Albert Alvarez by Aimé Dupont

Albert Alvarez, born Raymond Gourron (1861-1933); French tenor.
In 1883 he started his vocal study with Martini in Paris and in 1886 he made his debut at the Opera van Gent (Belgium) as Faust. In the following years he was engaged at Lyon and Marseiille. In 1892 he joined the Grand Opéra Paris where he created a number of roles at their worldpremière: Nicias in Massenet's "Thaïs" (1894), Mirko in Augusta Holmes' "La montagne noir" (1895), Merowig in Giraud's "Frédégonde" (1895), Jean in Duvernoy's "Hellé" (1896), Guillaume in Bruneaus' "Messidor" (1897), Gautier in Vidal's "La Burgonde" (1898), Hercule in Leroux's "Astarté (1901) and Bar-Kokéba in Erlanger's "Le Fils de l'étoile" 1904). In Monte Carlo he appeared in the premieres of De Lara's "Messaline" (1899) as Hélion and in Saint-Saëns' "Hélène" (1904) as Pâris. This opera was written by Saint-Saëns specifically for the famous soprano Nellie Melba who created the title role.During the period 1893/1903 he made guest appearances at London Covent Garden almost every year. Here in 1893 he created the role of Leicester in the worldpremière of De Lara's "Amy Robsart" and in 1894 the role of Araquil in the première of Massenet's "La Navarraise". In 1899/1903 he was engaged at the Metropolitan Opera New York. In 1907/1908 he undertook a major tour through Belgium and Germany followed by his second engagement at the Grand Opéra Paris. Finally he was activ as a vocal teacher in Paris. His most memorable roles were Raoul in "Les Huguenots", Des Grieux in "Manon", Siegmund in "Die Walküre", Radames in "Aida" and the title roles in "Otello", "Sigurd", "Le Cid", "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin". He made grammophone recordings but his voice can also be heard on the "Mapleson cylinders". The Mapleson cylinders are a group of more than 100 phonograph cylinders recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera, primarily in the years 1901/1903 by the Met's librarian Lionel Mapleson (a nephew of impresario James Henry Mapleson).

On the photo he is seen as Jean de Leyde in Meyerbeer's "Le Prophète".