Yvonne D'Arle

Yvonne D'Arle, born Eugenie Marguerite Patet on December 1, 1898, in Lyon, France, was a soprano singer who built a career spanning opera, Broadway, and concert performance before her death on March 25, 1977, in Cannes, France. Raised in Rockford, Illinois, she was the daughter of Joseph Patet, a Chicago teacher. Her education took her to Rockford Seminary in Illinois and Miss Wolcott's School for Girls in Denver, Colorado. She developed her voice under the instruction of teachers Estelle Liebling and William Thorner.

D'Arle's professional career began with a tour in The Lilac Domino and continued when music critic Sylvester Rawling discovered her performing at a New York cabaret. She joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1921 and remained with the company for five years, through 1925. Beyond the Met, her operatic engagements included performances with the Municipal Theatre Association in St. Louis, Missouri, appearances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and a tour of South America with the Bracale Grand Opera Company. In 1922, she appeared at a benefit for the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum Society alongside singer Titta Ruffo and dancer Roshanara. During the summer of 1927, she and Ruffo undertook a European tour that included engagements at the Deauville Casino's Grand Opera and the Ostend Kursaal, as well as performances in Germany and Switzerland.

Her Broadway career ran from 1918 to 1928 and encompassed three musical productions. She appeared in Fancy Free in 1918, Countess Maritza during its 1926–1927 run, and The Three Musketeers in 1928. In 1934, she sang the national anthem at the launch of radio station WNEW-AM.

D'Arle married twice. Her first husband, Clyde Edward Ganun, died in the 1918 influenza pandemic, and she had one son with him, Clyde Ganun, born in 1917 and died in 1983. Her second husband was Salvador Benguiat, an antiques dealer. She maintained a villa in Cap d'Antibes, France, a residence she held from at least the time of her 1927 European tour, and she died in Cannes at the age of 80.