Jean Noté
Jean-Baptiste Noté (6 May 1858 in Tournai – 1 April 1922 in Brussels) was a Belgian operatic baritone. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in 1884 with first prizes in singing and lyrical declamation. He made his professional opera debut in 1885 at the Opéra de Lille as Lord Enrico Ashton in Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor". From 1887-1889 he was committed to the Théatre Royal in Antwerp. He then became a member of the Opéra National de Lyon where he had major success in the operas of Richard Wagner; especially the parts of  Friedrich of Telramund in "Lohengrin" and Wolfram von Eschenbach in "Tannhäuser". He was also admired at that theatre as Roland in Jules Massenet's "Esclarmonde". He left Lyon in 1893 to join the roster of principal artists at the Paris Opera where he remained for the rest of his career. He made his debut in Paris in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto". He continued to perform with that company up until his death. He sang in the premiere of Massenet's "La Terre Promise" in 1900, as well as the composer's "Roma" and Bruneau's "Messidor . He made many gramophone records in the early years of recordings. These covered operatic roles and melodies and included the death of Valentin from Faust", the Air du toréador from "Carmen", 'Vision fugitive' from "Hérodiade", the Chanson bachique from "Hamlet", La Marseillaise, 'Adamastor, roi des vagues' from "L'Africaine", 'Lorsqu'à de folles amours' from "La Traviata", 'Sois immobile' from "Guillaume Tell" and 'Pour faire un brave Mousquetaire' from "Les Mousquetaires au couvent". Songs he recorded include "Les rameaux" and "Charité" by Fauré, "Le soir" and "Prière" by Gounod and "Noël païen" and "Pensée d'automne" by Massenet.