Agustarello Affre (Tenor) (Saint-Chinian 1858 - Cagnes-sur-Mer, France 1931)

His voice was discovered by the manager of the Paris Grand Opéra Pierre Gailhard. First he studied at the conservatoire of Toulouse, then at the Conservatoire National de Paris under Duvernoy. He made his debut in 1890 at the Grand Opéra as Edgardo in ‘’Lucia di Lammermoor’’, while Nellie Melba sang the title role. He remained active since then for twenty years as the first tenor at the Grand Opéra. In the 1890’s he appeared as a guest in Lyon, Marseille and Aix-les-Bains. In 1900 he sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. On 16. 3. 1891 he happeared at the Grand Opéra in the premiere of J. Massenet’s ‘’Le Mage’’. In 1902 he sang there the part of Canio in the première of R. Leoncavallo’s ‘’Pagliacci’’ (into French language), in 1905 he sang in an unforgettable performance of Gluck’s ‘’Armide’’ and in the same year the part of Belmonte in ‘’Entführung aus dem Serail’’. At the Grand Opéra his repertoire included the Raoul in ‘’Huguenots’’ of G. Meyerbeer, Jean in ‘’Le Prophète’’, Vasco in ‘’L'Africaine’’, Arnoldo in G. Rossini’s ‘’Wilhelm Tell’’, Eleazar in ‘’La Juive’’, Faust, Samson in ‘’Samson et Dalila’’of  C. Saint-Saëns and the Lohengrin. He made guest appearances at the Covent Garden in London as Faust and Samson (1909). When Pierre Gailhard withdrew in 1911 from the management of the Grand Opéra, Affre also retired from Grand Opéra. In 1911 he appeared at the San Francisco Opera. In 1912 he sang in New Orleans. In 1913 he performed in Havana (here under the name Albert Affre). During the First World War he gave concerts before French soldier, even in the immediate front area. He died in his villa of the Côte d'Azur and was buried on the cemetery Père Lachaise in Paris. His voice was a typical French heroic tenor which the criticism called with pleasure as ‘’The French Tamagno’’.

Chronology of  some appearances

1890 Paris Grand Opera
1891 Paris Grand Opera
1902 Paris Grand Opera
1905 Paris Grand Opera
1909 London Covent Garden
1911 San Francisco Opera
1912 New Orleans Opera
1913 Havana Opera