Antoine Brancato

Charpini & Brancato, i.e. Jean Charpini (1901–1987) and Antoine Brancato (1900–1991) were pioneers of French gay culture: stars of the cabarets of Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, who gained prominence and fervid followers far beyond the gay community. Charpini a male mezzosoprano, Brancato a high baritone (both of course no operatic voices!), they did hilarious things not only with their own music (Brancato being the composer of the two), but also in parodies of French operetta – and even opera. (On all pictures, Brancato is the one on the left, and Charpini is on the right side.)

We hear them in one operetta excerpt in the (baryton-martin) key where Brancato is at home, and four opera excerpts, where Brancato takes the (transposed) tenor part, and Charpini excels in the female roles: starting with "my buddy" (as Charpini announces it) Massenet...