 His predecessors and contemporaries in this Gallic "bel canto" tradition included such celebrated artists as Henri-Bernard Dabadie, Nicolas Levasseur, Luigi Lablache, Prosper Dérivis, Paul Barroilhet, Jean-Baptiste Faure (see above), Victor Maurel, Jean Lassalle and Maurice Renaud.During the height of his 30-year career, he was confronted with stellar competition from a host of superlative operatic basses, including his fellow countrymen Jean-François Delmas (whose sonorous voice he particularly admired), Pedro Gailhard, Juste Nivette, Hippolyte Belhomme and Marcel Journet.Other rivals included Polish-born Édouard de Reszke, Bohemian-born Wilhelm Hesch, the Italians Francesco Navarini and Vittorio Arimondi and, from a younger generation of singers, the Russians Lev Sibiriakov and Feodor Chaliapin and the Pole Adamo Didur.