Dumenil

Dumenil , sometimes written Du Mesny or du Mesnil (?; 1715, Paris ?), was a cook in the service of the intendant Foucault before he made his debut as a tenor in Lully’s Isis in 1677. He was not held in very high esteem by his colleagues because he was given to drinking too heavily and to borrowing from the women of the company to pay his debts. He was billed frequently at the Palais-Royal despite protests against his conduct, and he was cast as Alphée in the Paris premiere of Lully’s Proserpine…