Léon Gresse
also Léon-Pierre-Napoléon Gresse
Birthplace: Charolles, Kingdom of France
Léon Gresse was a French bass and a principal of the Paris Opéra. He sang first as an amateur, then at Le Havre and Toulouse, and made his Opéra debut in 1875 as a gravedigger in Hamlet. Engaged at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1878, he created Phanuel in Hérodiade and Hagen in Reyer's Sigurd, and from 1885 he was at the Opéra for the rest of his life, where he was the first Paris Hunding and Pogner and created Ludovic in the French Othello. His son André succeeded him as a principal bass of the Opéra.
Creations
- Ludovic — Otello (Paris, 1894)
Written from
- Forbes, E. (1992) 'Gresse, Léon(-Pierre-Napoléon)', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 2, p. 536.
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (n.d.) Gresse, Léon (1845-1900). Authority record. (Accessed: 29 September 2026).