THE LEGEND OF ARMAND TOKATYAN
All through my childhood, my Uncle Armand was to me
more of a legend than a real person. When my father talked about his famous brother,
Armand, who lived in the United States, and sang at the Metropolitan Opera, I did not
think that I would some day actually meet him. The United States was considered, in those
days, very very far from Alexandria Egypt where we lived.The
letters from Uncle Armand arrived at the rate of one or two a
year, often accompanied by a series of photos, which added to
the fascination since he was usually dressed up for Pagliaci,
Traviata, or Cavaleria Rusticana. I knew he had a son, Leon, and
a daughter, Gloria - my cousins - but new very little about
them. My Uncle had even modified his name, at the request of his
Impresario, from "Tocatlian" to "Tokatyan" - easier to pronounce
and remember. In fact, our family name had already been modified
once from the original spelling "Tokatlian" to Tocatlian. In
Armenian, the name means originating from Tokat - a city north
of Ankara, Turkey.
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My own brother was named Armand, after our Uncle. What fascinated
us as kids were the stories we heard in the family about Uncle Armand.
Apparently, it all started towards the latter part of the 19th century
in Plovdiv, Bulgaria - known as "Philipopoli" at the time. Grandfather
Gabriel, who was a pharmacist, had fled Istanbul and the problems
Armenians were encountering with the Turks. He had at the time only
one daughter, Eugenie, who later married Leon Chichmanian and gave
birth to our cousins: Garbis, Yervant, and Marie.
In Plovdiv, Grandfather Gabriel and Grandmother Virginie had
several sons. The one before last was Armand and the last one was my
father, Lucien. I do not know how many years they lived in Plovdiv nor
how many children they had. Besides Armand and Lucien, I know of Leon
who studied painting in Paris, died young in a horse carriage
accident, and was buried at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
At one point early in the 20th century, Grandfather decided to
return with his family to Turkey. They sailed to Istanbul, but were
not allowed to disembark. As Armenians, they were probably considered
person non grata. Grandfather inquired from the Captain where he was
going next. "To Alexandria," he said. So they went and settled in
Alexandria, Egypt.
As a pharmacist, Grandfather had no problem establishing himself in
thriving conditions. He acquired a pharmacy downtown, which he named
"La Pharmacie du Phare", after the lighthouse of Alexandria, and lived
a life of ease in good comfort. The children went to private French
schools and were given a good education. Eugenie played the piano,
Lucien played the flute, and Armand sang.
Early in life, Uncle Armand was interested in singing. As years
went by, he would not hear of any career in life other than that of an
opera singer. With the prevailing mentality of the time, Grandfather
did not want one of his sons to become a singer. It must have been a
conflicting situation. It was eventually resolved when Uncle Armand
expressed the wish to study law in Europe. So he was sent at
considerable expenses to Italy. Years went by. For one reason or
another, he found an excuse to extend his stay in Europe.
One day, Grandfather, sensing a problem, asked a friend who was
going to Europe to check on his son. When the friend came back, he
informed Grandfather that Armand had studied singing all these years -
not law. He had sang here and there, and had began to establish a
reputation as a singer of great talent. He brought back many newspaper
articles by famous critics and strongly advised Grandfather to
encourage his son in this direction, which he did.
So Uncle Armand continued his career, sang in most European
capitals, was applauded by the world critics, sang at the Metropolitan
Opera for 22 years, was crowned with success, acted and sang in
Mexican films. Some of his performances include:
| Date |
Opera |
Performers |
| 09.19.1927 |
Turandot |
Roselle, Tokatyan, Pinza, Merola |
| 01.28.1933 |
La Traviata |
Bori, Tokatyan, Tibbett /Serafin |
| 05.16.1936 |
Carmen |
Castagna, Tokatyan, Royer, Bodanya /Papi |
| 05.15.1937 |
Mignon |
Tourel, Tokatyan, Rothier, Antoine, Matyas
/Pelletier |
| 01.06.1940 |
Lakme |
Pons, Tokatyan, Pinza, Petina, Cehanovsky
/Pelletier |
| 02.10.1940 |
La Boheme |
Sayao, Tokatyan, Dickey, De Luca, Cehanovsky,
Pinza /Papi |
| 01.25.1941 |
Madama Butterfly |
Albanese, Tokatyan, Browning, Brownlee, De
Paolis/Papi |
| 03.25.1944 |
Cavalliera Rusticana |
Flesch, Tokatyan, Valentino, Votipka /Sodero |
On March 10, 1940, Armand made television history, by
participating in the first televised performance by the Metropolitan Opera, as he sang
Canio's "Vesti la giubba" to conclude the telecast of Act I of Pagliacci.
Eventually, Armand Tokatyan gave a last concert at the Hollywood Bowl - I believe in
1949.
In the summer of 1958, I visited him in Whittier, California, where he had retired and
taught singing. The legendary Uncle was real. He unfortunately passed away in 1960, a few
months before father came to the United States. They had been looking forward to seeing
each other again after some forty years...
On September 2, 1997, when Grace Bumbry was interviewed after she
made her operatic farewell, she was asked whether she had a natural voice. She responded
by saying:
"I had a natural voice. I remember my teacher, Armand Tokatyan, said to me,
"Your voice was so beautifully placed and your first teacher did such a wonderful
job, that you don't have a lot to do, but you have to know what to do when you get older,
when you get tired. When the voice is working well, anyone can sing well, but when you
don't feel well and don't feel like singing, you have to know how to get the voice
there."
By Jacques Tocatlian
October 2000
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