Jean Périer

A French baritone whose career was almost entirely Parisian. He made his debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1892 as Monostatos and sang there, with one long interruption, until 1920, in a repertory drawn as much from operetta as from opera. He created Pelléas in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, Don Ramiro in Ravel's L'heure espagnole in 1911, and leading parts in two Messager operettas, and he was the first Paris Sharpless in 1906. His was a declaiming art rather than a singing one, admired for its diction. He appeared in films from 1900 to 1938.