Edmond Duvernoy

Edmond Duvernoy came from a family of musicians and was taught first by his father and then at the Paris Conservatoire, working as a pianist before he studied singing at all. He made his stage debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1873 as Mercutio, and created Moralès in Carmen two years later, a part for which Bizet wrote three versions of the Act I mélodrame. He moved to the Théâtre Lyrique in 1877 with his wife, the soprano Mlle Franck. His voice was small but well used, and he held a chair of singing at the Conservatoire from 1887 to 1910.