André Balbon was a French bass opera singer, born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, on 4 June 1902 and died in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

(

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

), on 30 March 1984. He was principally active in France in character roles.

Life and career

In 1924 he appeared in ''Les Burgraves'' by Léo Sachs at the

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

, before working in the French provinces for several years. Balbon made his debut at the Paris

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

on 1 November 1928 as un Officier in ''Lorenzaccio'' by Moret. From then until the 1940s he was a regular member of the Opéra-Comique company with an extensive repertoire. He sang in the Paris premieres of ''Bourgeois de Falaise'' by Thiriet (Sottencourt), ''Comme ils s'aiment'' by Lavagne (Lustrac), ''Esther de Carpentras'' by Milhaud (Cacan), ''Fou de la Dame'' by Delannoy (Cavalier noir), ''Frasquita'' by Lehar (Aristide), ''Georges Dandin'' by d’Ollone (Sottenville), ''Nuit Embaumée'' by Hirschmann (Ali), ''Mon Oncle Benjamin'' by Bousquet (Pontcassé), ''Rayon de Soieries'' by Rosenthal (Monsieur Loyal), ''Riquet à la Houppe'' by Hue (Marquis de Carabas), ''le Roi d'Yvetot'' by Ibert (Renaud), ''le Testament de Tante Caroline'' by Roussel (Maître Corbeau), ''Tout Ank Amon'' by Pérez (Hapousend), ''Vieux Garçons'' by Urgel (von Petersboom), and ''Zadig'' by Duperrier (Arimage). He also appeared in ''Angélique'' (le Nègre), ''le Barbier de Séville'' (Basilio), ''la Bohème'' (Colline) ''le Bon roi Dagobert'' (Éloi), '' les Brigands'' (Chef des Carabiniers), ''Carmen'' (Zuniga), ''les Contes d’Hoffmann'' (Lindorf), ''l'Étoile'' (Sirocco), ''Gargantua'' (three roles), ''

Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...

'' (title role), ''la Habanéra'' (le Vieux), ''Louise'' (Bricoleur, Chiffonnier), ''Madame Butterfly'' (Sharpless), ''Manon'' (le Comte), ''Mariage Secret'' (Comte Robinson), ''le Médecin malgré lui'' (Sganarelle), ''Mignon'' (Lothario), '' Philémon et Baucis'' (Vulcain), ''le Roi malgré lui'' (Villequier), ''la Rôtisserie de la Reine Pédauque'' (d'Astarac), '' le Roi d'Ys'' (le Roi), ''Tosca'' (Angelotti), ''la Traviata'' (Docteur), and ''Werther'' (Bruhlmann). In 1933 Balbon created the title role in Marc Berthomieu's opérette ''Robert Macaire'', at the Grand Théâtre in

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

. For two seasons, from 1953 to 1955, Balbon sang at the

Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

, Brussels, appearing as Calchas (''

La Belle Hélène ''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy's elopement with Paris (mythology ...

''), Pomarel (''La Chaste Suzanne'' by Jean Gilbert), Gaspard (''Les Cloches de Corneville'') and the Baron de Gondremark (''La Vie parisienne''). In 1934 he appeared as Popoff in the Meilhac version of ''Die lustige Witwe'' “La Veuve Joyeuse” at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris and returned to the role in Geneva in February 1954 in a

Grand Théâtre de Genève Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland. As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officia ...

production starring Jacques Jansen as Danilo. Balbon participated in ''Feu d'artifice'' by Erik Charell and Jurg Amstein with music by Paul Burkhard starring

Suzy Delair Suzy Delair (born Suzette Pierrette Delaire; December 31, 1917 – March 15, 2020) was a French actress, dancer, singer, comedian and star of vaudeville. Early years Growing up in Montmartre, Delair was the daughter of a father who upholstered ...

at the

Théâtre Marigny The Théâtre Marigny () is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnie ...

in 1952. He sang Robinet in the premiere of the comédie lyrique ''Colombe'' by

Jean-Michel Damase Jean-Michel Damase (; 27 January 1928 – 21 April 2013)see Bruneau-Boulmier, Rodolphe was a French pianist, conductor and composer of classical music. Career Damase was born in Bordeaux, the son of harpist Micheline Kahn. He was studying pian ...

and

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

on 5 May 1961.INA: Festival de Bordeaux : Colombe, comédie lyrique en quatre actes
/ref>

Recordings

* ''L’Etoile'' (Sirocco) conducted by

Roger Désormière Roger Désormière () (13 September 1898 – 25 October 1963) was a French conducting, conductor. He was an enthusiastic champion of contemporary composers, but also conducted performances of early eighteenth century French music. Life and career ...

, 1941 * ''Là-Haut'' (Saint Pierre) conducted by Jacques-Henri Rys (1953) * ''Madame Favart'' (Major Cortignac) conducted by Marcel Cariven (1960, French Radio) * ''Hans le Joueur de flûte'' (Pippermann) conducted by Jules Gressier (1957, French Radio) * ''Gilette de Narbonne'' (Le Roi René) conducted by Pierre Tellier (1957, French Radio) * ''Le voyage en Chine'' (Pompéry) conducted by Marcel Cariven (1958, French Radio) * ''

Geneviève de Brabant ''Geneviève de Brabant'' () is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant. For the 1867 version two additional characters, men-at-ar ...

'' (Vanderprout) conducted by Marcel Cariven (1956, French Radio) His recordings on 78s of songs and individual excerpts from the stage include « C’est toute une histoire » from ''Le bon Roi Dagobert'', the Song of the Flea from ''

La Damnation de Faust ''La Damnation de Faust'' (English: ''The Damnation of Faust''), Op. 24 is a French musical composition for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a ' ...

'', « Tristes amours » and « Je la vois » from ''Galathée'', « Vallons de l’Helvétie » from ''Le Chalet'', the stances of Nilakhanta from ''Lakmé'', Basilio's calumny aria from ''Le Barbier de Séville'', Ralph΄s « Quand la flamme de l’amour » from ''La jolie fille de Perth'', « Je comprends que la belle » from ''Le Caïd'', and airs from operas by Bazin, Flotow, Gounod, Lecocq, Massenet, Meyerbeer and Varnay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbon, Andre 1902 births 1984 deaths Singers from Paris 20th-century French male opera singers