Madame Gonthier

Rose Françoise Carpentier called Madame Gonthier (4 March 1747 – 7 December 1829), was a French actress and lyrical artist.

[2] She played in the provinces and in Brussels from 1771 to 1777,[3] where she was a member of theatre La Monnaie's company, which was sponsored by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Austrian Netherlands[4] In 1778 she made her debut in Paris, at the Comédie-Italienne (into which the Opéra-Comique had been merged) being engaged for the roles of duègnes (duennas) : on 18, 19 and 21 Mars she performed the role of Simone in Le sorcier by Philidor, then the mother Bobi, in Rose et Colas by Monsigny, and finally Alix, in the premiere of Les trois fermiers by Dezède.

[5][6] Thanks to her success, on 2 May of the same year, with an act signed by the Duke of Richelieu and the Duke of Duras on behalf of the Maison du Roi, she was officially received "into the Comédie Italienne to play duenna roles with the promise to be received with a quarter share at Easter 1779, whereupon she is pledged to faithfully fill all such roles and those for which the Comédie will deem her necessary".

[8]She later left the Opéra-Comique (as the Comedie Italienne had been renamed) following a dispute with the management and in 1793 she signed a contract with the théâtre de la République but Madame Gonthier was not there "in her sphere".

[1] She married Charles-Adrien Gontier, an actor in Brussels[3] then in Versailles,[11][12][6] and in second marriage François Allaire (†1828[13]), coryphée of the Opéra-Comique, in 1798.