Louis Richard (Baritone) (Belgium ? 1889 - ? 1977)

                                                                 Escamillo

His voice was discovered by Achille Tondeur. He studied with him and at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons under Édouard Martiny. He made his debut in 1918 at the Opera House in Mons. In the 1919-1921 seasons he appeared at the Opera House of Lüttich, then, from 1921 to 1923, performed at the Opera House in Strasbourg, where he sang parts of Escamillo in ‘’Carmen’’, Mephisto and the Valentin in ‘’Faust’’, Nilakantha in ‘’Lakmé’’ and Tonio in ‘’Pagliacci’’. In 1923 he joined to the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and till 1951 belonged to the leading members of this most significant Belgian opera house. He also made guest appearances in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, Vichy, Ghent, Hague and in the 1931-1932 season at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. In the 1934-1935 season he appeared at the Paris Grand Opéra as Rigoletto, Wolfram in ‘’Tannhäuser’’, Hérode in ‘’Hérodiade’’, Amonasro in ‘’Aida’’ and the Telramund in ‘’Lohengrin’’. In Brussels he worked in the premières of the operas:

1924 Prince Igor (as Kontschak)

1926 La forza del destino

1926 Turandot (as Timur)

1928 Mona Lisa (as Francesco)
His repertoire included also Amfortas in ‘’Parsifal’’, Alfio in ‘’Cavalleria Rusticana’’, Scarpia in ‘’Tosca’’, Pizarro in ‘’Fidelio’’, Athanaël in ‘’Thaïs’’, Sebastiano in "Tiefland", Gunther in ‘’Sigurd’’ and the Jochanaan in ‘’Salome’’.

Chronology of some appearances

1918 Mons Opera House

1919-1921 Lüttich Opera House

1921-1923 Strasbourg Opera House

1923-1951 Brussels Théâtre de la Monnaie

1931-1932 Opéra de Monte-Carlo

1934-1935  Paris Grand Opéra

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Columbia 1928

Lohengrin (Wagner):  Prince merci 72793 RFX 29

Columbia, 1930-04-24
Contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach): Scintille diamant RFX10 WLBX1 

Columbia, 1930-04-25
Benvenuto Cellini (Diaz): Arioso RFX10 WLBX10