Marie Sass
also Marie Sasse, Marie Constance Sasse, Marie Sax, Marie Saxe
Birthplace: Oudenaarde, Belgium
A Belgian soprano at the centre of the Paris Opéra through the 1860s. She studied with Gevaert at Ghent and Lamperti in Milan, and made her debut at Venice as Gilda in 1852. Found singing in Paris cafés, she joined Carvalho's Théâtre Lyrique in 1859 and the Opéra in 1860. She created Elisabeth in the Paris Tannhäuser, Sélika in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine and Élisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos. Adolphe Sax sued her twice over her stage name, which fell back from Sax to Saxe to Sasse. She married Armand Castelmary in 1864, retired in 1877, and died in poverty.
Creations
- Élisabeth de Valois — Don Carlos (Paris, 1867)
- Élisabeth — Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg (Paris, 1861)
Written from
- Wikipedia (2026) Marie Sasse. (Accessed: August 2026).
- Crichton, R. and Forbes, E. (1992) 'Sasse [Sax, Saxe, Sass], Marie (Constance)', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 4, p. 188.