Bernard Bégué

A French baritone from Toulouse who spent fifteen seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, from the opening night of 24 November 1902 to April 1917, in 767 performances of small and comprimario parts. He created Larkens in La fanciulla del West in 1910 and Roustan in Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne in 1915, and sang in the American premieres of Fedora, Ariane et Barbe-bleue and Boris Godunov. His parts ran from Zuniga and Moralès to Sciarrone, Marullo and Wagner in Faust. In 1896 he recorded French songs by Tosti and Massenet for Edison, probably the company's first recordings in French.