Léon Escalaïs

Born Léonce-Antoine Escalaïs, he commenced his vocal studies as a young man at the Music Conservatory of Toulouse, where he won prizes for singing and opera performance.

He added to his repertoire such Verdi roles as Manrico in Il trovatore, Radamès in Aida and the title part in Otello.

Escalais's many successes were achieved in spite of his being handicapped by a short, dumpy physique which was often at odds with the heroic stature of the characters that he portrayed on stage.

It was strong, bright in tone, with effortless top notes (including a potent high D) and showed remarkable flexibility.

This type of agile yet robust dramatic tenor voice is now rare, which makes the gramophone discs that he cut in Milan in 1905–06 for Fonotipia Records of considerable interest to musicologists and vocal students.