Georges Thill

Georges Thill ( born December 14, 1897 in Paris, † October 17, 1984 in Draguignan ) was a French opera singer (tenor ).

Thill worked until 1916 as a broker on the stock exchange. He was drafted into military service in 1916. After his return, he began studying at the Conservatoire de Paris with Ernest Dupré and the famous bassist André Gresse. In 1919 he made ​​his debut at the Opéra -Comique as José in Bizet's opera Carmen Georges. In 1920 he went to Naples to continue his vocal studies with Fernando de Lucia.

Thill 1924 debuted at the Paris Opera as Nicias in Jules Massenet's Thaïs. He had great success here as the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto and 1928 as Calaf in Puccini's Turandot. In this role, he entered 1928 on at the Festival at the Arena of Verona in 1929 and made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. At the Covent Garden Opera London, he made ​​his debut in 1928 in the title role of Camille Saint- Saëns Samson et Dalila, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1931 in the title role of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

At the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires Thill sang in 1930 in Nikolai Rimsky -Korsakov's Sadko. Furthermore, he has performed, among others at the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera in Stockholm and the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1936 he undertook a concert tour of Russia, after the Second World War, a tour of Australia. In 1953 he was at the Opéra -Comique his farewell performance as Canio in Pagliacci Ruggiero Leoncavallo.

In addition to the classical repertoire Thill sang numerous premieres of contemporary operas, so brocéliande by André Bloch ( 1925), La tour de feu by Sylvio Lazzari (1928 ), Satan by Raoul Gunsbourg (1930 ), Vercingetorix by Joseph Canteloube (1933 ), " Naïla " by Philippe Gaubert (1927) and Roland et le mauvais garçon by Henri Rabaud (1934 ).

Since the 1920s Thill took more than 140 titles on vinyl. He participated in musical films, as with Grace Moore and André Pernet on the film adaptation of Gustave Charpentier's Louise. After saying goodbye to the opera, he still went on until 1956 when concert tours, after which he retired into private life.