Falcon Marie-Cornélie, *28 January 1814 Paris, †25 February 1897 Paris, French dramatic soprano. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire and in 1832 made her debut at the Paris Opéra as Alice in G. Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable, achieving great success. However, after five years of a brilliant career, she lost her voice and withdrew from the stage. Her contemporaries particularly admired her in the roles of Rachel in Halévy’s La Juive and Valentine in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots. The original and extremely rare timbre of her voice gave rise to the vocal classification known as the ‘Falcon soprano.’
