Albert Saléza

Albert Saléza was a French tenor who sang Otello in the first Paris performance of Verdi's opera in 1894. Orphaned young, he worked as a shepherd's boy and a sandal-maker before his voice was noticed; he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and made his debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1888 as Mylio in Lalo's Le roi d'Ys. His Opéra debut, in 1892, was as Matho in Reyer's Salammbô. He made his Covent Garden and Metropolitan Opera debuts in 1898 and sang Rodolfo in the Met's first La bohème. His voice was mellow, his diction and phrasing elegant.