Vicente Simón learned the trade of a conservator from his father, while studying both painting and music at the Academy of Fine Arts,
and taking voice lessons from the baritone Eulogio Villabella, who determined that his voice was a tenor and not, as originally thought, a
baritone. Already while still studying, Simón gave concerts in Zaragoza.
Still very young (I think in 1918), he moved to Barcelona so as to conclude his vocal studies there, among others with Luis Canalda and Concepción Callao. At the same time, he worked as a conservator, first for a well-known glass
painting workshop, then for the City Museum, and finally – after being drafted, sent to the war in Morocco, and wounded – he
opened his own workshop in 1921. On weekends, he sang at cinemas throughout Barcelona as "Victor Smith".
In 1929, the Teatro del Bosque had to replace a sick tenor who was to sing Almaviva – they found Simón, who made thus his
unexpected stage debut. He was successful, and the performance's Don Basilio, Gabriel Olaizola, recommended him to Amadeo Vives, who was
preparing the world premiere of his zarzuela Noche de verbena in Madrid. Vives invited Simón to audition, and as a result,
the budding tenor sang that world premiere at the Teatro Eslava on 21 December 1929. He was again so successful that he had his next world
premiere on 5 April 1930 at the Teatro de la Zarzuela: El ruiseñor de la huerta by Leopoldo Magentí.
Zarzuela would be his principal fare throughout his career, although he returned to singing Almaviva time and again. One of his most famous
roles was the painter-monk Rafael in Serrano's La Dolorosa: Simón was of course able to really work on a painting of the Holy
Virgin on stage! He sang the role more than 1400 times.
In fact, also off-stage, he never stopped painting as he always kept his job as a conservator; a distinguished conservator, he even worked
on the ceiling of the Gothic assembly room Saló de Cent in Barcelona's city hall.
Simón was versatile also on stage: he sang not only tenor, but at the same time also baritone roles (particularly successful in Luna's
Molinos de viento).
As a tenor, his most successful zarzuelas besides La Dolorosa were Doña Francisquita by Vives, and Luisa Fernanda
by Moreno Torroba, to whose zarzuela troupe Simón belonged; on 31 March 1934, he premiered Moreno Torroba's La chulapona at the
Teatro Calderón in Madrid. Later on, he was part of the zarzuela company of Marcos Redondo. He toured all of Spain, and also appeared
in Buenos Aires.
During the Civil War, he lived in Barcelona, governed by the left-wing Republicans; for singers, that was no fun as they had to sing
incredibly many performances by government decree, for incredibly low fees.
Simón bid farewell to the stage at age 57, although he continued to make recordings for several more years. In his second vocation as
a conservator and painter, which he had never given up, he worked until his death; in his late years, he specialized in skilful copies of
famous paintings from the Prado museum.
Reference 1, reference 2, reference 3: Núria Gil Farré, El taller de vitralls modernista
Rigalt, Granell & Cia. (1890–1931), thesis, University of Barcelona, 2013
