Léon Rothier

In this city he began his career as a violinist, but afterwards traveled to the Conservatoire de Paris to study voice.

In 1899, he made his singing debut at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, in Charles Gounod's Philémon et Baucis.

He was still fulfilling public singing engagements in New York City as late as 1949, at The Town Hall performance space.

[2] In the sequence of important French-born basses to be heard at the Met, he followed in the footsteps of Pol Plançon and Marcel Journet.

Rothier made several sound recordings during his lifetime, including two excerpts from Un ballo in maschera with the great tenor Enrico Caruso.

Léon Rothier at his piano circa 1915
Rothier (right, singing) performing Verdi's Requiem at the Polo Grounds in New York City in 1916, along with (from l. to r.) Giovanni Zenatello , Louise Homer (under the assumed name of 'Lucile Lawrence') [ 1 ] and Maria Gay ; Louis Koemmenich conducting.