Jacques Jansen (né Toupin; born Paris, 22 November 1913 – 13 March 2002) was a French baryton-martin singer, particularly associated with the role of Pelléas in the opera by Debussy, but also active in operetta and on the concert platform, and later as a teacher.
Jansen had a wide musical and artistic education; after studying the violin in Paris, he took lessons in solfège and bassoon at the conservatoire in Tours, where he also pursued courses in fine arts.
[2] After his Paris debut at the Opéra-Comique as Pelléas on 20 April 1941, Jansen also appeared as a singer in Fauré's Masques et bergamasques (January 1942), Valérien in Malvina (July 1945) and the title role in Fragonard (February 1946).
He also sang the role under Désormière with the Opéra-Comique company at Covent Garden in June 1949,[6] as well as in New York, Brussels, Lisbon, Berlin, Milan, Rome and Tokyo.
Although best remembered for the role of Pelléas he also sang baroque opera (Les Indes galantes and Platée by Jean-Philippe Rameau), modern opera (Christophe Colomb by Darius Milhaud and Les caprices de Marianne at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1956), operetta (The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár, the premiere of La Belle de Paris by Georges Van Parys in 1961 and Antonin in Ciboulette in Geneva) and mélodies.