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       Jean-Paul Jeannotte in 1961.

       André Le Coz/RADIO-CANADA

       When the renowned French-Canadian tenor Jean-Paul Jeannotte declared his retirement from the concert stage at the age of 40, at the peak of his popularity, he knew what he was doing. He had seen other talented artists who had outlived their gifts and outstayed their welcome. As he wittily put it: “I’d rather have people ask, ‘Why did he stop singing?’ than ‘Why won’t he stop singing?’”

       By then, Mr. Jeannotte had enjoyed a glittering career, charming audiences from Paris to Moscow with his warm, expressive renditions of the French classical repertoire, performing across Canada on television and on tour, and cutting a series of exquisite recordings with his perfect musical partner, pianist Jeanne Landry.

       What he didn’t know was that a significant second act awaited him. It came a decade later, in 1979, when he was asked to be the first general and artistic director of the newly created Opéra de Montréal. In his ensuing nine seasons at the helm, Mr. Jeannotte would lay the foundations for one of Quebec’s – and Canada’s – major arts organizations, importing leading European artists, nurturing local talent and attracting international attention.

       Mr. Jeannotte, who died on Sept. 9 of heart failure in Montreal, at the age of 95, also put his own aesthetic stamp on the company.

       “In French there’s a wonderful phrase, la quête de la beauté – this quest for beauty – and it was fundamental to him,” said Richard Turp, son of Mr. Jeannotte’s good friend and fellow tenor, André Turp. “He believed that it was his responsibility to show what was great and good and beautiful about art and at l’Opera de Montréal I think he succeeded in establishing that.”

       Mr. Jeannotte was born on March 9, 1926, in Rawdon, Que., to Albini Jeannotte and Germaine Pearson, a country doctor and nurse, respectively, who were also keen amateur musicians. The oldest of three children, Jean-Paul grew up in Ville-Marie in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region until the family moved, in his preteen years, to Lachine (now part of Montreal).

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       ève Gagnier and Mr. Jeannotte perform on the Radio-Canada TV program Connaissez-vous la musique? on Oct. 18, 1955.

       André Le Coz/RADIO-CANADA

       A promising singer, at the age of 21 he headed to postwar Paris, where he became a pupil of Pierre Bernac. Apart from being a brilliant teacher, Mr. Bernac was the long-time creative partner of Francis Poulenc, the last of the great French composers in the mélodie tradition. Mr. Jeannotte consequently got to perform with Mr. Poulenc and gained entry to a circle that also included the baritone Gérard Souzay. Mr. Souzay, in turn, introduced him to the legendary conductor Désiré-émile Inghelbrecht, a friend of Claude Debussy, who cast Mr. Jeannotte as Pelléas in his 1955 revival of the composer’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. Presented at the Théatre des Champs-élysées in Paris, the show was a singular triumph for the young tenor. “The role of Pelléas fit him like a glove,” Mr. Turp said.

       Mr. Jeannotte sang opera in Canada, too, notably originating the role of Bobino in the comic one-act Silent Measures by Quebec composer Maurice Blackburn, which toured extensively and was broadcast by the CBC. His true métier, however, was the art song, especially the mélodies of Mr. Poulenc, Gabriel Fauré, Charles-Fran？ois Gounod and Reynaldo Hahn, which he performed in recital with Ms. Landry throughout Europe and – with some risk and much acclaim – in the Cold War-era Soviet Union.

       In 1961, he and Ms. Landry became among the first Canadian musicians to perform behind the Iron Curtain – a tour that Mr. Jeannotte initiated himself. He would later tell of how the duo were continually under suspicion of spying. They even spent a night in jail after one of their flights landed in a town outside the tour’s approved itinerary. But they also played to packed houses and their recital at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall was broadcast live on state radio throughout the USSR.

       After retiring from the concert stage, Mr. Jeannotte taught voice at Laval University and became heavily involved in Quebec’s cultural scene. He served two terms as president of its Union des artistes and headed the provincial task force that recommended the creation of a Montreal opera company. When the province’s culture ministry followed through with funding, Mr. Jeannotte was handed the reins and proceeded to build a world-class outfit.

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       Michel Beaulac, the Opéra de Montréal’s current artistic director, recalled those early seasons as an audience member. He remembers a string of striking productions, from the inaugural season’s La Traviata, which introduced Montrealers to the celebrated American soprano Diana Soviero, to director Jean Gascon’s spectacular staging of The Barber of Seville, designed by Robert Prévost, and the Claude Girard-designed Roméo et Juliette – two much-toured productions that he said are still in demand. Looking back at such shows, Mr. Beaulac said, “I can appreciate the breadth of [Mr. Jeannotte’s] artistic intuition and taste.”

       Near the end of his tenure, Mr. Jeannotte was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1988. In 1994, he was inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame.

       After leaving the company and the public eye, Mr. Jeannotte enjoyed a private life devoted to travel and to building his impressive art and book collections. With the opera and cultural matters in general, he preferred to be, in Mr. Turp’s words, an éminence grise. For younger artists, he was a mentor. They included the pianist Olivier Godin, who met Mr. Jeannotte when the latter was 80. They immediately hit it off and Mr. Godin grew to be his closest friend.

       “I learned so much from him, not just about music, but about art, about life,” Mr. Godin said. Mr. Jeannotte’s broad interests embraced many artistic fields, including literature, painting and dance. “He had this global vision of the arts,” Mr. Godin said, “and his knowledge in so many areas was remarkable.”

       A small, elegant figure, always impeccably attired, Mr. Jeannotte continued to grace Montreal’s Place des Arts on opening nights. Mr. Turp found his opinions of his successors’ programming, like his manner in general, to be polite and discreet: “He would never close the door to current trends or fashions, even if sometimes they might not have been to his own personal taste.”

       Mr. Jeannotte’s assessment of his own artistry was modest. “He always used to say, of his singing career, ‘I did what I could with the voice I had,’” Mr. Godin said. He liked to claim he had been blessed with good luck, but it was clear his achievements also involved hard work, scrupulous planning and the courage to take risks.

       Robust in his old age, Mr. Jeannotte lived in his house in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood until last March, when his health necessitated a move to a long-term care home and eventually the Teresa Dellar Palliative Care Residence. His niece, Anne-Marie Jeannotte, the daughter of his late brother Guy, and Mr. Godin were with him until the end. Like a singer preparing for a final recital, when his heart gave out, he drew, not one last breath, but five.

       Mr. Jeannotte leaves his sister, Fernande Jeannotte; nieces, Isabelle, Anne-Marie and Caroline Jeannotte and Céline Fortin, and their families.