Léon Melchissédec

Léon Melchissédec (born Clermont Ferrand, 7 May 1843, died Neuilly-sur-Seine 23 March 1925) was a French baritone who enjoyed a long career in the French capital across a broad range of operatic genres, and later made some recordings and also taught at the Paris Conservatoire.

Life and career He played second violin in the Théâtre de Saint-Étienne before coming to Paris to study. After classes with Alkan, Puget, Mocker and Levasseur at the Paris Conservatoire, he made his debut at the Paris Opéra-Comique on 16 July 1866 in Cohen's José Maria.

He moved next to the Théâtre-Lyrique, singing in Dimitri, Le capitaine Fracasse

Melchissédec left the Opéra in 1891 but rejoined from 1905–12, having become a professor of déclamation lyrique at the Paris Conservatoire in 1894. In 1913, he published a treatise on singing entitled ‘Pour Chanter : ce qu’il faut savoir’. a compilation of 18 surviving records was reissued on CD by Marston Records. According to Michael Scott, due to his age at the time of recording in the early 1900s these may only give a partial impression of his singing. However, an unusually well-recorded 1899 Berliner disc of the "Air du tambour-major" from Ambroise Thomas's Le caïd, which can also be heard at the Bibliothèque nationale de France's website, shows that even in his mid-fifties he still had a ringing high baritone, a brilliant trill, and extremely precise passage-work that justifies his reputation.

Grove commends his “fine voice and magnificent technique”.