Miguel Villabella – Spanish Operatic Tenor

Born: 1892
Died: 28th June 1954
Spanish Tenor.

Miguel Villabella was a Basque born near Bilbao in 1892.
He traveled to Paris to pursue a commercial career and was heard by the great French bass baritone Lucien Fugere, who was so impressed that he urged Villabella to seriously consider a singing career. His debut was in 1918 at Poitiers and by 1920 he was at the Opera Comique.

He had found his niche and was quite happy to appear at the Opera Comique and the Opera for the rest of his career, which lasted until 1940.
He rarely appeared outside Paris, Monte Carlo and the Monet in Brussels being the exception.
After his retirement he taught singing in his beloved Paris, the city which also witnessed his eventual death on 28 June 1954 at the age of 61.

He recorded for Pathé and Odeon and I have chosen a Pathé that testing George Brown aria from La Dame Blanche which received a virtuoso performance here.