Joseph Barbot

Joseph Barbot was a French tenor who created the title role of Gounod's Faust at the Théâtre-Lyrique in 1859. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and with Manuel García, and made his debut at the Paris Opéra in October 1847, creating Raymond in Verdi's Jérusalem the following month. He then spent about a decade singing in Italy, at Bologna, Turin, Rome, Milan and Naples, and later toured Italy and Russia with his wife, the soprano Caroline Barbot. From 1875 to 1894 he taught singing at the Conservatoire, where he had studied, succeeding Pauline Viardot.