#Charles Santley

[opera-ghosts]

On June 26, 1872, Queen Victoria invited to an opera concert at Buckingham Palace.

That evening there was a meeting of the best singers from that time.

Christine Nilsson and Pauline Lucca, soprano and Victor Capoul, tenor, Sofia Scalchi, Mezzo and Charles Santley, baritone and others

This program has survived 152 years and is a rare testimony to this era.

[byneddiedingo]

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory (Lowell Sherman, 1933) Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Adolphe Menjou, Mary Duncan, C. Aubrey Smith, Don Alvarado, Fred Santley, Richard Carle, Tyler Brooke, Geneva Mitchell, Helen Ware. Screenplay: Howard J. Green, based on a play by Zoe Akins. Cinematography: Bert Glennon. Art direction: Charles M. Kirk, Van Nest Polglase. Film editing: William Hamilton. Music: Max Steiner. Morning Glory earned Katharine Hepburn her first Oscar. It was only the sixth Academy Award for best actress ever given, and in some ways it was the first "modern" Oscar for acting. The initial one went to Janet Gaynor for a silent-film performance, and the subsequent ones were for Hollywood grande dames making their way out of silence, Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer; for beloved old trouper Marie Dressler; and for a Broadway diva making a temporary detour into movies, Helen Hayes. That last one shows what Hollywood was looking for, and what it found in Hepburn: actors who could talk. But unlike the diminutive and rather plain Hayes, Hepburn could hold the camera. Hollywood had never seen anything quite like her: beautiful in an imperious way, she had real presence and a unique style. That style would harden into mannerism after a few years and get her branded as "box-office poison" until she managed to turn things around again in the 1940s, with The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) and the subsequent potent teaming with Spencer Tracy. But for the time she was praised for a tonic, refreshing hold on the screen. Morning Glory itself is not much: the familiar story of the hopeful who goes out there and comes back a star. Lowell Sherman, who directed, had just appeared in a similar fable, the ur-Star Is Born movie What Price Hollywood? (Cukor, 1932), and the pattern hardened when Ruby Keeler subbed in for Bebe Daniels in 42nd Street (Lloyd Bacon, 1933). Hepburn manages to segue convincingly from the naive chatterbox trying to muscle her way onto Broadway to the mature, toughened but still insecure character at the end, though it's a little unclear why such veterans as Adolphe Menjou's producer and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s playwright would be so susceptible to the pest that Eva Lovelace makes of herself at first. Also unclear is why Eva's performances of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy and Juliet's part of the balcony scene so impress the guests at the party: Hepburn rattles them off with no attention to the meaning behind the familiar words. She seems, for example, to take the line "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" as a question about his location rather than about his name. The film is pre-Code, so one thing is clear:  that Eva and the producer have slept together after she gets soused at the party.

[elcinelateleymickyandonie]

Lee Bowman.

Filmografía

- Clarence (1937) - Man in Cafe (sin acreditar)

- Swing High, Swing Low (1937) - Patrón de El Greco (sin acreditar)

- Los internos no pueden aceptar dinero (1937) - Semanas de internado

- Lo conocí en París (1937) - Berk Sutter

- El último tren de Madrid (1937) - Michael Balk

- Easy Living (1937) - Policía en motocicleta (sin acreditar)

- Sophie Lang va al oeste (1937) - Eddie Rollyn

- De esta manera, por favor (1937) - Stu Randall

- Los primeros cien años (1938) - George Wallace

- Tener un tiempo maravilloso (1938) - Buzzy Armbruster

- Un hombre para recordar (1938) - Dick Abbott

- Ángel deslustrado (1938) - Paul Montgommery

- La próxima vez que me case (1938) - Count Georgi

- Historia de amor (1939) - Kenneth Bradley

- Abogado de sociedad (1939) - Phil Siddall

- La dama y la mafia (1939) - Fred Leonard

- Más fuerte que el deseo (1939) - Michael McLain

- Milagros en venta (1939) - La Claire

- Dancing Co-Ed (1939) - Freddy Tobin

- Rápido y Furioso (1939) - Mike Stevens

- El gran Víctor Herbert (1939) - Dr. Richard Moore

- Florian (1940) - Archiduque Oliver

- Gold Rush Maisie (1940) - Bill Anders

- Wyoming (1940) - Sargento Connelly

- Tercer dedo, mano izquierda (1940) - Philip Booth

- Buck privados (1941) - Randolph Parker III

- Esposa modelo (1941) - Ralph Benson

- Washington Melodrama (1941) - Ronnie Colton

- Soltero casado (1941) - Eric Santley

- Diseño para el escándalo (1941) - Walter Caldwell

- Kid Glove Killer (1942) - Gerald Ladimer

- Bailamos (1942) - Hubert Tyler

- Pacific Rendezvous (1942) - Teniente Bill Gordon

- Tish (1942) - Charles 'Charlie' Sands - El sobrino de Tish

- Tres corazones para Julia (1943) - David Torrance

- Bataan (1943) - Capitán Henry Lassiter

- Chica de portada (1944) - Noel Wheaton

- Arriba en la habitación de Mabel (1944) Arthur Weldon

- Los años impacientes (1944) - Andy Anderson

- Esta noche y todas las noches (1945) - Líder de escuadrón Paul Lundy

- Ella no diría que sí (1945) - Michael Kent

- Las paredes se derrumbaron (1946) - Gilbert Archer

- Smash-Up, la historia de una mujer (1947) - Ken Conway

- Mi sueño es tuyo (1949) - Gary Mitchell

- Hay una chica en mi corazón (1949) - Terrence Dowd.

-Casa junto al río (1950) - John Byrne

- Youngblood Hawke (1964) - Jason Prince.

Créditos: Tomado de Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Bowman

#HONDURASQUEDATEENCASA

#ELCINELATELEYMICKYANDONIE

[todayclassical]

September 22 in Music History

1720 Birth of German composer and harpsichordist Adolph Karl Kunzen.

1729 Birth of composer George Wilhelm Gruber.

1733 Birth of composer Anton Filtz.

1737 Death of Italian composer Francesco Mancini in Naples. 

1767 Birth of Brazilian composer Jose Nunes Garcia in Rio de Janeiro. 

1755 Birth of German composer and violinist Christian Kalkbrenner in Minden. 

1854 Birth of American music critic and writer Henry T. Finck in Bethel, MO.

1869 FP of Wagner's Das Rheingold in Munich, without his permission. Conducted by Franz Wullner.  

1870 Birth of soprano Georgette Bréjean-Silver.

1870 Birth of American Ragtime composer Arthur Pryor. 

1871 Birth of Spanish soprano Josefina Huguet. 

1871 Birth of German tenor Alois Burgstaller in Holzkirchen.

1872 Birth of English conductor and pianist Walter Henry Rothwell in London. 

1872 Birth of composer Luis Villalba Munoz.

1875 Birth of Lithuanian composer and painter Mikolajus Ciurlionis.

1882 Birth of composer Emil Abranyi.

1883 Birth of Austrian music writer Robert Hernried.

1891 Birth of American tenor and composer Ralph Errolle in Chicago, IL.  

1892 Birth of German-American baritone Herbert Janssen in Cologne. 

1894 Birth of German soprano Elisabeth Rethberg. 

1894 Birth of Rumanian composer Michel G. Andrico in Bucarest.

1894 Birth of composer Hieronim Feicht.

1900 Birth of Russian tenor Ivan Danilovich Jadan in Lugansk. 

1904 Birth of Russia bass Alexei Ivanov in Chizhova.

1905 Death of French soprano Maria Celestine Galli-Marie' in Nice. 

1910 Birth of composer Wlement Slavicky.

1917 Birth of Italian soprano Adriana Guerrini in Florence. 

1918 Birth of Polish-Mexican violinist Henryk Szeryng.

1918 Birth of composer Archibald James Potter.

1922 Death of English baritone Sir Charles Santley, in London. 

1926 Birth of American composer and clarinetist William Overton Smith.

1929 Birth of Canadian composer Serge Garant in Quebec City, Quebec. 

1929 Birth of English violinist Hugh Bean in Beckenham, Kent. 

1930 Birth of American avant-garde composer Roger Hannay in Plattsburgh.

1931 Birth of Italian conductor Nello Santi.

1931 Birth of English Opera director Colin Graham.

1933 Birth of Spanish composer Leonardo Balada in Barcelona.

1938 FP of A. Webern's String Quartet, Op. 28. Berkshire Chamber Music Festival, at South Mountain, Pittsfield, MA.

1940 Birth of composer Edward Boguslawski.

1941 Birth of Bulgarian soprano Anna Tomowa-Sintow in Stara Zagora.

1945 Birth of Italian tenor Maurizio Frusoni in Rome. 

1946 Birth of English bass John Tomlinson in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. 

1953 Birth of Russian baritone Vladimir Chernov. 

1958 Birth of American composer Mark Kilstofte.

1961 Birth of American composer Michael Torke in Milwaukee, WI. 

1963 Birth of Italian tenor Luca Canonici in Montevarchi.

1964 FP of Broadway musical Fiddler On the Roof.

1971 FP of S. Barber's The Lovers for solo voice and chorus, based on a poem by Pablo Neruda, in Philadelphia.

1988 Death of Hungarian composer Rezsõ Sugár in Budapest. 

1989 Death of American composer Irving Berlin.

1990 FP of James MacMillan's The Beserking piano concerto. Peter Donohoue and the Royal Scottish Orchestra, Matthias Bamert conducting at Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow.

1990 FP of Christopher Rouse's Jagannath for orchestra. Houston Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach conducting.

2000 FP of E. T. Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy for piano and orchestra. Jeffrey Biegel and Cincinnati Symphony, Jesús Lopez-Cobos conducting.

2000 FP of Philip Glass' Tirol Concerto for piano and orchestra. Dennis Russell Davies, pianist, and conductor with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. 7th annual Klangspuren Festival in Schwaz, Tirol, Austria.

2001 Death of Russian-American violinist Isaac Stern.

[deborahwaikapohe]

Most of the composers of vocal music of our own day have either been ignorant of or have paid no attention to the capabilities of the human voice; and for this reason alone it is imperative that young singers should be perfectly exercised in the rudiments of singing, that they may know how to husband their resources, so as to avoid unnecessary 'wear and tear.' How many voices, originally sonorous and sympathetic, are utterly ruined through the study of un-vocal so-called dramatic music, before the rudiments of singing have been thoroughly mastered!

Sir Charles Santley, The art of singing and vocal declamation.

[francesbrooks-blog]

12-31 Great Musicians - Plate VI., 1895. Signor Foli (1837-1899), Edward Lloyd (1845-1927), Charles Santley (1834 -1922), Andrew Black (1859-1920) and Barton McGuckin (1852-1913). ... http://dlvr.it/Q8GPGl

[opera-ghosts]

   Ilma di Murska ( Ema Pukšec ) (February 6, 1834 – January 14, 1889),   Croatian soprano de Murska was a coloratura soprano with a range of three octaves. Her   career as Ilma de Murska started in 1862 in Florence, Italy as Lady   Harriet in Friedrich von Flotow's Martha. Some sources claim she debuted  as Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots. Her tour of Europe followed by performing in Budapest, Spain and Italy. After a string of 42   successful performances she went to Vienna as a guest artist and sang on  August 16, 1864 in Verdi's Il Trovatore. Her period in Vienna closed on  August 10, 1873 in a farewell performance, in which she played Ophelia  in the very first performance of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at the Vienna  Court Opera. Her most noted roles included the Queen of the Night in  Mozart's The Magic Flute and Lucia di Lammermoor. She also sang the  roles of Dinorah and Isabella in Robert le Diable London appearances were from 1865 until after 1873 and were generally   in connection with James Henry Mapleson's company. She made her London   debut as Lucia di Lammermoor at Her Majesty's Theatre. Her appearance as  Queen of the Night in 1865 was a great success In 1866 she sang   Meyerbeer's Dinorah. That autumn she played Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas's  Hamlet, with Charles Santley and Karl Formes, in London and on tour. In 1871 she was Isabella for Ernesto Nicolini's English debut, in Robert  le Diable She also took part in Mapleson's tours in Dublin between 1872  and 1876 . After leaving Vienna in 1873, she performed in Hamburg, Berlin and   Paris. In 1873-74, she toured United States. She also toured Russia,   Australia and New Zealand, and for a period of time she lectured at the music conservatory in New York City.  

[opera-ghosts]

The History of Faust The Opera by Charles François Gounod

In the matter of the libretto of "Faust" Gounod was fortunate in finding a coadjutor in M. Jules Barbier, one of the most fertile of French dramatic authors.  Meeting Gounod one day, Barbier confided to him that he wished to make an opera libretto out of "Faust."  Gounod jumped at an idea which he had himself secretly cherished for years, and the collaboration was arranged there and then.  Barbier proceeded to discuss the plan with his friend and habitual co-worker, M. Carré, who, curiously enough, had just had a small piece called Faust et Marguerite acted at the Gymnase.  On this work Carré had probably expended all the courage he possessed.  At any rate he accepted with the greatest stolidity the notion which already fired Barbier and Gounod with such enthusiasm.  The plot, he said, was worn out; it was too vast; it was not theatrical enough; and so on.  Still, though he had no faith in the project, he would take his usual share of the collaboration.  As it turned out, Carré’s share was very limited -- just enough, in fact, to enable him to claim to have his name connected with the immortal work.   At the end of the year the opera was finished.

Marie Caroline Miolan-Carvalho as Marguerite in Gounod's opera, Faust (1860)

Now came the question of finding a manager who would produce it.  One after another was tried in vain.  Roqueplan, described as the most Parisian, the shrewdest of business men, would have nothing to do with the work.  The plot, he averred, was out of date.  Imagine a theme of such human interest being ever out of date!  Alphonse Reyer succeeded Roqueplan at the Imperial Academy of Music, and to him the manuscript was next submitted.  "Not stagey enough," he exclaimed; and again "Faust" went on its travels.  At last the manager of the Théâtre Lyrique decided to give the almost despairing artists a chance.  Gounod’s score pleased him, he was good enough to say.  But, alas! the long-deferred hope was still further deferred.  A "Faust" by Dennery intervened, and delayed Gounod’s opera for a whole year. When at length the work was put in rehearsal, it was only to encounter fresh vicissitudes.  For many months, as we read in Marie de Bovet’s "Life of Gounod," the two librettists, the composer, and the manager, M. Carvalho, met in the latter’s office, and strange scenes were exacted sometimes until far into the night.  Carvalho was capricious, and day after day altered his mind about this or that.   Carré, doubtful of success as he had been from the first, yielded weakly to every whim.  Gounod protested, pleaded, threatened, and then yielded too, mainly out of deference to his nervous system, which always got excited by these encounters.  Barbier alone held out -- fought inch by inch to maintain the integrity of his work.  But for him these "epic battles" in the manager’s office might have resulted in a "Faust" very different from that which was finally brought to the test of a public interpretation on the 19th of March 1859.  It is told, indeed, that poor Barbier was so prostrated by the wranglings at these nocturnal sittings and by the worries of the rehearsals that he was unable to be present when the great night arrived. And what, then, was the immediate fate of a work which had involved so much preliminary toil and anxiety? Did Fortune smile on "Faust" that spring night? Alas! its hour of triumph was not yet come. "Decidedly the devil does not bring luck to M. Gounod," was the significant observation of a cynical "first-nighter." To say that the opera was a failure would be an exaggeration, but it certainly was not appreciated as it afterwards came to be appreciated. Scudo, of the Revue des Deux Mondes, prince of music critics, said it had only a waltz and a chorus; Berlioz (but then he was jealous) declared that the composer had not the smallest conception of the subject he sought to treat! A certain Martin d’Angers, thundering in a musical journal, concluded his notice with the hope that Gounod would never repeat the experiment. It was unlikely; masterpieces are not often duplicated. As for the public attitude, that can best be expressed by saying it was not hostile but hesitating. "The most contradictory feelings," writes one, "were manifested with regard to the new work, and opposing tides of opinion stemmed the regular current in one direction or the other." There was no enthusiasm. The Parisians went to the Théâtre Lyrique, but receipts were uncertain and success was slow. Manager Carvalho, convinced of the final triumph of the opera, perseveringly pushed it on to a fifty-seventh performance, at which point he failed and the theatre was closed -- a result the import of which does not require to be emphasised. Meanwhile, the composer had been trying to find a publisher for his score. But the publishers, like the managers, were shy. Nay, they shunned "Faust" as if it were the devil in propriâ personâ. Heugel wanted to print it, declaring that the waltz alone would cover the expense; but Heugel had a partner, and he decided that the firm could not publish a failure. It seemed as if Gounod and his librettists must undertake the printing at their own cost. They had, in fact, almost decided upon that course when the score was shown to one M. Choudens, who had just started business. Choudens resolved to risk all his capital on it. He bought "Faust" for 10,000 francs, and laid the foundation of the fortunes of his house. Rarely, indeed, has so hazardous an experiment met with so rich a reward. "Faust" has proved a veritable gold mine for the publishers and impresarios alike. In thirty years from the date of Choudens’ bold venture, the modest sum he so timidly advanced brought him in nearly three millions of francs, representing an investment at a thousand per cent. The English publishing right, it may be added, is conserved; but, happily for the popularity of the opera, the performing rights in England were lost to the composer. In this connection, a word or two may be said about the first performance of "Faust" in England.  It was at Her Majesty’s Theatre on June 12, 1863, and such was the dubiety as to the success of the opera even then that Messrs. Chappell, who had secured the publishing rights in this country for the ridiculous sum of £30 (curiously enough, Gounod received from Messrs. Boosey £800 for his next opera, "Mireille," which was never a success), had to pay Mr. Mapleson £500 to induce him to stage it!  The story is succinctly told in both Mr. Kuhe’s and Signor Arditi’s "Reminiscences."  In our days, as Mr. Kuhe observes, whenever, through unforeseen circumstances, it is necessary to substitute for the opera to be performed on a certain evening some other work, the choice of a manager generally lies between "Faust" and "Carmen."  In either case he feels that the disappointment of the audience will vanish as soon as the ear is greeted by the strains of Gounod or Bizet.  But bold indeed would have been accounted the prophet foretelling in 1863 a success so enduring as that which has fallen to Gounod’s great work. London gave by no means a favourable reception to the opera, though there was a very strong cast, including Titiens, Trebelli, Giuglini, and Santley.  Signor Arditi, who was then conductor at Her Majesty’s, tells how his orchestra cared so little for the music that he had to encourage them to persevere by the assurance that they would be delighted with it on a more intimate acquaintance.  At the performance nothing seemed to take the fancy of the audience but the old men’s and the Soldiers’ Chorus and the tenor air "Salve Dimora."  Signor Schira, who had just had an opera of his own produced at Her Majesty’s, was present, and at one part stopped his ears with his hands, exclaiming aloud:  "That is execrable.  It reminds me of a couple of cats squabbling on the tiles."  At the second representation the audience were mush less frigid; at the third the turning point on the road to success was reached.  Still, the work had many enemies, and encountered a great deal of opposition and unmerited abuse.  We have Arditi’s word for it that although it was constantly repeated, it was not a financial success during the first year. In the following year, 1864, pay and popularity joined hands in a grip that has "held" ever since.  Mario, the great tenor, then figures in the title-rôle -- in appearance and as an actor an ideal Faust, though vocally Faust was never one of his peerless parts.  Probably the very best Faust yet seen, from the point of view of personal appearance as well as vocally and dramatically, is Jean de Reszke, though Nicolini was also superb in the part.  Towards the end of the 1864 season Madame Patti appeared as the heroine, when for the first time was heard a Margaret such as Gounod might have dreamed of -- perfection of voice, singing, and acting being in the great diva personified.  "What a feast it was," exclaims the veteran Kuhe, "to hear the Jewel Song given at length with matchless excellence, and to see associated with the singer such a Faust as Mario looked!"  A few years later London opera-goers were sent into raptures by the appearance as Margaret of Christine Nilsson -- in looks an ideal Gretchen such as any student of Goethe might picture, and in dramatic intensity equal to any artist who had previously been seen in the rôle. The Margaret of the 1863 London production was, as has been indicated, the famous Titiens, but it was impossible to reconcile her tall and massive figure with the girlishness of an ideal Gretchen, though it is said that her singing of the passionate music in the church scene and final trio has never been surpassed.  In the Paris production of 1859 the Gretchen was Mme. Carvalho, the manager’s wife.  Her voice was described as "a thin, shrill soprano, as slender as her person, cut in two by three or four hasty notes -- a regular bird pipe."  The Jewel Song is often said to have been written expressly for her, but this is untrue.  It was with reluctance that she agreed to sing it, dreading lest her personal success might not sufficiently compensate for the strain on her voice.  Ultimately she conquered the natural defects of her voice until Gounod wrote of "that marvellous style and power of execution which have set her in the highest place among contemporary singers."

[elcinelateleymickyandonie]

Andrew Duggan.

Filmografía

- Clarence (1937) - Man in Cafe (sin acreditar)

- Swing High, Swing Low (1937) - Patrón de El Greco (sin acreditar)

- Los internos no pueden aceptar dinero (1937) - Semanas de internado

- Lo conocí en París (1937) - Berk Sutter

- El último tren de Madrid (1937) - Michael Balk

- Easy Living (1937) - Policía en motocicleta (sin acreditar)

- Sophie Lang va al oeste (1937) - Eddie Rollyn

- De esta manera, por favor (1937) - Stu Randall

- Los primeros cien años (1938) - George Wallace

- Tener un tiempo maravilloso (1938) - Buzzy Armbruster

- Un hombre para recordar (1938) - Dick Abbott

- Ángel deslustrado (1938) - Paul Montgommery

- La próxima vez que me case (1938) - Count Georgi

- Historia de amor (1939) - Kenneth Bradley

- Abogado de sociedad (1939) - Phil Siddall

- La dama y la mafia (1939) - Fred Leonard

- Más fuerte que el deseo (1939) - Michael McLain

- Milagros en venta (1939) - La Claire

- Dancing Co-Ed (1939) - Freddy Tobin

- Rápido y Furioso (1939) - Mike Stevens

- El gran Víctor Herbert (1939) - Dr. Richard Moore

- Florian (1940) - Archiduque Oliver

- Gold Rush Maisie (1940) - Bill Anders

- Wyoming (1940) - Sargento Connelly

- Tercer dedo, mano izquierda (1940) - Philip Booth

- Buck privados (1941) - Randolph Parker III

- Esposa modelo (1941) - Ralph Benson

- Washington Melodrama (1941) - Ronnie Colton

- Soltero casado (1941) - Eric Santley

- Diseño para el escándalo (1941) - Walter Caldwell

- Kid Glove Killer (1942) - Gerald Ladimer

- Bailamos (1942) - Hubert Tyler

- Pacific Rendezvous (1942) - Teniente Bill Gordon

- Tish (1942) - Charles 'Charlie' Sands - El sobrino de Tish

- Tres corazones para Julia (1943) - David Torrance

- Bataan (1943) - Capitán Henry Lassiter

- Chica de portada (1944) - Noel Wheaton

- Arriba en la habitación de Mabel (1944) Arthur Weldon

- Los años impacientes (1944) - Andy Anderson

- Esta noche y todas las noches (1945) - Líder de escuadrón Paul Lundy

- Ella no diría que sí (1945) - Michael Kent

- Las paredes se derrumbaron (1946) - Gilbert Archer

- Smash-Up, la historia de una mujer (1947) - Ken Conway

- Mi sueño es tuyo (1949) - Gary Mitchell

- Hay una chica en mi corazón (1949) - Terrence Dowd.

-Casa junto al río (1950) - John Byrne

- Youngblood Hawke (1964) - Jason Prince.

Créditos: Tomado de Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Bowman

#HONDURASQUEDATEENCASA

#ELCINELATELEYMICKYANDONIE

[opera-ghosts]

John Sims Reeves (21 October 1821  – 25 October 1900), usually called simply Sims Reeves, was the foremost English operatic, oratorio and ballad tenor vocalist of the mid-Victorian era.Reeves began his singing career in 1838 but continued his vocal studies until 1847.  He made his earliest appearance at Newcastle in 1838 or 1839 as the Gipsy boy in H. R. Bishop's Guy Mannering, and as Count Rodolfo in La sonnambula (baritone parts). In summer 1843 Reeves studied in Paris under the tenor and pedagogue Marco Bordogni of the Paris Conservatoire. From October 1843 to January 1844 Reeves appeared in a very varied programme of musical drama, including the roles of Elvino in La Sonnambula and Tom Tug in Charles Dibdin's The Waterman, at the Manchester theatre, and over the next two years also performed in Dublin, Liverpool and elsewhere in the provinces He continued his studies at the Milan Conservatory. His debut in Italian opera was made on 29 October 1846 at La Scala in Milan as Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. In September 1847 he sang in Edinburgh with Jenny Lind  In the same season, in Balfe's The Maid of Honour (based on the subject of Flotow's Martha), he created the part of Lyonnel. In May 1848 he joined Benjamin Lumley's company at Her Majesty's Theatre and sang Linda di Chamounix with Eugenia Tadolini, but he severed the connection when Italo Gardoni was brought in to sing Edgardo in Lucia opposite Jenny Lind.But that autumn in Manchester he sang in Lucia and La Sonnambula, days after Lind appeared in the same works there, and Reeves obtained the better houses. Reeves sang La Sonnambula and Lucia at Covent Garden  In February 1848 he sang Handel's Judas Maccabaeus,  In the winter of 1849 he returned to English opera, and in 1850 at Her Majesty's he made a further great success in Verdi's Ernani, Dublin was followed immediately by Lumley engagements at the Théâtre des Italiens, Paris, where he sang Ernani, Carlo in Linda di Chamounix (opposite Henriette Sontag) and Gennaro in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia.[29] In 1851 Reeves sang Florestan in Fidelio  After touring  as Huon, Edgardo and in the title role of Gounod's Faust,   in Dublin, in 1864 he appeared at Her Majesty's in Faust and was especially complimented for the dramatic instinct of Faust's soliloquy in Act I and the superb energy of the duet with Mephistopheles which closes the Act.  Reeves's reviewer in this role remarks on the fine condition of his voice at this date.  In Michael Costa's second oratorio for Reeves, Naaman (first performed autumn 1864), the soloists were Reeves, Adelina Patti (her first appearance in oratorio), Miss Palmer, and Santley. Reeves claimed close and primary association with several of the great tenor leads in the oratorios of Handel and Mendelssohn.  

[opera-ghosts]

The Birmingham Musical Festival of 1867 

by Henry Joseph Whitlock 

Sitters

John Francis Barnett (1837-1916), Composer and pianist; Professor, Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music. 

Sir Julius Benedict (1804-1885), Conductor and composer. 

Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875), Composer. 

Sir Michael Andrew Angus Costa (né Michele Andrea Agniello) (1808-1884), Composer and conductor. 

William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915), Singer and musical antiquary; Principal of the Guildhall School of Music. 

Sir William George Cusins (1833-1893), Pianist and conductor. 

Helen Lemmens-Sherrington (1834-1906), Operatic singer. 

Christine Nilsson (1843-1921), Singer. 

Janet Monach Patey (née Whytock) (1842-1894), Singer. 

(John) Sims Reeves (1818-1900), Singer. 

Prosper Philippe Catherine Sainton (1813-1890), Violinist. 

Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (1821-1885), Singer and composer. 

Sir Charles Santley (1834-1922), Baritone singer. 

James Stimpson (1820-1886), Organist. 

(Johanna) Therese Carolina Tietjens (Titiens) (1831-1877), Opera singer. 

Willoughby Hunter Weiss (1820-1867), Singer and composer.

[opera-ghosts]

The Birmingham Musical Festival of 1867

by Henry Joseph Whitlock albumen cabinet card, 1868

© National Portrait Gallery, London 

Sitters

John Francis Barnett (1837-1916), Composer and pianist; Professor, Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music.

Sir Julius Benedict (1804-1885), Conductor and composer. 

Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875), Composer. 

Sir Michael Andrew Angus Costa (né Michele Andrea Agniello) (1808-1884), Composer and conductor. 

William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915), Singer and musical antiquary; Principal of the Guildhall School of Music. 

Helen Lemmens-Sherrington (1834-1906), Operatic singer. 

Christine Nilsson (1843-1921), Singer.

Janet Monach Patey (née Whytock) (1842-1894), Singer. 

(John) Sims Reeves (1818-1900), Singer. 

Prosper Philippe Catherine Sainton (1813-1890), Violinist. 

Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (1821-1885), Singer and composer. 

Sir Charles Santley (1834-1922), Baritone singer.

James Stimpson (1820-1886), Organist.

(Johanna) Therese Carolina Tietjens (Titiens) (1831-1877), Opera singer. 

Willoughby Hunter Weiss (1820-1867), Singer and composer. 

[todayclassical]

February 28 in Music History

1688 FP of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's opera David and Jonathas in Paris.

1714 Birth of castrato Gioacchino Conti (Gizziello) in Arpino.  

1739 Publication in London by music publisher John Walsh, Jr. of Handel's Trio Sonatas, Op. 5.

1747 Birth of American composer and horse breeder Justin Morgan.

1758 Birth of castrato Domenico Luigi Bruni in Umbertide. 

1796 Death of German composer Friedrich Rust in Dessau. 

1808 Birth of English harpist and composer Elias Parish-Alvars.

1834 Birth of baritone Charles Santley.

1837 Death of bass-baritone Luigi Zamboni. 1857 Birth of American composer and conductor Gustave Kerker in Herford.

1858 Birth of mezzo-soprano Marie Brema.

1860 Birth of baritone Mario Ancona.

1862 FP of Gounod's opera The Queen of Sheba in Paris. 1876 Birth of American composer John Alden Carpentier, in Park Ridge, IL.  1877 Birth of Russian pianist and composer Sergei Bortkiewicz in Kharkov.  1882 Birth of American soprano Geraldine Farrar, in Melrose, MA. 

1882 Birth of tenor Octave Dua.

1882 The Royal College of Music is founded in London. 1888 Birth of French conductor Eugene Bigot in Rennes. 

1888 FP of P. I. Tchaikovsky's Pezzo capriccioso for cello with an arrangement for piano accompaniment in Paris. 

1895 Birth of Brazilian pianist Ms. Guiomar Novaes in Sao Joao da Bao Vista, Brazil.  1898 FP of V. Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 2.

1904 Birth of soprano Maria Laurenti.

1904 FP of Vincent d'Indy's Symphony No. 2 in Paris. 

1907 Death of contralto Rosina Brandram.

1908 Death of soprano Paulie Lucca.

1912 FP of Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 3 Sinfonia Espansiva and Violin Concerto, soloist Emil Telmányi, composer conducting in Copenhagen.

1915 Birth of American music editor and music librarian of the Library of Congress William Lichtenwanger, in Asheville, NC. 1917 Birth of English conductor and harpsichordist George Malcolm.  

1926 Birth of American composer Seymour Shifrin. 

1927 Birth of tenor Ragnar Ulfung.

1929 Birth of bass Joseph Rouleau.

1929 FP of Ildebrando Pizzetti's Concerto dell'estate 'Summer Concerto'. New York Philharmonic, Arturo Toscanini conducting.

1934 Birth of soprano Sylvia Geszty.

1936 FP of Roy Harris' Symphony No. 2. Boston Symphony. Prelude and Fugue for strings, Philadelphia Orchestra.

1940 FP of Henry Cowell's Old American Country Set in Indianapolis. 

1942 Birth of bass-baritone Alexander Malta.

1949 Birth of American composer Meira Warshauer.

1950 Birth of American composer Stephen Chatman in Minnesota.

1953 Death of bass Felix Vieuille. 

1958 Death of mezzo-soprano Alice Gentle.

1960 Birth of Russian composer Dmitri Capyrin in Moscow.

1961 Birth of Finnish composer Petri Kuljuntausta in Tampere.

1965 Birth of German conductor Marcus Stenz.

1968 Birth of American composer Charles Griffin in Richmond, NY.

1976 Death of tenor Fritz Krauss.

1976 FP of Ralph Shapey's oratorio Praise in Chicago.

1994 FP of George Tsontakis' Winter Lightning fourth of Four Symphonic Quartets from poems by T.S. Eliot. Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz conducting.

2000 Death of tenor Amedeo Zambon.

[francesbrooks-blog]

12-27 Great Musicians - Plate VI., 1895. Signor Foli (1837-1899), Edward Lloyd (1845-1927), Charles Santley (1834 -1922), Andrew Black (1859-1920) and Barton McGuckin (1852-1913). ... http://dlvr.it/Q7k3vm

[francesbrooks-blog]

12-24 Great Musicians - Plate VI., 1895. Signor Foli (1837-1899), Edward Lloyd (1845-1927), Charles Santley (1834 -1922), Andrew Black (1859-1920) and Barton McGuckin (1852-1913). ... http://dlvr.it/Q7RjCv

[francesbrooks-blog]

12-23 Great Musicians - Plate VI., 1895. Signor Foli (1837-1899), Edward Lloyd (1845-1927), Charles Santley (1834 -1922), Andrew Black (1859-1920) and Barton McGuckin (1852-1913). ... http://dlvr.it/Q7KXsV