but also for his impressive stage presence and acting. Fortunately, he made a number of gramophone records for the Victor Talking Machine Company which have been reissued on CD. Produced between 1907 and 1912, they confirm the excellence of his musicianship and the imposing power of his declamatory singing, although the top of his range sounds a bit constricted on these 100-year-old discs. One of his most celebrated records is a 1907 rendition of Manrico's aria "Ah! si, ben mio", from Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore, in which he displays an admirably smooth legato line, elegant phrasing and a splendid trill. He also recorded a few French songs as well as arias and duets from various operas, including Lohengrin, Giacomo Meyerbeer's Le prophète, Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Georges Bizet's Carmen, Massenet's Grisélidis, and Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Faust. Dalmorès returned to France in 1918 but subsequently went back to the United States to live where he taught singing. He died in Hollywood, California on December 6, 1939, at the age of 68. Legacy In the pantheon of great French dramatic/lyric-dramatic tenors, his place is secure. He proved to be a worthy successor to Jean de Reszke (the biggest male opera star of his day), Léon Escalais and Albert Alvarez, each of whom enjoyed international careers during the 1890s and early 1900s. Of those French-speaking tenors who took up his mantle, the most esteemed were Paul Franz and Fernand Ansseau, followed in turn by Rene Maison, Georges Thill and, finally, José Luccioni, who was the last representative of this distinguished lineage. Luccioni retired in 1962. There are no big-voiced French tenors of comparable stature singing today. References David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition, New York; Hill and Wang, 1963. Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack, (editors), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, corrected second edition, London; Oxford University Press, 1980. Michael Scott, The Record of Singing, London; Duckworth, 1977. Laura Semrau, liner notes for Preiser compact disc, number 89506. Notes External links History of the Tenor – Sound clips and narration 1871 births 1939 deaths French operatic tenors 20th-century French male opera singers Musicians from Nancy, France