Description

JEAN TALEYRAC (1900 – 1971)

 

 

 

 

Jean Taleyrac was a distinguished French tenor active from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. He was admired for his lyrical, elegant singing style and his refined interpretations of the principal French and Italian repertoire. His career, which began just before World War II, was centered primarily around the Opéra municipal de Marseille, the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and several leading provincial theatres, especially the Grand Théâtre de Tours and the Théâtre Municipal of Le Mans.

Taleyrac made his operatic debut on 21 December 1938 at the Opéra municipal de Marseille, singing Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. The following year, on 2 December 1939, he appeared again in Marseille as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, displaying his skill in the light, florid bel canto repertoire.

After the wartime interruption, he joined the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where he was heard on 24 December 1944 as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen, a role he also performed the same season (1944–1945) at the Théâtre Municipal du Mans, alongside appearances there as Wilhelm Meister in Thomas’s Mignon. These performances confirmed his growing reputation as a sensitive and expressive lyric-dramatic tenor.

From 1945 onward, Taleyrac was a leading tenor at the Grand Théâtre de Tours, where he became one of the pillars of the postwar opera seasons. His repertoire there included Werther in Massenet’s Werther (21 November 1945 and again on 25 October 1950), Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca (12 December 1945), and Jean in Massenet’s Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (6 February 1946).

On 13 February 1947, he appeared as Faust in Gounod’s Faust, a part he would reprise on 1 November 1949, testifying to the central place this role held in his career. He also took on the heroic role of Samson in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila on 7 December 1949, and in his final documented appearances, he sang Hoffmann in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann on 24 January 1951.

A versatile artist, Taleyrac was also an accomplished oboist and conductor, as reported in regional press accounts, where he was praised for his musical leadership and refinement. Married to a soprano of the Opéra-Comique, the couple often appeared together in concert, accompanied by the pianist Janine Mizzi, first prize of the Conservatories of Rome and Paris.

Jean Taleyrac’s career stands as a representative example of the refined French provincial operatic tradition. His interpretations of Werther, Faust, and Don José in particular reveal a singer of sincere expressivity, clear diction, and cultured artistry—qualities that earned him lasting respect in the French lyric theatre of the mid-20th century.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Après un rève (Fauré)

Cid (Massenet): O Souverain, O Juge, O Pere!

Damnation de Faust (Berlioz): Merci doux crepuscule

Don Giovanni (Mozart): Il mio tesoro

Faust (Gounod): Cavatine

Lohengrin (Wagner): Récit du Graal

Pêcheurs de perles (Bizet): Duo (w. unknown baritone)

Pensée d’automne (Massenet)

Phydilé (Duparc)

Roi d’Ys (Lalo): Aubade

Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns): Air de la meule

Si mes vers avaient des ailes (Hahn)

Solomon (Handel)