André Pernet was a French bass-baritone

Bass-baritone

A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...

 opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 performer.

After serving as a military officer in World War I, Pernet studied at the Paris Conservatory before making his operatic debut in Massenet's Hérodiade

Hérodiade

Hérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...

 at Nice, in 1921. He sang at the Paris Opéra

Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

 beginning in 1928. He also performed in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, London and Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....

.

He is perhaps best remembered today for his role as the father in the 1939 film version

Louise (film)

Louise is a 1939 French musical film directed by Abel Gance. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the opera of the same name by Gustave Charpentier.-Cast:* Grace Moore - Louise* Georges Thill - Julien...

 of Gustave Charpentier

Gustave Charpentier

Gustave Charpentier, , born in Dieuze, Moselle on 25 June 1860, died Paris, 18 February 1956) was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.-Life and career:...

's Louise

Louise (opera)

Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....

, directed by Abel Gance

Abel Gance

Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...

 and also featuring Grace Moore

Grace Moore

Grace Moore was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience.-Early life:...

 and Georges Thill

Georges Thill

Georges Thill was a French opera singer, often considered to be his country's greatest lyric-dramatic tenor...

. He was noted for singing the title parts in Mefistofele

Mefistofele

Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...

, Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov (opera)

Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...

, Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

and Don Quichotte

Don Quichotte

Don Quichotte is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn.Massenet's comédie-héroïque, like so many other dramatized versions of the story of Don Quixote, relates only indirectly to the great novel by Miguel de Cervantes...

. Among the operas in which he created roles during the premiere performances were Le marchand de Venise

Le marchand de Venise

Le marchand de Venise is a French opera in three acts by Reynaldo Hahn. The libretto was by Miguel Zamacoïs, after Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice...

(Hahn), Oedipe (Enesco), Maximilien (Milhaud) and Vercingétorix (Canteloube).

Pernet's smooth, elegant, well-produced voice can be heard on a number of recordings which he made between the two world wars. Some of his records are available on CD re-issues.