Gérard Souzay, who has died aged 83, sang mélodies for four decades after the second world war; for the first three of them, he was considered the leading exponent of the genre. His mellifluous and supple voice was allied to a bright intelligence in the treatment of texts that manifested itself in everything he tackled. He also had a successful career on the concert platform as a soloist in choral works, but his operatic appearances were restricted to three or four significant roles: he was no great actor. In his later years, he was a rather sad figure, living alone in the South of France, feeling forgotten and neglected.”