Jean-François Delmas

Jean-François Delmas (14 April 1861 – 29 September 1933), or Francisque Delmas was a French bass-baritone who created roles in many French operas including Athanaël in Thaïs.

Delmas was born in Lyon and studied at the Paris Conservatoire winning first prizes for operatic singing. He remained with that company until 1927 and rarely sang outside France. He was known for the power and evenness of his voice with a sonorous quality in the bass range and an extended upper register, which allowed him to sing classic baritone roles such as Iago. Outside France he appeared at the Mariinsky in St Petersburg, the San Carlo in Lisbon, and the Monte Carlo Opera House in Monaco. His recordings for G&T, Pathé, Zonophone, Fonotipia, Odéon, and Opéra-Saphir are highly sought after by collectors.

He also created roles in Le Mage (Amrou), Messidor (Mathias), L'etranger (l'Etranger), Ariane (Périthoüs), Monna Vanna (Marco Colonna), Roma (Fabius), and sang in the Paris premiere of Fervaal (Arfagard).

Delmas died in Saint-Alban-de-Montbel (near Chambéry) at the age of 72, and is buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent de Montmartre with his wife, the soprano Blanche d'Ervilly (1853–1920).

Repertoire RepertoireRole OperaComposer Méphistophélès La damnation de Faust BerliozMathias Messidor BruneauGervais L'Ouragan BruneauStratoklès Briséïs ChabrierArfagard Fervaal d'IndyL'Étranger L'Étranger d'IndyHermit La légende de Saint-Christophe d'IndyMalek Antar DupontOedipus Œdipe EnescuAkiba Le fils de l'étoile ErlangerMarco Colonna Monna Vanna FévrierHigh Priest Alceste GluckHidraot Armide GluckMéphistophélès Faust GounodFrère LaurentCapulet Roméo et Juliette GounodHenri Le Roi de Paris HüeMiguel La Catalane Le BorneFonfrède Les Girondins Le BorneTonio Pagliacci LeoncavalloPhur Astarté LerouxDon Diego Le Cid MassenetAthanaël Thaïs MassenetEmperor Phorcas Esclarmonde MassenetAmrou Le Mage MassenetPérithoüs Ariane MassenetFabius Maximus Roma MassenetJacob Joseph MéhulCount of Saint-Bris Les Huguenots MeyerbeerDon GiovanniLeporello Don Giovanni MozartCount of Rysoor Patrie! PaladilheCharlemagne La fille de Roland RabaudThésée Hippolyte et Aricie RameauHagen Sigurd ReyerNar-Havas Salammbô ReyerGessler Guillaume Tell RossiniHigh Priest Samson et Dalila Saint-SaënsHenry VIII Henry VIII Saint-SaënsScaurus Les barbares Saint-SaënsAuguste La gloire de Corneille Saint-SaënsMonsoreau La dame de Monsoreau SalvayrePierre La forêt SavardIl Re Aida VerdiJago Otello VerdiLandgraf Hermann Tannhäuser WagnerHeinrich der Vogler Lohengrin WagnerKurwenal Tristan und Isolde WagnerHans Sachs Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg WagnerWotan Das Rheingold WagnerWotan Die Walküre WagnerWotan Siegfried WagnerHagen Götterdämmerung WagnerGurnemanz Parsifal WagnerKaspar Der Freischütz Weber

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