Henry Chardy
As with so many French tenors, not much is known about Chardy. He made his debut at the Opéra-Comique on January 25th, 1906, as the First Prisoner in Fidelio, and seems to have sung mostly such tiny parts there, although he was also Almaviva. He seems to have stayed at the Opéra-Comique for a long time; at least, still in the mid-1930s, when singing at minor theaters, he was always quoted as "de l'Opéra-Comique"; although he seems to have been a member of the Bordeaux theater in 1918, of the Marseille opera in 1920, and the Nice opera in 1926. At those minor theaters – Théâtre Montparnasse or Théâtre des Gobelins in Paris, further in Caen, Brest, Biarritz or La Rochelle – he sang main parts: Duca, Vincent (in Mireille), José, Canio...
Many thanks to Anton Bieber for the recordings and label scans. I want to thank Georges Cardol for the picture. |
