André Balbon

André Balbon was a French bass opera singer, born in Paris, on 4 June 1902 and dead in Alicante (Spain), 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, before working in the French provinces for several years.
Balbon made his debut at the Paris Opéra-Comique 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" (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.
For two seasons, from 1953 to 1955, Balbon sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, appearing as Calchas ("La Belle Hélène"), 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 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 at the Théâtre Marigny in 1952. He sang Robinet in the premiere of the comédie lyrique "Colombe" by Jean-Michel Damase and Jean Anouilh on 5 May 1961.
Recordings.
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", « 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.