Levasseur Nicholas Prosper, *9 March 1791 Bresles, 16 December 1871 Paris, French singer (bass) and teacher. He studied singing at the conservatory in Paris under P.J. Garat. In 1813, he made his debut on the stage of the Paris Opera in Grétry’s La caravane du Caire. Until 1853, he was a soloist at the Opera and Théâtre Italien in Paris, playing all the important bass roles in the repertoire of both stages. He performed at the King’s Theater in London (1815, 1829, 1832) and at La Scala in Milan (Meyerbeer’s Margherita d’Anjou, 1819). He stopped performing in 1853. In 1841–69, he was a professor of singing at the conservatory in Paris. Levasseur is one of the outstanding French basses. He sang, among others: in operas by Mozart, Donizetti, Rossini and Meyerbeer, also participating in premiere performances (Robert the Devil, The Prophet). In 1869 he received the Legion of Honor.
