Saléza, Albert
Saléza, Albert
Saléza, Albert , French tenor; b. Bruges, near Bay-onne, Oct. 18, 1867; d. Paris, Nov. 26, 1916. He studied with Bax and Obin at the Paris Cons., making his debut as Mylio in Le Roi d’Ys at the Paris Opéra-Comique on July 19, 1888. After appearances in Rouen, Bordeaux, and Nice, he returned to Paris to make his debut at the Opéra as Mathôs in Reyer’s Salammbô on May 16, 1892. He sang in the posthumous premiere of Franck’s Hulda in Monte Carlo (March 4, 1894), and then in the premiere of Lefebvre’s Djelma at the Paris Opéra (May 25, 1894). He made his first appearance at London’s Covent Garden as Gounod’s Roméo on May 10, 1898, and continued to sing there until 1902; made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. in the same role on Dec. 2, 1898; was on its roster until 1901, and again in 1904–05; also sang regularly in Paris until 1911, when he joined the faculty of the Cons. He was especially noted for such roles as Gounod’s Faust, John of Leyden, Raoul in Les Huguenots, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the Duke of Mantua, Rigoletto, Tannhäuser, Don José, Siegmund, and Otello.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire