20 – French soprano and actress Georgette Leblanc (1869-1941) as Anita (“La Navarraise”), Nice, 1912 at the center of a dispute over “Mélisande”…

Her companion, Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949), author of “Pelléas et Mélisande”, tried to convince Claude Debussy to let her create “Mélisande” in 1902, to no avail: a quarrel ensued and Mary Garden won.

Leblanc’s voice was rather conventional, but she was a remarkable actress. She left a recording legacy.