Among Jane Bathori's collection of scores is a copy of Ravel's Shéhérazade, inscribed by the composer: ‘To the admirable musician Jane Bathori, in recognition of the tour de force of 12 November 1904’. When Jane Hatto of the Opéra fell ill that day, hours before a performance of the first song of the triptych, ‘Asie’, Bathori stepped in. Maurice Delage, who encountered her for the first time in the dressing room, recalled Bathori dressing without a glance at the mirror she’d repurposed as a music stand, ‘vocalising incomprehensible snatches, interspersed with “Ça va, ça va”. Ravel, at the piano, had no time to play a note before they were before the audience, who, delighted by the performance, could not applaud enough.’

In an autobiographical note written in the late 1940s, Bathori framed this particular tale of Shéhérazade as marking her ascendance to the role of Ravel's favourite interpreter (‘from that point, he arranged that I should give all the premières of his songs’), and also, by extension, as the most influential mélodie performer of her generation. But this classic understudy story, however remarkable, was arguably more useful in constructing the narrative of Bathori's career than actually launching it. Émile Vuillermoz, who had organised that concert, was not taking a risk on an unknown performer, for Bathori had already established a reputation as an extraordinary sight-reader and a vigorous champion of contemporary song. She was the obvious choice as a last-minute replacement for Hatto.

The preceding chapters have examined the mélodie of the early twentieth century through the lens of musical criticism, and the pedagogy of the Conservatoire under Fauré's leadership. We now turn our attention to the concert platform, to song as a fully public art, and to the performers who shaped, traversed, and mapped this new musical landscape. While Bathori’s remarkable and well-documented career is our guiding thread, this chapter also elevates the toil and artistry of other women, several of whom have now faded from the historical record.