His real name was Félix Taillardet, and he came from Béziers. He studied at the Bordeaux conservatory first and then, from 1912
it seems, at the Paris conservatory (with Gresse and Isnardon). The annual student concert of 1914 earned him bad reviews in
several newspapers; none other than Reynaldo Hahn wrote on Le Journal, 2 July 1914: "I have no animosity against Mr.
Talembert (Félix Taillardet), but I decidedly can't get used to his way of singing, which I regret for myself, because
Mr. Talembert, one senses, will not be discouraged – and I regret it for him, because he will know bitter
disappointments." It took Talembert long to complete his studies, but eventually, he graduated in 1919, with a Deuxième
prix du chant ("Mr. Talembert has no charme at all, but a very good voice", wrote Gaston de Pawlowski on Le Journal, 3
July 1919).
Cavaradossi in Bourges on 1 November 1919 may have been his debut; at least, it's his earliest performance that I was able to
trace.
1920:
Béziers, January: L'attaque du moulin; April, Werther
Montpellier, May: Rigoletto and Werther
Algiers, where he was a member of the troupe for that season: November: Thaïs; December: Turiddu and Don José
1921:
Algiers, January: Vincent, Wilhelm Meister and Don José; March: Araquil in La Navarraise
Béziers, April: La favorite; June: Faust
Marseille, Grand Casino, August: Lucia di Lammermoor; September: Werther, Cavalleria rusticana and La Navarraise
November, Aix-en-Provence: La favorite, Carmen
He also sang in Bordeaux and Toulouse during the first years of his career, but I didn't find any details.
1922:
Grenoble, March: Lakmé, Mignon
Nîmes, July (open air): excerpts from Mireille
For the season 1922/23, he was a member of the Casino Municipal de Nice; roles he sang there included Canio (his Nice debut),
des Grieux, Turiddu.
1923:
Bagnères-de-Bigorre, summer season at the Casino from July to September: Duca, Alfredo, Don José, Gérald,
Faust, Werther and Wilhelm Meister.
Béziers, August (open air): Guillaume Tell, where he sang Ruodi; November: Le chemineau.
Dijon, November: Faust
For the season 1923/24, he was a member of the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.
1924:
Avignon, February: Faust, a failure (the audience protested after "Salut, demeure").
Romans, April: Werther
Annonay, May: Hérodiade, Gismonda by Février
Clermont-Ferrand, December: Louise
1925:
Pau, January to April: Werther, Pagliacci, Tosca, Gismonda (a considerable personal success for Talembert), La Navarraise and
Pagliacci
Bayonne, November/December: Werther, Faust, Thaïs, Manon and Carmen (which latter earned him a rave review on the
Gazette de Biarritz-Bayonne et Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 25 November 1925; judging also from other reviews, Don José
would seem to have been his best role).
1925 to 1927, he was a member of the Liège opera theater, where he was particularly well-liked by the audience; he
sang there, for instance, Don José and appeared, in April 1927, in La veillée by Alfred Goffin.
From 1927 to 1930, he sang at La Monnaie in Brussels: Cavaradossi, Canio (16 performances, with John Charles Thomas as
Tonio!), Jean, Don José, Werther, Turiddu, and in Le pauvre mathelot by Darius Milhaud (7 performances).
1928:
Tourcoing, February: Pagliacci
1929:
Lille, January: Faust
Tourcoing, March: Mignon
Bordeaux, April: Tosca; in fall, he joined Bordeaux's Grand-Théâtre as a regular member, and sang in November
in Tosca, Werther and Carmen, in November in Tosca, Mignon, Carmen, Faust, Werther and Lakmé and in December in
Traviata, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci
Montpellier, October: Rigoletto
1930:
Pau, January: Carmen
Bordeaux, January: Cavalleria rusticana, Faust and Madama Butterfly; February: Bohème, Cavalleria rusticana,
Lakmé, Madama Butterfly, Mignon and Manon; March: Tosca, Faust, Cavalleria rusticana, Plus que reine (by
Marcel Bertrand), Traviata and Manon; April: Traviata
as Bonaparte in Plus que reine
Biarritz, September: Louise
Rouen, November: Tosca (harsh review on Rouen Gazette, 15 November 1930)
Tunis, December: Faust
1931:
Dijon, March: Dante by Jean Nouguès
Angers, March: another opera by Nouguès: Quo vadis
Le Mans, open air, July: Quo vadis again
Le Havre, October: Carmen; December: Carmen
Amiens, November: Lucia di Lammermoor
Liège, late December: Plus que reine.
For the season 1931/32, he was again in Bordeaux, albeit now as a regular guest.
1932:
Le Havre, January: La favorite
Lille, March: Dante
Le Havre, March: Louise
Bordeaux, March: Werther
In 1934 and 1935, he participated in several open-air operatic concerts at the Tuileries in Paris.
The last stage performance by Talembert that I could trace was Faust on 1 November 1935 in Bourges: to the day 16 years
after his probable debut at the same theater. No coincidence, I think. Then he must have returned to his native Béziers,
where he participated in a Christmas concert in 1940.
Talembert never recorded.
References:
- L'Ami du Peuple, 27 May 1934
- L'Avenir des Hautes-Pyrénées, 9 September & 11 November 1923
- Comoedia, 4 August 1923, 7 December 1924, 22 December 1925, 23 April 1927, 7 April, 20/27 October, 3 November & 8
December 1929, 2/9/16 February & 2/30 March 1930, 26 July, 26 October & 30 November 1931, 1 February, 20 March & 24
April 1932
- Le Courrier Républicain de l'Arrondissement de Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 15/22 July, 12/26 August &
9 September 1923
- La Dépêche du Berry, 3 November 1919 & 27 October 1935
- L'Écho d'Alger, 21 October & 17/25/30 December 1920, 18/27 January 1921
- L'Écho de Paris, 17 June 1934 & 23 June 1935
- L'Éclair, 11 January & 25/30 May 1920, 2 June 1921, 15/17 November 1922, 27 December 1940
- L'Éclaireur du Dimanche, 28 January 1923
- L'Égalité de Roubaix-Tourcoing, 12 February 1928
- La France de Bordeaux et du Sud-Ouest, 14 December 1929, 14 January & 5/28 March 1930
- La Gazette d'Annonay, 3 & 10 May 1924
- La Gazette de Biarritz-Bayonne et Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 3 April & 9/25 November 1925
- Le Grand Écho du Nord de la France, 5 March 1932
- L'Impartial Français, 28 April 1923
- L'Indépendant des Basses-Pyrénées, 6 January, 8 March & 5 April 1925, 11 May 1926, 1 January &
19 September 1930
- Le Journal, 21 April 1935
- Journal de Roubaix, 23 March 1929
- Lyrica, 1 October 1927, 1 January 1931 & 1 January 1932
- Le Mémorial d'Aix, 27 November 1921
- Le Ménestrel, 12 August 1927
- Midi Taurin, 30 July 1922
- The New York Herald. European edition/Paris, 2 July 1914
- Les Nouvelles, 24 November 1920 & 4/11 March 1921
- L'Ouest-Éclair, 10 March 1931
- Pau-Pyrénées, 7 March 1925
- Le Petit Dauphinois, 4 March 1922 & 8 April 1924
- La Petite Gironde, 12 December 1929, 15 March 1930 & 10 March 1932
- Le Petit Marseillais, 11/15 September 1921
- Le Petit Méridional, 25 October 1929
- Le Petit Provençal, 11 September 1921
- Le Progrès de la Côte-d'Or, 12 November 1923
- Le Progrès de la Somme, 12 November 1931
- Le Publicateur de Béziers, 23 April 1920 & 29 April 1921
- Le Rappel, 7 July 1914
- La Semaine Mondaine, 20 February 1924
- Les Spectacles, 25 January 1929
- Spectator, 4 & 10 August 1921
- Les Tablettes d'Avignon et de Provence, 8 March 1931
Picture source (Bonaparte): Comoedia, 2 March 1930
