Jean-Baptiste Chollet

He graduated with a prize in solfège in 1814 and began singing as a high baritone in the church choir at Saint-Eustache, Paris, where his father was choirmaster.

In 1815 he also became a chorus member at the Opéra de Paris, then at the Théâtre-Italien, and finally at the Théâtre Feydeau, where he remained for two years.

In the meantime he had trained his voice to extend his repertoire to tenor roles such as one in Le Petit chaperon rouge by François-Adrien Boieldieu.

The title roles in Fra Diavolo by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1830) and Le Duc de Guise by George Onslow (1837) were also written for and premiered by Chollet, whilst he still occasionally sang baritone parts, such as Gasparillo in Le Portefaix by José Melchor Gomis (1835).

The closure of the Théâtre Feydeau freed up Chollet and he chose to go out on tour again, spending a month in Belgium in April 1832, starting in Brussels (which he had already visited seven years earlier) and also singing first tenor in The Hague.