Jacques Jansen (1913-2002) was a French baritone, especially associated with Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. He became one of the defining interpreters of Pelléas on record.

In the Pristine catalogue he appears in Roger Désormière’s 1941 recording of Pelléas et Mélisande with Irène Joachim.

Jansen’s singing combined elegance, inwardness and exceptionally natural French diction. Debussy’s vocal line needs to seem spoken, remembered and sung all at once.

His page is essential. Jansen gives Pelléas a voice of moonlit restraint rather than operatic upholstery.