Jane Mérey (Soprano) (Ghent, Belgium 12. 10 1872 – ?)

In 1892 she studied singing under Rosine Laborde in Paris. She made her debut in 1893 at the Opéra Royal de Versailles  in ‘’Lakme’’. Since 1906 she taught singing in Paris. Still in 1937 she lived in Bordeaux.

Chronology of some appearances

1893 Opéra Royal de Versailles Lakme (Lakme)

1894 Opéra de Monte-Carlo Aréthuse

1894 Brussels Théâtre de la Monnaie Mireille (Mireille)

1895 Brussels Théâtre de la Monnaie Evangeline (Evangeline)

1896 Brussels Théâtre de la Monnaie

1897 Paris Opéra Comique

1898 Opéra National de Bordeaux
1898 Opéra National de Bordeaux

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Pathé cylinders & discs, Paris 1903?
Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini): Air de Rosine 1965
Thaïs (Massenet): Dis-moi que je suis belle 1967
Mireille (Gounod): Ariette - Valse 1975
Mignon (Thomas): Air de Titania 1977
Zauberflöte (Mozart): Air de Pamina 1983
Valse rose (Margis) (pf: Margis) 1986
Pêcheurs de perles (Bizet): Cavatine de Léïla 1993
Zauberflöte (Mozart): Mon coeur t'attend with Albert Piccaluga 2030
Carmen (Bizet): Air de Micaëla 2032
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart): Mon coeur soupire 2047
Traviata (Verdi): Brindisi 2064

Pathé cylinders & discs, Paris 1905?
Faust (Gounod): Air des bijoux 1839

Franz Birrenkoven (Tenor) (? 1873 - Hamburg, Germany 28. 06. 1961)

He made debut in 1901 at the Stadttheater in Danzig.

Brothers

Tenor Willi Birrenkoven (1865 - 1955) 

Tenor Fritz Birrenkoven (1876 - 1939)

Chronology of some appearances

1901 Danzig Stadttheater

1902-1904 Frankfurt a.M.Opernhaus

1904-1907 Augsburg Stadttheater

1906 Hamburg Oper

1907-1912 Aachen Stadttheater
1912-1913 Bochum Stadttheater

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

G&T, Köln 1905-08?
Postillon de Longjumeau (Adam): Postillonlied  3-42280 3219L
Undine (Lortzing): Vater, Mutter (Lied des Veit) 3-42361 3771h

G&T, Berlin 1905-09
Zar und Zimmermann (Lortzing): Lebe wohl, du mein flandrisch Mädchen 3-42360 3767h

G&T, Berlin 1906-05
Trovatore (Verdi): Stretta V.*22392  1363r
Undine (Lortzing): Vater, Mutter V.* 22393 1364r
Trovatore (Verdi): Dass nur für mich dein Herz erbebt X-22391 1362r

Zonophone, Berlin 1906-05
Postillon de Longjumeau (Adam): Postillonlied X-22390

Zonophone, Berlin 1906-08
Mignon (Thomas): Romanze 22287
Martha (Flotow): Ach so fromm 22288

Zonophone, Berlin 1907-06?
Mignon (Thomas): Leb' wohl, Mignon X-22611
Martha (Flotow): Ach so fromm X-22612
Rigoletto (Verdi): O wie so trügerisch X-22586
Rigoletto (Verdi): Freundlich blick' ich X-22585

Bernardo Bernardi (Laib Berek) (Tenor) (Warsaw, Poland August 3, 1882 - Düsseldorf, Germany March 11, 1923)

His real name was Laib Berek. He spent his youth in Italy, then went to Switzerland, where he was active as a carpet dealer. In 1905 became a pupil of Hans Rogorsch in Zurich. In 1906 he made his debut at the Stadttheater in  Zürich and till 1913 remained a member of this opera house. Here he sang a huge number of opera parts and created among other things for Zurich and Switzerland the role of Narraboth in ‘’Salome’’ (1907) and the Bacchus in ‘’Ariadne auf Naxos’’ by R. Strauss. Here he appeared also in the premieres of the operas ‘’Eugene Onegin’’ (1908-1909 season), ‘’Madama Butterfly’’ (1909-1910 season) and ‘’Don Carlo’’ (1911). In  the 1913-1915 seasons he was engaged by the Opernhaus in Dusseldorf. Since 1915 he was to be heard in Zürich, Basel, Bern und Luzern. His best performances were considered to be in the Italian repertoire. Probably he died suddenly. His recordings are extremely rare. 

Opera Premieres

1907 Zürich Stadttheater Salome (Narraboth)

1907 Zürich Stadttheater Ariadne auf Naxos (Bacchus)

1908-1909 Zürich Stadttheater Eugene Onegin (Lensky)

1909-1910 Zürich Stadttheater Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)

1911 Zürich Stadttheater Don Carlo (Don Carlo)

Chronology of some appearances

1906-1913 Zürich Stadttheater  

1913-1915 Dusseldorf Opernhaus 

RECORDING FOR SALE

Zonophone, Zürich 1904

Das Edelwiess (Penschel) X-82217

Valentín Šindler (Tenor) (Cholín, Czech Republic January 30, 1885 - Prague, Czech Republic January 21, 1957)

Originally he studied theology in Olomouc, where he also received his musical education. He studied singing in Vienna with Robinson and in Berlin with Emerich. He made his debut in 1909 at the National Theater in Prague as Hoffmann in ‘’Les contes d'Hoffmann’’ by J. Offenbach. He was a favorite tenor of the composer Leoš Janáček. In Brno he was active as vocal pedagogue. From 1952-1956 he worked at the Music Academy in Prague.

Opera premieres

23.11.1921 Brno Opera Zwei Witwen (Wanja Kudrjas)

11.11.1925 Šárka (Lumír)

18.12.1926 Die Sache Makropoulos ( Vitek)

12. 4. 1930 Aus einem Totenhaus (Chapkin)

Chronology of some appearances

1909-1912 Prague National Theater

1913-1914 Theater Winogradow

1914-1917 Zagreb Opera

1917-1932 Brno Opera

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Homokord, Prague 1920's
O sole mio (Di Capua) 2-1624 M. 19298
Paganini (Lehar): Libam, zeny, vastak rad 2-1624 M. 19323
Rose Marie (Friml): Indian love call 2-1646 M. 20413
Rose Marie (Friml): O rose Marie, o baje 2-1646 M. 204132

Camille Rouquetty (Tenor) (1910 - 1976)

He began his career in 1935 at the Grand Opéra in Paris, where he made his debut as messenger in ‘’Samson et Dalila’’ by Saint-Saëns. During the following years he sang a huge number of small parts in this opera house and only in 1938 started to appear as the first tenor. Since 1941 he was to be heard also at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where among other things he took part in the premiere of the opera ‘’Ginevra’’ of M. Delannoy (1942). Till 1961 he appeared at the Grand Opéra.

Chronology of some appearances

1935-1961 Paris Grand Opéra

1941 Paris Opéra-Comique

RECORDING FOR SALE

HMV
Faust (Gounod): Salut demeure DA4902

Jean Nequeçaur (Tenor) (1906 – 1980)

Chronology of some appearances

1940 Paris Grand Opera Aida (Radames)
1940 Paris Grand Opera Rigoletto (Duke)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Pathé
L'Africaine (Meyerbeer): Pays merveilleux X691

Parlophon
Sigurd (Reyer): Esprits gardiens 29556
Faust (Gounod): Salut demeure chaste et pure B 138.426-3

Faust (Gounod): Oh ! nature A 138.425

Henri La Bonte (Tenor) (France ? - ?)

He was a concert singer.

Chronology of appearances

1909 USA Concert
1912 Amsterdam Concert
1916 USA Concert
1917 USA Concert
1929 USA Concert

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Pathé, London 1912?
For you alone (Geehl) 79979
Thou art so dear to me (Spencer) 79990

Enrico Cavallo (Tenor)

RECORDING FOR SALE

Artiphon

Rigoletto (Verdi): La donna e mobile 8201

Louis Orliac (Tenor)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Odeon, Paris 1933
Rigoletto (Verdi): Comme la plume au vent 249002 KI 5826-1 
Guillaume Tell (Rossini): Asile héréditaire 249003 KI 5827-1
Maître Pathelin (Bazin): Je pense à  vous quand je 'éveille 249003 KI 5828-1
La Juive (Halevy): Dieu que ma voix tremblante 249002 KI 5829-1

Hendrik Appels (Tenor) (Amsterdam, Netherlands 1886 – Berlin, Germany 1947)

Anton Hendrik Appels. He received his education in Berlin. After his retirement he lived in Berlinand worked there as pedagogue. His repertoire included Max in ‘’Freischütz’’, Lohengrin,Siegmund, Siegfried and  Loge in ‘’Nibelungenring’’, Parsifal, Radames in ‘’Aida’’, Riccardo in ‘’Ballo in maschera’’ and Luigi in ‘’Il Tabarro’’.

Chronology of appearances

1920-1921 Freiburg im Breisgau Stadttheater

1920 Basel Stadttheater

1921-1922 Elberfeld Theater

1922-1923 Chemnitz Stadttheater

1923-1925 Berlin Volksoper

1923-1928  Vienna Staatsoper

1924 Cologne Theater

1925-1938 München Staatsoper

1928-1929 Graz Theater

1930-1934 Kiel Theater

1934-1936 Dortmund Theater

1938-1940 Neustrelitz Theater

1939 Hague Theater

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Tri-Ergon
Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner): Am stillen Herd TE1173 2404 
Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner): Preislied TE1173 2407  
Walküre (Wagner): Ein Schwert verhiess mir TE1190 3108 
Rienzi (Wagner): Gebet TE1190 3111 
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo): Scherzet immer TE1197 3443m1 
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo): Jetzt spielen TE1197 3444m1 
Lohengrin (Wagner): Gralserzählung TE 1172 2405
Lohengrin (Wagner): Lohengrins Abschied TE 1172 2406