the formerShe was born Anne Cameroy (1767 – c. 1862), and married Lays's friend, Auguste-Athanase Chéron. had begun her career in 1784 under the name Mademoiselle Dozon, and is thus unlikely to have attended the Conservatoire more than a decade later. Lays did play a part in promoting her early career: he had auditioned her when she was a young unknown in 1782 and had facilitated her studies, entrusting her to the best singing teachers available. Youri Carbonnier, Le personnel musical de l'Opéra de Paris sous le règne de Louis XVI, "Histoire, économie et société", 22 February 2003, p. 179 (accessible online at Persée). Quéruel's mistake is probably due to the contents of a letter Lays sent to Cherubini in July 1826 (which is quoted by Quéruel herself on page 156). Aiming to have his pension favourably recalculated, Lays claimed he had discovered two future leading Opéra sopranos, but, obviously, no more than one (if any) could possibly be credited to his teaching at the Conservatoire.
