Paul Goffin

31 January 1885 Tamines – 17 January 1947 Tamines

Goffin graduated from a commercial college in Antwerp, and worked for a manufacturer of explosives, and as an industrial carbon broker. On 22 August 1914, Tamines, the village where he always lived, was victim of one of the bloodiest massacers that the German army carried out in World War I; among the 383 civilians shot on the main square were Goffin's father and one of his brothers.

Paul Goffin began studying voice only at about 30 years old, and started his career at La Monnaie in 1918, using a pseudonym. From 1919, he was in Paris, first at the Opéra until 1923, then at the Opéra-Comique from fall 1923 to 1925.

Opéra

1919
Faust on 29 September with Mme Bugg, Journet, Couzinou
Roméo et Juliette
1920
Goyescas on 7 March with Lucy Isnardon, Mme Courso or Mme Lapeyrette, Cerdan, Gabriel Grovlez
Pagliacci
1921
Ascanio on 9 November with Mme Demougeot, Mme Monsy, Mme Charny, Mme Kerval, Journet, Narçon, Cerdan, Couzinou, Mahieux, Dubois, Soria, Reynaldo Hahn (total 7, last on 19 December with Teissié for Cerdan)
Aida, Rigoletto
1922 Henry VIII (act 4, scene 2) on 28 June with Mme Demougeot, Mme Royer, Mme Haramboure, Rouard, Henri Büsser
Die Walküre, Lohengrin, Hérodiade
1923 Khovanshchina on 13 April with Mme Charny, Mme Laval, Mme Cros, Journet, Duclos, Huberty, Dalerant, Fabert, Bruyas, Mahieux, Combes, Dubois, Podesta, Serge Koussevitzki

Opéra-Comique

Tosca on 8 October 1923 with Mme Visconti, Albers, Catherine
Julien, Cavalleria rusticana, Werther and Carmen

As a guest, he appeared for instance in Lille, Vichy and Biarritz, and above all in Monte Carlo, where he sang Gounod's Faust, Nicias, Julien in Louise, and participated in three world premieres: Les demoiselles de St-Cyr by Auguste Chapuis (19 April 1921), Les noces tragiques by Alexis Catargi (March 1922) and Amadis by Massenet (1 April 1922 – no mistake, a posthumous world premiere).

He gave up his career when his wife fell seriously ill in 1925; she died the same year, and he never came back as a singer, but returned to his old job, and engaged in local politics. In 1947, he was to become mayor of Tamines, but died all of a sudden before taking office.

Reference 1 and picture source, reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 3

Discography

Pathé, Paris, 1921
3200 Roméo et Juliette (Gounod): Ah lève-toi, soleil	0310
3201 Roméo et Juliette (Gounod): Salut, tombeau		0310
3202 Faust (Gounod): Salut, demeure chaste et pure	0309, Disque Henry H8
3203 Rigoletto (Verdi): Comme la plume au vent		0326
3204 Aida (Verdi): Ô céleste Aida			0309

Pathé, Paris, 1921 or 1922
3512 Rigoletto (Verdi): Qu'une belle			0326
3515 Hérodiade (Massenet): Ne pouvant réprimer		0325
3517 Pagliacci (Leoncavallo): Pauvre Paillasse		0325