Louis-Henri Obin
Birthplace: Ascq, near Lille, France
A bass of the Paris Opéra for twenty-five years, and Verdi's first Philippe II. He trained at the Lille Conservatoire under Antoine Ponchard and then in Paris, and made his debut at the Opéra in 1844. Verdi used him twice, as Procida in Les vêpres siciliennes in 1855 and as Philippe II in 1867, and Meyerbeer cast him as the High Priest of Brahma in L'Africaine. He left the Opéra in 1869 to teach at the Paris Conservatoire, and returned briefly to the stage in 1871. The Legion of Honour came in 1890.
Creations
- Philippe II — Don Carlos (Paris, 1867)
- Jean Procida — Les vêpres siciliennes
Written from
- Wikipedia (2026) Louis-Henri Obin. (Accessed: August 2026).
- Forbes, E. (1992) 'Obin, Louis-Henri', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 3, p. 643.
- Kutsch, K.J. and Riemens, L. (1987) 'Obin, Louis-Henri', in Großes Sängerlexikon. Bern and Stuttgart: Francke, vol. 2, col. 2151.
- Rescigno, E. (2001) 'Obin, Louis-Henri', in Dizionario verdiano. Milan: Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, pp. 381-382.
- L'Art Lyrique Français (n.d.) Louis-Henri Obin. (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
- Le Ménestrel (1871) p. 394. (Accessed: 18 October 2026).