteuil, France.
Mary and I also maintain a small gallery in the beautiful village of Verteuil, located about five kilometers away. We envision that location not only as a venue to exhibit my own artwork, but also as a potential small performance space. In the same vein, we see the restored music salon in the Bailloux house as an ideal location for hosting intimate musical events.
The restored music salon at Bailloux house in Courcôme (Charente Department), France. (Photo: Alistair Kendry, 2023)
Even more expansively, the thought has crossed our minds that some sort of periodic mini-music festival could be put together, with Marthe Bailloux as the central figure and where some of the music scores from the home could be performed – particularly ones that are rarely done in the present day such as the Poèmes des lacs of Florent Schmitt. Such events could be very appealing to a cultured audience attuned to such things — not merely for the music, but also for the beautiful historic village, incredible chateau and stunning 11th century Romanesque Chapel of Civray. The entire Charente region is quite enchanting.
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We are thankful to Alistair Kendry and Mary Fisher for electing to preserve the musical legacy of soprano Marthe Bailloux at her family’s country home. In the hands of owners less attuned to the historical importance of the artifacts that came with the sale of the property, much of this legacy could easily have been scattered or even destroyed. Instead, we are enriched by being able to glimpse into the past — and to understand better the fascinating musical world of those days.