Maurice Oger

Although Maurice Oger studied voice with René Lambert in Paris and made his debut as early as 1913 as Nicias in Monte Carlo, he was "originally" a successful painter, specializing in animal portraits. Since he was just 21 or 22 at the time of his debut, that "originally" would have had to be a very brief period, so I suppose that for a few years, he must have been a painter and a tenor at the same time, particularly since there are few mentions of his singing activities for several years: the world premiere of Raoul Gunsbourg's Venise on 8 March 1913, again in Monte Carlo; guest appearances at Covent Garden in 1919; performances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as well as in Cairo in Monte Carlo in 1920.

On 25 May 1922, he made his Opéra-Comique debut as Turiddu, and he stayed at the theater until 1934, singing, among other roles, Canio, Don José, Julien, Cavaradossi, Hoffmann, Araquil (La Navarraise) and Tristan. He must certainly have retired when leaving the Opéra-Comique; his electrical recordings prove that his voice was a wreck at that time. After his career, he was a singing teacher in Paris.

Reference 1: www.artlyriquefr.fr (defunct); reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens

I wish to thank Anton Bieber for the recordings and label scans.