Born Jean Cèbe, he was primarily associated with two major French theaters: the Marseille opera, and the Paris
Opéra-Comique.
In Marseille, he made his debut in 1911; role and month are not documented, but he definitely sang Roméo there in October,
so perhaps that was the debut. In 1912 and 1913, again at the Marseille opera, he sang in the world premieres of two operas by
Durand-Boch: Blancardin in Charlemagne, and Ivan in Annette. In that period, he was also Orlando in Proserpine by Saint-Saëns
in Marseille.
In 1917, he made his Opéra-Comique debut as Werther; he was to remain a pillar of that house for many years, singing Don
José, Gérald, Pinkerton, Jean (Le jongleur de Notre-Dame), des Grieux (Manon), Canio, Cavaradossi, Mylio (Le roi
d'Ys), the title role in Julien, Rodolfo, Lorenzo (Béatrice et Bénédict), Jean Gaussin (Sapho), and creating
Jacques Ménétrier in La rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque (by Charles Levadé).
But despite his close association with the Opéra-Comique, he always stayed at the Marseille opera theater, as well,
and also sang in Nice, Monte Carlo, Rennes and so on.
From 1945 to 1949, he was even the director of the Grand Théâtre de Marseille, which he managed to reopen after WWII.
After that, he installed himself at the Château de Vaudricourt near Castres (east of Toulouse); his date of death is not
known. His daughter Gina Marny was a soprano, and became the wife of conductor Georges Prêtre.
Reference 1: Youtube channel of "caruso1873"; reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens; reference 3; picture
source
