Pierre-Émile Engel

Early in his career sang at the Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes in Paris, where in 1867 he created the title role in Jules Duprato's Le chanteur florentin.

He made his debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1877 and the following year there created the role of Enrique in Louis Deffès's Les noces de Fernande.

From 1885 to 1889 he was a leading tenor with Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, singing in the world premieres of Litolff's, Les templiers (1886), Chabrier's Gwendoline (1886), Godard's Jocelyn (1888), and Mathieu's Richilde (1888).

His elder son Joseph (José) Engel (born Joinville-le-Pont 13 August 1868) was a painter, who left portraits and caricatures of Chabrier;[2] after Gwendoline the families become close, corresponding and visiting each other.

Ravel's "Le martin-pêcheur" ("The kingfisher") from his song cycle Histoires naturelles is dedicated to Engel as is Satie's "Daphénéo".