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156-401: Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs . A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald . He was one of

312-564: A Dramatic Baritone with greater ease in the upper tessitura (Verdi Baritone roles center approximately a minor third higher). Because the Verdi Baritone is sometimes seen as a subset of the Dramatic Baritone, some singers perform roles from both sets of repertoire. Similarly, the lower tessitura of these roles allows them frequently to be sung by bass-baritones. Dramatic baritone roles in opera: The baryton-noble baritone

468-650: A Wagner specialist, sang John when the opera reached the Met in 1907). Then, in 1925, Germany's Leo Schützendorf created the title baritone role in Alban Berg 's harrowing Wozzeck . In a separate development, the French composer Claude Debussy 's post-Wagnerian masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande featured not one but two lead baritones at its 1902 premiere. These two baritones, Jean Périer and Hector Dufranne , possessed contrasting voices. (Dufranne – sometimes classed as

624-512: A bass-baritone – had a darker, more powerful instrument than did Périer, who was a true baryton-Martin.) Characteristic of the Wagnerian baritones of the 20th century was a general progression of individual singers from higher-lying baritone parts to lower-pitched ones. This was the case with Germany's Hans Hotter . Hotter made his debut in 1929. As a young singer he appeared in Verdi and created

780-503: A boy, he was a strawberry blond and quickly acquired the nickname "Bricktop". As an adult, his reddish hair prematurely whitened, so his hair photographed as blond. He came from a musical family. His Atlanta -born mother was a church soloist, and his grandmother, Caroline Netta Ackerman Kendrick, was a distinguished oratorio singer. His father occasionally moonlighted as a stagehand at the Providence Opera House, sang in

936-433: A brilliant new score (his most subtle yet) to a scintillating libretto. ... Iolanthe is the work in which Sullivan's operetta style takes a definite step forward, and metamorphosis of musical themes is its characteristic new feature. ... By recurrence and metamorphosis of themes Sullivan made the score more fluid". Sullivan's overture was superior in structure and orchestration to those that his assistants had constructed for

1092-451: A broadcast of Richard Wagner 's opera Parsifal with Rose Bampton , conducted by Leopold Stokowski . During the 1940s, he was a frequent guest on Lux Radio Theater with Cecil B. DeMille , performing radio versions of Eddy's popular films. In 1951, Eddy guest-starred on several episodes of The Alan Young Show on CBS -TV. In 1952, he recorded a pilot for a sitcom , Nelson Eddy's Backyard , with Jan Clayton , but it failed to find

1248-508: A career lasting from 1935 to 1966, the Bolshoi 's Pavel Lisitsian . Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sergei Leiferkus are two Russian baritones of the modern era who appear regularly in the West. Like Lisitsian, they sing Verdi and the works of their native composers, including Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades . In the realm of French song, the bass-baritone José van Dam and

1404-990: A chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society. By the late 1920s, Eddy was appearing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and had a repertoire of roles in 28 operas, including Amonasro in Aida , Marcello in La bohème , Papageno in The Magic Flute , Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro , both Tonio and Silvio in Pagliacci , and Wolfram in Tannhäuser . Eddy performed in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with

1560-519: A chap remains"). The fairies arrive and tease the peers about Strephon's parliamentary success; he is advancing a bill to open the peerage to competitive examination ("Strephon's a member of Parliament"). The peers ask the fairies to stop Strephon's mischief, stating that the House of Peers is not susceptible of any improvement ("When Britain really ruled the waves"). Although the fairies say that they cannot stop Strephon, they have become strongly attracted to

1716-418: A distinguished, brighter-voiced Wagnerian rival during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s in the person of Thomas Stewart of America. Other notable post-War Wagnerian baritones have been Canada's George London , Germany's Hermann Uhde and, more recently, America's James Morris . Among the late-20th-century baritones noted throughout the opera world for their Verdi performances was Vladimir Chernov , who emerged from

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1872-524: A former Metropolitan Opera singer, but when Bispham died suddenly, Eddy became a student of William Vilonat . In 1927, Eddy borrowed some money and followed his teacher to Dresden for further study in Europe, which was then considered essential for serious American singers. He was offered a job with a small German opera company. Instead, he decided to return to America, where he concentrated on his concert career, making only occasional opera appearances during

2028-576: A grown son, as one of the advantages of a fairy's immortality is that they never grow old. Strephon, a handsome Arcadian shepherd, arrives and meets his aunts ("Good-morrow, good mother"). He tells Iolanthe of his love for the Lord Chancellor 's ward of court , the beautiful Phyllis, who does not know of Strephon's mixed origin. Strephon is despondent, however, as the Lord Chancellor has forbidden them to marry, partly because he feels that

2184-606: A handwritten "Lake Tahoe" entry. After their 1943 visit, Eddy wrote a lengthy diary entry about their trip and his love for her, calling her "my wife", which he did in private to the end of her life. On March 5, 1967, Eddy was performing at the Sans Souci Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida when he was stricken on stage with a cerebral hemorrhage . According to Gore Vidal , writing in Myra Breckinridge , he

2340-512: A home recording studio , where he studied his own performances. It was his fascination with technology that inspired him to record three-part harmonies ( tenor , baritone, & bass) for his role as a multiple-voiced singing whale in the animated Walt Disney feature, "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", the concluding sequence in the 1946 feature film Make Mine Music . With the Philadelphia Civic Opera, Eddy sang in

2496-568: A jam-packed audience in his hip pocket in one of the most explosive openings in this city's nightery history.... Before Eddy had even started to sing, they liked him personally as a warm human being". The act continued for the next 15 years and made four tours of Australia . Eddy married Ann Denitz Franklin, former wife of noted director Sidney Franklin , on January 19, 1939. Her son, Sidney Jr., became Eddy's stepson, but Nelson and she had no children of their own. They were married for 27 years, until Nelson's death. Ann Eddy died on August 28, 1987. She

2652-405: A job in an iron works factory and then spent ten years as a newspaper reporter. He was fired for paying more attention to music than to journalism. His first professional break came in 1922, when the press singled him out after an appearance in a society theatrical, The Marriage Tax , although his name had been omitted from the program. In 1924, Eddy won the top prize in a competition that included

2808-563: A lyric baritone and with a darker quality. Its common range is from the G half an octave below low C to the G above middle C (G 2 to G 4 ). The dramatic baritone category corresponds roughly to the Heldenbariton in the German Fach system except that some Verdi baritone roles are not included. The primo passaggio and secondo passaggio of both the Verdi and dramatic baritone are at B ♭ and E ♭ respectively, hence

2964-679: A male-dominated world through the discovery of mortal love. Iolanthe opened in London on 25 November 1882, at the Savoy Theatre to a warm reception, and ran for 398 performances, the fourth consecutive hit by Gilbert and Sullivan. It was the first work to premiere at the Savoy (although Patience had transferred to the theatre in 1881) and was the first new theatre production in the world to be illuminated entirely with electric lights, permitting some special effects that had not been possible in

3120-758: A network slot. On November 12, 1952, he surprised his former co-star Jeanette MacDonald when she was the subject of Ralph Edwards ' This Is Your Life . On November 30, 1952, Eddy was Ed Sullivan 's guest on Toast of the Town . During the next decade, he guest-starred on Danny Thomas 's sitcom Make Room for Daddy and on variety programs such as The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford , The Bob Hope Show , The Colgate Comedy Hour , The Spike Jones Show , The Dinah Shore Chevy Show . His television reunions with Jeanette MacDonald included Lux Video Theater and The Big Record (with Patti Page ). Both appearances were highly successful but MacDonald's health

3276-483: A new opera to Arthur Sullivan in October 1881. Gilbert's earliest ideas for the story of Iolanthe originated in his Bab Ballad , "The Fairy Curate": "Once a fairy / Light and airy / Married with a mortal". The fairy marries a "prosaic" attorney and bears him a son. After her son grows up, she visits him on Earth, but she is mistaken for his lover, since fairies perpetually appear young and beautiful. Sullivan found

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3432-684: A point of delivering a traditional concert repertoire, performing his hit screen songs only as encores. He felt strongly that audiences needed to be exposed to all kinds of music. Eddy was "discovered" by Hollywood when he substituted at the last minute for the noted diva Lotte Lehmann at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles on February 28, 1933. He scored a professional triumph with 18 curtain calls, and several film offers immediately followed. After much agonizing, he decided that being seen on screen might boost audiences for what he considered his "real work", his concerts. (Also, like his machinist father, he

3588-593: A series of dramatic situations that ends with the confrontation between the fairies and peers. Gilbert, too, was influenced by earlier works, including The Mountain Sylph by John Barnett . Two characters in Iolanthe , Strephon and Phyllis, are described as Arcadian shepherds. Arcadia was a legendary site of rural perfection, first described by the Ancient Greeks , that was a popular setting for writers of

3744-454: A shepherd is unsuitable for Phyllis, but partly because the Lord Chancellor wishes to marry Phyllis himself. In fact, so do half the members of Britain's House of Lords . The Fairy Queen promises her assistance ("Fare thee well, attractive stranger"). Soon Phyllis arrives, and she and Strephon share a moment of tenderness as they plan their future and possible elopement ("Good-morrow, good lover"; "None shall part us from each other"). A cadre of

3900-401: A small Burbank house located at 812 S Mariposa Street. In the 1940s, Nelson leased and remodeled, for himself and MacDonald, the old cowboy bunkhouse at 1330 Angelo Drive, Beverly Hills. Starting in 1947, they used 710 N. Camden Drive, which had been the home of MacDonald's mother until her death. They also alternately stayed at favorite hotels and homes owned by their celebrity friends throughout

4056-495: A small but precious legacy of benchmark Handel recordings during the 1920s and 1930s. (Dawson, incidentally, acquired his outstanding Handelian technique from Sir Charles Santley.) Yet another Australian baritone of distinction between the wars was Harold Williams , who was based in the United Kingdom. Important British-born baritones of the 1930s and 1940s were Dennis Noble , who sang Italian and English operatic roles, and

4212-428: A subset of the Dramatic Baritone. Its common range is from the G below low C to the B ♭ above middle C (G 2 to B ♭ 4 ). A Verdi baritone refers to a voice capable of singing consistently and with ease in the highest part of the baritone range. It will generally have a lot of squillo . Verdi baritone roles in opera: The dramatic baritone is a voice that is richer, fuller, and sometimes harsher than

4368-409: A tenor. Baryton-Martin roles in opera: The lyric baritone is a sweeter, milder sounding baritone voice, lacking in harshness; lighter and perhaps mellower than the dramatic baritone with a higher tessitura . Its common range is from the A below C 3 to the G above middle C (A 2 to G 4 ). It is typically assigned to comic roles. Lyric baritone roles in opera: The Kavalierbariton baritone

4524-444: A time the piece was advertised as Perola and rehearsed under that name. According to an often-repeated myth, Gilbert and Sullivan did not change the name to Iolanthe until just before the première. In fact, however, the title was advertised as Iolanthe as early as 13 November 1882 – eleven days before the opening – so the cast had at least that much time to learn the name. It is also clear that Sullivan's musical setting

4680-743: A two-month, 35,000-mile tour, giving concerts for military personnel in Belém and Natal , Brazil; Accra , Gold Coast ; Aden ; Asmara , Eritrea ; Cairo (where he met King Farouk ); Tehran ; Casablanca ; and the Azores . Because he spoke fluent German, having studied opera in Dresden during the 1920s, his work as an Allied spy was invaluable until his cover was blown with a near-fatal assignment in Cairo. Eddy had his own show on CBS (1942–1943) and starred on The Electric Hour (1944-1946). His version of

4836-404: A work of art [include] the peers entering in the full pomp of their formal robes, magnificent and ridiculous." Among many pot-shots that Gilbert takes at lawyers in this opera, the Lord Chancellor sings that, as a young lawyer, he decided to "work on a new and original plan" similar to the practice in other professions, that diligence, honesty, honour and merit should lead to promotion. Gilbert uses

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4992-409: A young woman (not knowing that it is his mother – immortal fairies all appear young), she assumes the worst and sets off a climactic confrontation between the peers and the fairies. The opera satirises many aspects of British government, law and society. The confrontation between the fairies and the peers is a version of one of Gilbert's favourite themes: a tranquil civilisation of women is disrupted by

5148-548: A younger generation include Olaf Bär , Matthias Goerne , Wolfgang Holzmair and Johannes Sterkel (which are also performing or have performed regularly in opera), Thomas Quasthoff , Stephan Genz  [ de ] and Christian Gerhaher . Well-known non-Germanic baritones of recent times have included the Italians Giorgio Zancanaro and Leo Nucci , the Frenchman François le Roux ,

5304-714: Is French for "noble baritone" and describes a part that requires a noble bearing, smooth vocalisation and forceful declamation, all in perfect balance. This category originated in the Paris Opera , but it greatly influenced Verdi (Don Carlo in Ernani and La forza del destino ; Count Luna in Il trovatore ; Simon Boccanegra ) and Wagner as well ( Wotan ; Amfortas ). Similar to the Kavalierbariton. Baryton-noble roles in opera are: The bass-baritone range extends from

5460-422: Is a metallic voice that can sing both lyric and dramatic phrases, a manly, noble baritonal color. Its common range is from the A below low C to the G above middle C (A 2 to G 4 ). Not quite as powerful as the Verdi baritone who is expected to have a powerful appearance on stage, perhaps muscular or physically large. Kavalierbariton roles in opera: The Verdi baritone is a more specialized voice category and

5616-411: Is bound not to "undeceive" him, under penalty of death. However, to save Strephon from losing his love, Iolanthe resolves to present his case to the Lord Chancellor while veiled ("My lord, a suppliant at your feet"). Although the Lord Chancellor is moved by her appeal, which evokes the memory of his wife, he declares that he himself will marry Phyllis. Desperate, Iolanthe unveils, ignoring the warnings of

5772-493: Is buried next to Eddy and Eddy's mother in Hollywood Forever Cemetery . Eddy was a Republican . Despite public denials from the stars themselves of any personal relationship between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, documentation shows otherwise. In a handwritten 1935 letter by Nelson to "Dearest Jeanette", written on his letterhead, Nelson Eddy wrote: "I love you and will always be devoted to you." In

5928-431: Is found only in a "lowly" cottage ("My well-loved Lord" and "Nay, tempt me not"). The peers beg her not to scorn them simply because of their " blue blood " ("Spurn not the nobly born" and "My lords, it may not be"). Strephon approaches the Lord Chancellor, pleading that Nature bids him marry Phyllis. But the Lord Chancellor wryly notes that Strephon has not presented sufficient evidence that Nature has interested herself in

6084-430: Is miserable at losing Phyllis. He sees Phyllis and reveals to her that his mother is a fairy, which accounts for her apparent youth ("If we're weak enough to tarry"). Phyllis and Strephon ask Iolanthe to plead with the Lord Chancellor to allow their marriage, for "none can resist your fairy eloquence." This is impossible, she replies, for the Lord Chancellor is her husband. He believes Iolanthe to have died childless, and she

6240-465: Is not known whether Irving replied. Iolanthe premiered only three days after Patience closed at the Savoy. The Savoy Theatre, opened only a year earlier, was a state-of-the-art facility, the first theatre in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. Patience had transferred to the Savoy from the Opera Comique , upon the theatre's opening, but Iolanthe was the first show to premiere at

6396-404: Is often called the first true baritone role. However, Donizetti and Verdi in their vocal writing went on to emphasize the top fifth of the baritone voice, rather than its lower notes—thus generating a more brilliant sound. Further pathways opened up when the musically complex and physically demanding operas of Richard Wagner began to enter the mainstream repertory of the world's opera houses during

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6552-542: Is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert and Sullivan . In the opera, the fairy Iolanthe has been banished from fairyland because she married a mortal; this is forbidden by fairy law. Her son, Strephon, is an Arcadian shepherd who wants to marry Phyllis, a Ward of Chancery . All the members of the House of Peers also want to marry Phyllis. When Phyllis sees Strephon hugging

6708-791: The Evening Public Ledger , and the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin . He also worked briefly as a copywriter at N.W. Ayer Advertising, but was dismissed for constantly singing on the job. Eddy never returned to school, but educated himself with correspondence courses. Eddy developed his talent as a boy soprano in church choirs. Throughout his teens, Eddy studied voice and imitated the recordings of baritones such as Titta Ruffo , Antonio Scotti , Pasquale Amato , Giuseppe Campanari , and Reinald Werrenrath . He gave recitals for women's groups and appeared in society theatricals, usually for little or no pay. He had

6864-546: The Bayreuth Festival in the 1890s; Giuseppe Campanari ; Antonio Magini-Coletti ; Mario Ancona (chosen to be the first Silvio in Pagliacci ); and Antonio Scotti , who came to the Met from Europe in 1899 and remained on the roster of singers until 1933. Antonio Pini-Corsi was the standout Italian buffo baritone in the period between about 1880 and World War I , reveling in comic opera roles by Rossini, Donizetti and Paer , among others. In 1893, he created

7020-667: The Savoy Company , the oldest amateur theater company in the world devoted exclusively to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. With Savoy, Eddy sang the leading role of Strephon in Iolanthe at the Broad Street Theatre in Philadelphia in 1922. The next year, he played the role of Major-General Stanley in Savoy's production of The Pirates of Penzance . He reprised the role of Strephon with Savoy in 1927, when

7176-434: The Savoy Theatre a year earlier. Sullivan was still composing more numbers for the opera until 20 October, with a few modifications continuing into early November. Uncharacteristically, Sullivan composed the overture himself, instead of assigning it to an assistant. Two casts rehearsed simultaneously, as the opera was to open on the same night in London and New York City, a historic first for any play. Gilbert had targeted

7332-577: The fifth above the bass root) and to complete a chord. On the other hand, the baritone will occasionally find himself harmonizing above the melody, which calls for a tenor-like quality. Because the baritone fills the chord, the part is often not very melodic. Iolanthe Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri ( / aɪ . oʊ ˈ l æ n θ i / ) is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert , first performed in 1882. It

7488-594: The gramophone was invented early enough to capture on disc the voices of the top Italian Verdi and Donizetti baritones of the last two decades of the 19th century, whose operatic performances were characterized by considerable re-creative freedom and a high degree of technical finish. They included Mattia Battistini (known as the "King of Baritones"), Giuseppe Kaschmann (born Josip Kašman ) who, atypically, sang Wagner's Telramund and Amfortas not in Italian but in German, at

7644-468: The peers of the realm arrive in noisy splendour ("Loudly let the trumpet bray") with the Lord Chancellor ("The law is the true embodiment"). They are all smitten with Phyllis, and they have appealed to the Lord Chancellor to decide who will have her hand. The Lord Chancellor hesitates to act upon his own regard for Phyllis due to his position as her guardian. The Lords send for Phyllis to choose one of their number, but she will not marry any of them, as virtue

7800-469: The soundtrack of the 1933 Pete Smith short Handlebars . He appeared and sang one song each in Broadway to Hollywood and Dancing Lady , both in 1933, and Student Tour in 1934. Audience response was favorable, and he was cast as the male lead opposite the established star Jeanette MacDonald in the 1935 film version of Victor Herbert 's 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta . Naughty Marietta

7956-413: The "fairy law" as a proxy for mortal law, in which an "equity draughtsman" can, with "the insertion of a single word", change the entire meaning of the law. Crowther notes: "All kinds of tone ... mingle in this opera: whimsy, fantasy, romance, wit and political satire." Iolanthe had a successful initial run in London of 398 performances, spanning the holiday seasons of both 1882 and 1883. Gilbert designed

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8112-806: The 1910 best-seller, which Eddy had read as a teen and pitched to MGM as a "comeback" film for MacDonald and himself in 1948. Under the name "Isaac Ackerman" he wrote a biopic screenplay about Chaliapin , in which he was to play the lead and also a young Nelson Eddy, but it was never produced. He also wrote two movie treatments for MacDonald and himself, Timothy Waits for Love and All Stars Don't Spangle . Eddy made more than 290 recordings between 1935 and 1964, singing songs from his films, plus opera, folk songs, popular songs, Gilbert and Sullivan, and traditional arias from his concert repertoire. Since both MacDonald and he were under contract to RCA Victor between 1935 and 1938, this made it possible to include several popular duets from their films. In 1938, he signed with

8268-533: The 1930s and 1940s, and he continued to get good reviews into the 1960s. The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner on October 4, 1964, noted: "Nelson Eddy continues to roll along, physically and vocally indestructible. Proof is his newest recording on the Everest label, "Of Girls I Sing". At the age of 63 and after 42 years of professional singing, Eddy demonstrates not much change has occurred in his romantic and robust baritone, which made him America's most popular singer in

8424-567: The 19th century although, generally speaking, his operas were not revered to the same extent that they are today by music critics and audiences. Back then, baritones rather than high basses normally sang Don Giovanni – arguably Mozart's greatest male operatic creation. Famous Dons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries included Scotti and Maurel, as well as Portugal's Francisco D'Andrade and Sweden's John Forsell . The verismo baritone, Verdi baritone, and other subtypes are mentioned below, though not necessarily in 19th-century context. The dawn of

8580-501: The 19th century. Gilbert had written an earlier work called Happy Arcadia . He had also created several "fairy comedies" at the Haymarket Theatre in the early 1870s. These plays, influenced by the fairy work of James Planché , are founded upon the idea of self-revelation by characters under the influence of some magic or some supernatural interference. Several of Iolanthe's themes are continued from Patience , including

8736-893: The 20th century opened up more opportunities for baritones than ever before as a taste for strenuously exciting vocalism and lurid, "slice-of-life" operatic plots took hold in Italy and spread elsewhere. The most prominent verismo baritones included such major singers in Europe and America as the polished Giuseppe De Luca (the first Sharpless in Madama Butterfly ), Mario Sammarco (the first Gerard in Andrea Chénier ), Eugenio Giraldoni (the first Scarpia in Tosca ), Pasquale Amato (the first Rance in La fanciulla del West ), Riccardo Stracciari (noted for his richly attractive timbre ) and Domenico Viglione Borghese , whose voice

8892-575: The American-born but also Paris-based baritone of the 1920s, and 1930s Arthur Endreze . Also to be found singing Verdi roles at the Met, Covent Garden and the Vienna Opera during the late 1930s and the 1940s was the big-voiced Hungarian baritone, Sandor (Alexander) Sved . The leading Verdi baritones of the 1970s and 1980s were probably Italy's Renato Bruson and Piero Cappuccilli , America's Sherrill Milnes , Sweden's Ingvar Wixell and

9048-577: The Canadians Gerald Finley and James Westman and the versatile American Thomas Hampson , his compatriot Nathan Gunn and the Englishman Simon Keenlyside . The vocal range of the baritone lies between the bass and the tenor voice types . The baritone vocal range is usually between the second G below middle C (G 2 ) and the G above middle C (G 4 ). Composers typically write music for this voice in

9204-541: The Columbia Masterworks division of Columbia Records , which ended MacDonald-Eddy duets until Favorites in Stereo , a special LP album the two made together in 1959. He also recorded duets with his other screen partner, Risë Stevens ( The Chocolate Soldier ), and for albums with, among others, Nadine Conner , Doretta Morrow , Eleanor Steber , and Jo Stafford . Eddy's recordings drew rave reviews during

9360-684: The Commandant in Richard Strauss's Friedenstag and Olivier in Capriccio . By the 1950s, however, he was being hailed as the top Wagnerian bass-baritone in the world. His Wotan was especially praised by critics for its musicianship. Other major Wagnerian baritones have included Hotter's predecessors Leopold Demuth , Anton van Rooy, Hermann Weil , Clarence Whitehill , Friedrich Schorr , Rudolf Bockelmann and Hans-Hermann Nissen . Demuth, van Rooy, Weil and Whitehill were at their peak in

9516-578: The English-speaking world, and the opera continues to be performed regularly today. The Internet Broadway Database lists 20 productions of the opera on Broadway alone. The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime (not including touring companies): The following tables show the casts of the principal original productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to

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9672-413: The F below low C to the F or F ♯ above middle C (F 2 to F 4 or F ♯ 4 ). Bass-baritones are typically divided into two separate categories: lyric bass-baritone and dramatic bass-baritone. Lyric bass-baritone roles in opera include: Dramatic bass-baritone roles in opera include: All of Gilbert and Sullivan 's Savoy operas have at least one lead baritone character (frequently

9828-504: The Fairy Queen ("Iolanthe! From thy dark exile thou art summoned"), Iolanthe rises from the frog-infested stream that has been her home in exile. The Queen, unable to bear punishing her any longer, pardons Iolanthe, who is warmly greeted by the other fairies. Iolanthe tells her sisters that she has a son, Strephon, noting that he's a fairy down to the waist, but his legs are mortal. The fairies laugh that Iolanthe appears too young to have

9984-413: The London production in 1864 so that the leading baritone would have an aria. A couple of primitive cylinder recordings dating from about 1900 have been attributed by collectors to the dominant French baritone of the 1860s and 1870s, Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830–1914), the creator of Posa in Verdi's original French-language version of Don Carlos . It is doubtful, however, that Faure (who retired in 1886) made

10140-476: The Mozartian Roy Henderson . Both appeared often at Covent Garden. Prior to World War II, Germany's Heinrich Schlusnus, Gerhard Hüsch and Herbert Janssen were celebrated for their beautifully sung lieder recitals as well as for their mellifluous operatic performances in Verdi, Mozart, and Wagner respectively. After the war's conclusion, Hermann Prey and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau appeared on

10296-879: The Priest of Dagon in Samson and Delilah , Escamillo in Carmen , Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles , Lescaut in Manon , Athanael in Thaïs and Herod in Hérodiade . Russian composers included substantial baritone parts in their operas. Witness the title roles in Peter Tchaikovsky 's Eugene Onegin (which received its first production in 1879) and Alexander Borodin 's Prince Igor (1890). Mozart continued to be sung throughout

10452-486: The Romanian baritone Nicolae Herlea . At the same time, Britain's Sir Thomas Allen was considered to be the most versatile baritone of his generation in regards to repertoire, which ranged from Mozart to Verdi and lighter Wagner roles, through French and Russian opera, to modern English music. Another British baritone, Norman Bailey , established himself internationally as a memorable Wotan and Hans Sachs. However, he had

10608-797: The Spanish-speaking countries, the United States and the United Kingdom, and in Germany, where there was a major Verdi revival in Berlin between the wars. Outside the field of Italian opera, an important addition to the Austro-German repertory occurred in 1905. This was the premiere of Richard Strauss 's Salome , with the pivotal part of John the Baptist assigned to a baritone. (The enormous-voiced Dutch baritone Anton van Rooy ,

10764-653: The United States, including homes owned by Lily Pons and Irene Dunne . In 1963, MacDonald and Raymond moved into two adjoining apartments on the 8th floor in the East building at the Wilshire Comstock in Westwood. Nelson Eddy had his own apartment on the 7th floor of the West building. He allowed MacDonald to decorate it, and they used it as a rendezvous spot until she was too weak to walk the few yards over to his building. (After Eddy's death, his widow Ann learned of

10920-403: The apartment and moved into it.) Forbidden to marry early on by MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer, MacDonald and Eddy performed an unofficial wedding ceremony at Lake Tahoe while filming Rose Marie . They considered that "by God's laws", they had married, although they were never able to do so legally. Each fall, they returned to Tahoe to renew their vows. As late as 1948, MacDonald's desk diary had

11076-407: The aristocracy and political officials for satiric treatment in earlier works. In this opera, the House of Lords is lampooned as a bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted, whose only qualification to govern is noble birth. The political party system, the law and other institutions also come in for a dose of satire. Throughout Iolanthe , however, both author and composer managed to couch

11232-412: The bass-baritone. The baryton-Martin baritone (sometimes referred to as light baritone) lacks the lower G 2 –B 2 range a heavier baritone is capable of, and has a lighter, almost tenor-like quality. Its common range is from C 3 to the B above middle C (C 3 to B 4 ). Generally seen only in French repertoire, this Fach was named after the French singer Jean-Blaise Martin . Associated with

11388-431: The battle between the sexes and the satire on legal and political themes. Iolanthe is one of several of Gilbert's works, including among others The Wicked World , Broken Hearts , Fallen Fairies and Princess Ida , where the introduction of males into a tranquil world of women brings "mortal love" that wreaks havoc with the status quo. Gilbert's absurdist style is on full display in Iolanthe . For example, all

11544-473: The beginning of the 19th century till the mid 1820s, the terms primo basso , basse chantante , and basse-taille were often used for men who would later be called baritones. These included the likes of Filippo Galli , Giovanni Inchindi , and Henri-Bernard Dabadie . The basse-taille and the proper bass were commonly confused because their roles were sometimes sung by singers of either actual voice part. The bel canto style of vocalism which arose in Italy in

11700-419: The best known Italian Verdi baritones of the 1920s and 1930s, Mariano Stabile , sang Iago and Rigoletto and Falstaff (at La Scala ) under the baton of Arturo Toscanini . Stabile also appeared in London, Chicago and Salzburg. He was noted more for his histrionic skills than for his voice, however. Stabile was followed by Tito Gobbi , a versatile singing actor capable of vivid comic and tragic performances during

11856-411: The biography Sweethearts by Sharon Rich , the author presents MacDonald and Eddy as continuing an adulterous affair after their marriages. Rich, who was a close friend of MacDonald's older sister Blossom Rock , also knew Gene Raymond , and she documents that the relationship lasted with a few breaks until MacDonald's death. Newsreel footage from MacDonald's funeral shows Eddy as the last person exiting

12012-473: The careers of promising young singers. While his programs often featured "serious" music, they were never straitlaced. It was in a series of comedy routines with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the Chase and Sanborn Hour that Eddy's name became associated with the song " Carry Me Back to Old Virginny ", which was also included in the film Maytime . On March 31, 1933, he performed the role of Gurnemanz in

12168-460: The chapel, circled by other celebrities, such as Lauritz Melchior , who offer him condolences. MacDonald had a reported eight pregnancies by Eddy, the first one while they were filming Rose Marie . This was before she had an intimate relationship with Gene Raymond. Raymond was physically unable to father children, and MacDonald alluded to this fact in her unfinished autobiography, writing that she returned from her Hawaii honeymoon with Raymond with

12324-413: The character of Iolanthe. The Fairy Queen's music parodies that of Wagnerian heroines such as Brünnhilde . The score is wider in range of emotion and style, with innovative use of pizzicato strings, clever and varied underscoring of patter, the tender, sentimental eleventh-hour number for the title character, apt matching of the music to the absurd comedy of the lyrics, and a sustained first act finale with

12480-474: The church choir, played the drums, and performed in local productions such as H.M.S. Pinafore Living in near poverty, Eddy was forced to drop out of school and moved with his mother to Philadelphia , where her brother, Clark Kendrick, lived. His uncle helped Eddy secure a clerical job at the Mott Iron Works, a plumbing supply company. He later worked as a reporter with The Philadelphia Press ,

12636-433: The comic principal). Notable operetta roles are: In barbershop music , the baritone part sings in a similar range to the lead (singing the melody) however usually singing lower than the lead. A barbershop baritone has a specific and specialized role in the formation of the four-part harmony that characterizes the style. The baritone singer is often the one required to support or "fill" the bass sound (typically by singing

12792-537: The company's 1982 closure: Of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company recordings of this opera, the 1930 and 1960 recordings have been the best received, and the latter includes the dialogue. The revived D'Oyly Carte's 1991 recording contains Strephon's cut number "Fold Your Flapping Wings" as a bonus track. On video are the 1982 Brent Walker production and more recent performances from the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival . When Margaret Thatcher

12948-409: The costume of the Lord Chancellor, in a production of Iolanthe , to add four golden stripes to the sleeves of his judicial robes. The next Chief Justice, John G. Roberts Jr. , did not retain the ornamentation. In 1980, while an Associate Justice, Rehnquist, in his dissenting opinion in the case of Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia , compares these words of the Lord Chancellor to the "flavor from

13104-805: The costumes himself, and sets were by the Drury Lane designer Henry Emden. In an unprecedented first for any play, the New York premiere was given on the same date – 25 November 1882, with the composer's assistant, Alfred Cellier , conducting there. In Australia, Iolanthe was first seen on 9 May 1885 at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne , produced by J. C. Williamson . In the British provinces, Iolanthe played – either by itself, or in repertory – continuously from February 1882 through 1885, then not again until late 1891. From then on, it

13260-400: The criticism among such bouncy, amiable absurdities and "splendid pageantry" that it is all received as good humour, with Prime Minister Gladstone complimenting the opera's good taste. In fact, Gilbert later refused to allow quotes from the piece to be used as part of the campaign to diminish the powers of the House of Lords. Although titled Iolanthe all along in Gilbert's plot book, for

13416-461: The cylinders. However, a contemporary of Faure's, Antonio Cotogni, (1831–1918)—probably the foremost Italian baritone of his generation—can be heard, briefly and dimly, at the age of 77, on a duet recording with the tenor Francesco Marconi . (Cotogni and Marconi had sung together in the first London performance of Amilcare Ponchielli 's La Gioconda in 1883, performing the roles of Barnaba and Enzo respectively.) There are 19th-century references in

13572-500: The dance team of Bambi Linn and Rod Alexander . The advent of television made inroads in the once-lucrative concert circuits, and in the early 1950s, Eddy considered future career options, eventually deciding to form a nightclub act. It premiered in January 1953, with singer Gale Sherwood, his partner, and Ted Paxson, his accompanist. Variety wrote, "Nelson Eddy, vet of films, concerts, and stage, required less than one minute to put

13728-453: The differentiation is based more heavily on timbre and tessitura. Accordingly, roles that fall into this category tend to have a slightly lower tessitura than typical Verdi baritone roles, only rising above an F at the moments of greatest intensity. Many of the Puccini roles fall into this category. However, it is important to note that, for all intents and purposes, a Verdi Baritone is simply

13884-411: The earlier operas. Much of his "fairy" music pays deliberate homage to the incidental music written by Felix Mendelssohn for an 1842 production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . Richard Wagner 's Ring cycle premiered in London earlier in 1882. The music for the fairies reflects Wagner's style, and the score uses leitmotifs , including a distinctive four-note theme associated with

14040-468: The early '30s". Like many performers, Eddy was active during World War II, even before the United States entered the war. He did his first "war effort" concert on October 19, 1939, with Leopold Stokowski for Polish war relief. In 1942, he became an air raid warden and also put in long hours at the Hollywood Canteen . He broadcast for the armed forces throughout the war. In late 1943, he went on

14196-464: The early 19th century supplanted the castrato -dominated opera seria of the previous century. It led to the baritone being viewed as a separate voice category from the bass. Traditionally, basses in operas had been cast as authority figures such as a king or high priest; but with the advent of the more fluid baritone voice, the roles allotted by composers to lower male voices expanded in the direction of trusted companions or even romantic leads—normally

14352-474: The end of July 1882, Gilbert had supplied Sullivan with lyrics to several of the songs, and Sullivan began work setting them to music. Over the next two months, Sullivan met Gilbert to discuss the libretto as more lyrics were completed. Music rehearsals began in September, and staging began in October, scheduled around performances of Gilbert and Sullivan 's previous opera, Patience , which had transferred to

14508-655: The era of gas lighting . The opera opened simultaneously in New York, and touring companies were sent around the UK and US to play the piece. The first Australasian touring production followed in 1885, and the opera was revived in London beginning in 1901. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company toured the opera nearly continuously in repertory from 1891 until 1982, and made several recordings of the opera over that period. Numerous other professional and amateur productions have been given of this enduring work, and various other recordings have been issued. W. S. Gilbert presented his basic idea for

14664-478: The fairies' songs and dances, committed the capital crime (under fairy law) of marrying a mortal man. The Queen of the fairies commuted Iolanthe's sentence of death to banishment for life on the condition that she left her husband and never communicated with him again. After the passage of 25 years, the fairies, still missing Iolanthe deeply, plead with their Queen to pardon Iolanthe and to restore her place in fairyland ("Tripping hither, tripping thither"). Summoned by

14820-513: The fairies, who appear but are mistaken by the peers for a girls' school on an outing. Offended, the Fairy Queen pronounces a magical "sentence" upon the peers: Strephon shall not only become a member of parliament but will also have the power to pass any bill he proposes ("With Strephon for your foe, no doubt"). Act II Private Willis, on night guard duty, marches outside the Palace of Westminster and muses on political life ("When all night long

14976-665: The first Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle at Bayreuth , while Reichmann created Amfortas in Parsifal , also at Bayreuth. Lyric German baritones sang lighter Wagnerian roles such as Wolfram in Tannhäuser , Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde or Telramund in Lohengrin . They made large strides, too, in the performance of art song and oratorio, with Franz Schubert favouring several baritones for his vocal music, in particular Johann Michael Vogl . Nineteenth-century operettas became

15132-483: The first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby soxers and opera purists, and in his heyday, he was the highest paid singer in the world. During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theatre , earned three gold records , and was invited to sing at

15288-679: The first American performance of Feuersnot by Richard Strauss (December 1, 1927) and in the first American performance of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (November 1, 1928) with Helen Jepson . In Ariadne , Eddy sang the roles of the Wigmaker and Harlequin in the original German. He performed under Leopold Stokowski as the Drum Major in the second American performance of Alban Berg 's Wozzeck on November 24, 1931. At Carnegie Hall in New York City, Christmas 1931, he sang in

15444-677: The first famous American baritone appeared in the 1900s. It was the American-born but Paris-based Charles W. Clark who sang Italian, French and German composers. An outstanding group of virile-voiced American baritones appeared then in the 1920s. The younger members of this group were still active as recently as the late 1970s. Outstanding among its members were the Met-based Verdians Lawrence Tibbett (a compelling, rich-voiced singing actor), Richard Bonelli , John Charles Thomas , Robert Weede , Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill . They sang French opera, too, as did

15600-682: The first magnitude). Lassalle, Maurel and Renaud enjoyed superlative careers on either side of the Atlantic and left a valuable legacy of recordings. Five other significant Francophone baritones who recorded, too, during the early days of the gramophone/phonograph were Léon Melchissédec and Jean Noté of the Paris Opera and Gabriel Soulacroix , Henry Albers and Charles Gilibert of the Opéra-Comique. The Quaker baritone David Bispham , who sang in London and New York between 1891 and 1903,

15756-536: The first of the operas to be revived after the composer's death the year before. It was also included in two Savoy repertory seasons, in 1907 and 1908–09. Iolanthe was the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera performed professionally in Britain by a non-D'Oyly Carte company. It was produced by the Sadler's Wells Opera (now English National Opera) in January 1962, immediately after the Gilbert copyrights expired. It

15912-422: The former USSR to sing at the Met. Chernov followed in the footsteps of such richly endowed East European baritones as Ippolit Pryanishnikov (a favorite of Tchaikovski's), Joachim Tartakov (an Everardi pupil), Oskar Kamionsky (an exceptional bel canto singer nicknamed the "Russian Battistini"), Waclaw Brzezinski (known as the "Polish Battistini"), Georges Baklanoff (a powerful singing actor), and, during

16068-546: The group moved their performances to the Academy of Music . Thirty-one years later, he was asked for advice by a new Strephon with the company. Eddy wrote: I envy you. I'd like to play Strephon again, too! The one thing I suggest is to keep him gay, happy, and care-free. You can set the character with your first entrance. Dance in with a sort of cute abandon. Then in "Good morrow, good mother" act joyfully in love. The rest will fall right into line. The first time I did it – at

16224-453: The knowledge that "The MacRaymonds had no children." Nevertheless, MacDonald had additional documented and visible pregnancies while married to Raymond, all of which ended in miscarriage. Biographer E. J. Fleming also alleges that Eddy confronted Raymond about physically abusing MacDonald, who was visibly pregnant with Eddy's child while filming Sweethearts . Eddy attacked him and left him for dead; newspapers reported incorrectly that Raymond

16380-1012: The late 19th and early 20th centuries while Schorr, Bockelmann and Nissen were stars of the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to their heavyweight Wagnerian cousins, there was a plethora of baritones with more lyrical voices active in Germany and Austria during the period between the outbreak of WW1 in 1914 and the end of WW2 in 1945. Among them were Joseph Schwarz  [ de ] , Heinrich Schlusnus , Herbert Janssen , Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender , Karl Schmitt-Walter and Gerhard Hüsch . Their abundant inter-war Italian counterparts included, among others, Carlo Galeffi , Giuseppe Danise , Enrico Molinari , Umberto Urbano , Cesare Formichi , Luigi Montesanto , Apollo Granforte , Benvenuto Franci , Renato Zanelli (who switched to tenor roles in 1924), Mario Basiola , Giovanni Inghilleri , Carlo Morelli (the Chilean-born younger brother of Renato Zanelli) and Carlo Tagliabue , who retired as late as 1958. One of

16536-508: The lighter-voiced Gérard Souzay have been notable. Souzay's repertoire extended from the Baroque works of Jean-Baptiste Lully to 20th-century composers such as Francis Poulenc . Pierre Bernac , Souzay's teacher, was an interpreter of Poulenc's songs in the previous generation. Older baritones identified with this style include France's Dinh Gilly and Charles Panzéra and Australia's John Brownlee . Another Australian, Peter Dawson , made

16692-543: The lowest of the voices (including the bass), but in 17th-century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the average male choral voice. Baritones took roughly the range as it is known today at the beginning of the 18th century, but they were still lumped in with their bass colleagues until well into the 19th century. Many operatic works of the 18th century have roles marked as bass that in reality are low baritone roles (or bass-baritone parts in modern parlance). Examples of this are to be found, for instance, in

16848-478: The margins) are now housed at Occidental College Special Collections in Los Angeles. His personal papers and scrapbooks are at the University of Southern California Cinema/Television Library, also in Los Angeles. Baritone The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as baritonans , late in the 15th century, usually in French sacred polyphonic music. At this early stage it was frequently used as

17004-449: The matter. He refuses his consent to the marriage between Strephon and Phyllis ("When I went to the Bar"). Disappointed, Strephon calls on Iolanthe for help. She appears and promises to support her son. Spying on the two, the peers – led by the brainless and stuffy Earls Tolloller and Mountararat – together with Phyllis, see Iolanthe and Strephon in a warm embrace. All three jump to

17160-483: The members of the House of Lords are in love with Phyllis, a ward of the Lord Chancellor. Gilbert satirically sets up the fantastical fairies as the agents of common sense in contrast with the nonsensical peers, who should be sober parliamentarians, while the most poetically romantic of the fairies, the "Arcadian" shepherd, Strephon, is chosen to lead both houses of Parliament. One of Gilbert's biographers, Andrew Crowther wrote: "The things that make [the opera] memorable as

17316-457: The mortal realm if peers are to be recruited "from persons of intelligence", the peers join the fairy ranks and "away [they] go to fairyland" ("Soon as we may, off and away"). Act I Act II At the time they wrote Iolanthe , both Gilbert and Sullivan were in their peak creative years, and Iolanthe , their seventh work together, drew the best from both composer and author. Sullivan's biographer, Arthur Jacobs , wrote: "[Sullivan] had composed

17472-526: The musical literature to certain baritone subtypes. These include the light and tenorish baryton-Martin, named after French singer Jean-Blaise Martin (1768/69–1837), and the deeper, more powerful Heldenbariton (today's bass-baritone) of Wagnerian opera. Perhaps the most accomplished Heldenbaritons of Wagner's day were August Kindermann , Franz Betz and Theodor Reichmann . Betz created Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger and undertook Wotan in

17628-525: The next seven years. In 1928, his first concert accompanist was a young pianist named Theodore (Ted) Paxson, who became a close friend and remained his accompanist until Eddy's death 39 years later. In the early 1930s, Eddy's principal teacher was Edouard Lippé , who followed him to Hollywood and appeared in a small role in Eddy's 1935 film Naughty Marietta . In his later years, Eddy changed teachers frequently, constantly learning new vocal techniques. He also had

17784-619: The non-Italian born baritones that were active in the third quarter of the 19th century, Tamburini's mantle as an outstanding exponent of Mozart and Donizetti's music was probably taken up most faithfully by a Belgian, Camille Everardi , who later settled in Russia and taught voice. In France, Paul Barroilhet succeeded Dabadie as the Paris opera's best known baritone. Like Dabadie, he also sang in Italy and created an important Donizetti role: in his case, Alphonse in La favorite (in 1840). Luckily,

17940-469: The obvious conclusion, since the centuries-old Iolanthe appears to be a girl of seventeen ("When darkly looms the day"). The peers scoff at the seemingly absurd claim that Iolanthe is Strephon's mother as Strephon pleads: "She is, has been, my mother from my birth!" Phyllis angrily rejects Strephon for his supposed infidelity and declares that she will marry either Lord Tolloller or Lord Mountararat ("...and I don't care which!"). Strephon then calls for help from

18096-514: The old Broad Street Theatre – was better than when I did it at the Academy. I let myself get impressed with the importance of the latter house and with my growing experience in opera – and I played it too grand. Don't fall into that trap. Good luck and my very best wishes – to you and all the Company. Sincerely, Nelson Eddy. Eddy studied briefly with the noted teacher David Bispham ,

18252-458: The only certain way to restore his financial security was to continue writing Savoy operas . On 8 February 1883, he signed a new five-year creative partnership agreement with Gilbert and Carte; Gilbert was already at work on their next piece, Princess Ida . On 22 May 1883, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria for his "services ... rendered to the promotion of the art of music" in Britain. Act I The beloved fairy Iolanthe, who arranged

18408-450: The operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel . The greatest and most enduring parts for baritones in 18th-century operatic music were composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . They include Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro , Guglielmo in Così fan tutte , Papageno in The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni . In theatrical documents, cast lists, and journalistic dispatches that from

18564-470: The parrot sings bits from Iolanthe . The eponymous hero of David Nobbs ' The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin has "Iolanthe" as a middle name, allegedly due to his being born during a performance of the opera. An illustrated booklet, A Parody on Iolanthe , was written and published by D. Dalziel in 1883 and concerns the Chicago & Alton Railway . In his 1974 album Todd , Todd Rundgren performs

18720-511: The part of Ford in Verdi's last opera, Falstaff . Notable among their contemporaries were the cultured and technically adroit French baritones Jean Lassalle (hailed as the most accomplished baritone of his generation), Victor Maurel (the creator of Verdi's Iago, Falstaff and Tonio in Leoncavallo 's Pagliacci ), Paul Lhérie (the first Posa in the revised, Italian-language version of Don Carlos ), and Maurice Renaud (a singing actor of

18876-445: The partnership with Gilbert and Carte after Iolanthe , but on the day of its premiere, he received a letter from his broker, Edward Hall, notifying him that Hall had lost all his money, including £7,000 of Sullivan's investments, the bulk of his fortune. Sullivan's lifestyle was not inexpensive, and he was helping to support his late brother's large family, as well as his mistress, Fanny Ronalds , and her family. He soon concluded that

19032-585: The peers ("In vain to us you plead"). The fairy Queen is dismayed by this. Pointing to Private Willis of the First Grenadier Guards , who is still on duty, the Queen claims that she is able to subdue her response to the effects of his manly beauty ("Oh, foolish fay"). Phyllis cannot decide whether she ought to marry Tolloller or Mountararat, and so she leaves the choice up to them. Tolloller tells Mountararat that his family's tradition would require

19188-405: The peers, thus also incurring death sentences – but the Queen blanches at the prospect of slaughtering all of them. The Lord Chancellor suggests a solution: change the law by inserting a single word: "every fairy shall die who doesn't marry a mortal." The Fairy Queen cheerfully agrees and, to save her life, the dutiful soldier, Private Willis, agrees to marry her. Seeing no reason to stay in

19344-553: The premise funny, and Gilbert set to work on fleshing out the story. By December, he had written some lyrics for Sullivan to look at, but he struggled with the plot for several months, whereas he had dashed off earlier operas in a matter of weeks. During these months, Sullivan took an extended trip to Egypt, Italy and elsewhere. Upon his return to London in April 1882, he moved into a new home; in May, his beloved mother died rather suddenly. By

19500-746: The preserve of lightweight baritone voices. They were given comic parts in the tradition of the previous century's comic bass by Gilbert and Sullivan in many of their productions. This did not prevent the French master of operetta, Jacques Offenbach , from assigning the villain's role in The Tales of Hoffmann to a big-voiced baritone for the sake of dramatic effect. Other 19th-century French composers like Meyerbeer, Hector Berlioz , Camille Saint-Saëns , Georges Bizet and Jules Massenet wrote attractive parts for baritones, too. These included Nelusko in L'Africaine (Meyerbeer's last opera), Mephistopheles in La damnation de Faust (a role also sung by basses),

19656-543: The province of tenors. More often than not, however, baritones found themselves portraying villains. The principal composers of bel canto opera are considered to be: The prolific operas of these composers, plus the works of Verdi's maturity, such as Un ballo in maschera , La forza del destino , Don Carlos / Don Carlo , the revised Simon Boccanegra , Aida , Otello and Falstaff , blazed many new and rewarding performance pathways for baritones. Figaro in Il barbiere

19812-439: The range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F 2 –F 4 ) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A 2 to A 4 ) in operatic music. Within the baritone voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories: baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton , Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and

19968-625: The requisite year or two in advance. Among his final opera performances were three with the San Francisco Opera in 1934, when he was still "unknown". He also sang Amonasro in Aida on November 11, 1934, to similar acclaim. Elisabeth Rethberg , Giovanni Martinelli , and Ezio Pinza were in the cast. However, opera quietly faded from Eddy's schedule as films and highly lucrative concerts claimed more and more of his time. When he resumed his concert career following his screen success, he made

20124-525: The rise of the baritone in the 19th century, Martin was well known for his fondness for falsetto singing, and the designation 'baryton Martin' has been used (Faure, 1886) to separate his voice from the 'Verdi Baritone', which carried the chest register further into the upper range. This voice type shares the primo passaggio and secondo passaggio with the Dramatic Tenor and Heldentenor (C 4 and F 4 respectively), and hence could be trained as

20280-517: The scene to take their place. In addition to his interpretations of lieder and the works of Mozart, Prey sang in Strauss operas and tackled lighter Wagner roles such as Wolfram or Beckmesser. Fischer-Dieskau sang parts in 'fringe' operas by the likes of Ferruccio Busoni and Paul Hindemith as well as appearing in standard works by Verdi and Wagner. He earned his principal renown, however, as a lieder singer. Talented German and Austrian lieder singers of

20436-508: The second act ("Oh, Captain Shaw / Type of true love kept under / Could thy brigade with cold cascade / Quench my great love, I wonder?"). On the first night Alice Barnett , as the Queen of the Fairies, sang the verses directly to Captain Shaw, who was sitting in the centre of the stalls . The opera's premiere was received by an enthusiastic audience and earned critical praise, although there

20592-561: The second half of the 19th century. The major international baritone of the first half of the 19th century was the Italian Antonio Tamburini (1800–1876). He was a famous Don Giovanni in Mozart's eponymous opera as well as being a Bellini and Donizetti specialist. Commentators praised his voice for its beauty, flexibility and smooth tonal emission, which are the hallmarks of a bel canto singer. Tamburini's range, however,

20748-596: The song "Rose Marie" was used as the subject of an episode of the Scottish comedy sitcom Still Game (S4E2), in which the song was requested by a dying patient. He began his more than 600 radio appearances in the mid-1920s. The first may have been on December 26, 1924, at station WOO in Philadelphia. Besides his many guest appearances, he hosted The Voice of Firestone (1936), The Chase and Sanborn Hour (1937–1939), and Kraft Music Hall (1947–1948), among other programs. Eddy frequently used his radio shows to advance

20904-553: The team. Eddy signed with Universal in 1943 for a two-picture deal. The first was Phantom of the Opera and the second would have co-starred MacDonald. She filmed her two scenes for Follow the Boys , then both stars severed ties with Universal. Eddy was upset with how Phantom of the Opera turned out. Among their later other proposed projects were East Wind ; Crescent Carnival , a book optioned by MacDonald; and The Rosary ,

21060-568: The theatre. New lighting technologies made such special effects as sparkling fairy wands possible for the first time. The principal fairies' heads were also lit by wreaths of small illuminated stars attached to a battery. The audience that attended the opening night in London included Captain (later Captain Sir) Eyre Massey Shaw , head of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, whom the Fairy Queen apostrophises in

21216-532: The third inauguration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career. Eddy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the only child of Caroline Isabel (née Kendrick) and William Darius Eddy. Nelson grew up in Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island , and in New Bedford, Massachusetts . As

21372-641: The two Earls to duel to the death if the latter were to claim Phyllis. The two decide that their friendship is more important than love and renounce their claims to her ("Though p'r'aps I may incur thy blame"). The Lord Chancellor arrives dressed for bed and describes a nightmare caused by his unrequited love for Phyllis ("Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest"). The two peers try to cheer him up and urge him to make another effort to persuade himself to award Phyllis to ... himself ("If you go in you're sure to win"). Strephon now leads both parties in Parliament , but he

21528-423: The unseen Fairies, revealing that she is his long-lost wife, and Strephon is his son. The Lord Chancellor is amazed to see her alive, but Iolanthe has again broken fairy law, and the Fairy Queen is now left with no choice but to punish Iolanthe with death ("It may not be ... Once again thy vow is broken"). As she prepares to execute Iolanthe, the Queen learns that the rest of the fairies have chosen husbands from among

21684-505: The various opinions supporting the judgment in this case": The Law is the true embodiment/Of everything that's excellent,/It has no kind of fault or flaw,/And I, My Lords, embody the Law. The Ratepayers' Iolanthe was a 1984 musical adapted by Ned Sherrin and Alistair Beaton . Sherrin directed and won a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Musical for the musical's "conception". The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov

21840-584: The world premiere of Maria egiziaca ( Mary in Egypt ), unexpectedly conducted by the composer Ottorino Respighi himself when famed conductor Arturo Toscanini fell ill at the last minute. Years later, when Toscanini visited the MGM lot in California, Eddy greeted him by singing a few bars of Maria egiziaca . Eddy continued in occasional opera roles until his film work made it difficult to schedule appearances

21996-463: The years of his prime in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. He learned more than 100 roles in his lifetime and was mostly known for his roles in Verdi and Puccini operas, including appearances as Scarpia opposite soprano Maria Callas as Tosca at Covent Garden . Gobbi's competitors included Gino Bechi , Giuseppe Valdengo , Paolo Silveri , Giuseppe Taddei , Ettore Bastianini , Cesare Bardelli and Giangiacomo Guelfi . Another of Gobbi's contemporaries

22152-470: Was a Gilbert and Sullivan fan. His Foundation Trilogy was conceived after his reading Iolanthe started a train of thought about military empires. Also, in " Runaround ", a story in Asimov's I, Robot , a robot, while in a state similar to drunkenness, sings snippets of Gilbert and Sullivan songs, including "The Nightmare Song" from Iolanthe . In Michael Chabon 's 2004 novel The Final Solution , Bruno

22308-425: Was always present in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company 's touring repertory, being included in some part of every season until the company's closure in 1982. Most of the costumes were redesigned by Percy Anderson in 1915 and by George Sheringham in 1932, and Peter Goffin designed new sets in 1957 and some new costumes in 1960. After its original production, Iolanthe was not revived in London until 1901, making it

22464-411: Was elected as Prime Minister, the press joked about the line from the opera, "This comes of women interfering in politics!" Lord Falconer , who served as Tony Blair 's second Lord Chancellor, was reportedly influenced by Iolanthe in his moves to reform or disband the office. William H. Rehnquist , former Chief Justice of the United States , was an avid Gilbert and Sullivan fan and was inspired by

22620-638: Was exceeded in size only by that of the lion-voiced Titta Ruffo . Ruffo was the most commanding Italian baritone of his era or, arguably, any other era. He was at his prime from the early 1900s to the early 1920s and enjoyed success in Italy, England and America (in Chicago and later at the Met). The chief verismo composers were Giacomo Puccini , Ruggero Leoncavallo, Pietro Mascagni , Alberto Franchetti , Umberto Giordano and Francesco Cilea . Verdi's works continued to remain popular, however, with audiences in Italy,

22776-609: Was failing and although there was talk of their hosting a TV variety show together, it did not happen. Eddy was a frequent guest on talk shows, including The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Jack Paar . On May 7, 1955, Eddy starred in Max Liebman's 90-minute, live-TV version of Sigmund Romberg's The Desert Song on NBC -TV. It featured Gale Sherwood , Metropolitan Opera bass Salvatore Baccaloni , veteran film actor Otto Kruger , Broadway tenor Earl William and

22932-466: Was fascinated with gadgets and the mechanics of the new talking pictures .) Eddy's concert fee rose from $ 500 to $ 10,000 per performance. Eddy signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he made the first 15 of his 19 feature films . His contract guaranteed him three months off each year to continue his concert tours. MGM was not sure how to use him, and he spent more than a year on salary with little to do. His voice can be heard singing "Daisy Bell" on

23088-410: Was general agreement that the second act needed some trimming. Iolanthe became the fourth consecutive major success for Gilbert, Sullivan and their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, following H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879) and Patience (1881). Increasingly viewing his work with Gilbert as frivolous, beneath his skills and repetitious, Sullivan had intended to resign from

23244-488: Was probably closer to that of a bass-baritone than to that of a modern "Verdi baritone". His French equivalent was Henri-Bernard Dabadie, who was a mainstay of the Paris Opera between 1819 and 1836 and the creator of several major Rossinian baritone roles, including Guillaume Tell . Dabadie sang in Italy, too, where he originated the role of Belcore in L'elisir d'amore in 1832. The most important of Tamburini's Italianate successors were all Verdians. They included: Among

23400-459: Was recovering from an accidental fall. Louis B. Mayer adamantly refused to allow MacDonald to annul her marriage and elope. The situation ended with MacDonald losing her baby at nearly 6 months. The boy was named Daniel Kendrick Eddy, and Nelson buried him (or his ashes) on private property in Ojai, California. Over the decades, MacDonald and Eddy had several private homes together. In 1938, they had

23556-453: Was singing " Dardanella " when he collapsed. His singing partner, Gale Sherwood , and his accompanist, Ted Paxson, were at his side. He died a few hours later in the early hours of March 6, 1967, at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach , aged 65. He is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, between his mother and his widow (who outlived him by twenty years). Eddy's meticulously annotated scores (some with his caricatures sketched in

23712-569: Was the Welshman Geraint Evans , who famously sang Falstaff at Glyndebourne and created the roles of Mr. Flint and Mountjoy in works by Benjamin Britten . Some considered his best role to have been Wozzeck. The next significant Welsh baritone was Bryn Terfel . He made his premiere at Glyndebourne in 1990 and went on to build an international career as Falstaff and, more generally, in the operas of Mozart and Wagner. Perhaps

23868-604: Was the leading American male singer of this generation. He also recorded for the gramophone. The oldest-born star baritone known for sure to have made solo gramophone discs was the Englishman Sir Charles Santley (1834–1922). Santley made his operatic debut in Italy in 1858 and became one of Covent Garden's leading singers. He was still giving critically acclaimed concerts in London in the 1890s. The composer of Faust , Charles Gounod , wrote Valentine's aria "Even bravest heart" for him at his request for

24024-869: Was the surprise hit of 1935. Its key song, "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life", became a hit and earned Eddy his first gold record. He also sang "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" and "I'm Falling in Love with Someone". The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture , received the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture, and was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics . Critics singled out Eddy for praise: Eddy appeared in seven more MGM films with Jeanette MacDonald: Nelson Eddy also starred in films with other leading ladies : After Eddy and MacDonald left MGM in 1942, several unrealized films remained that would have reunited

24180-407: Was well received and was successfully revived for many seasons by Sadler's Wells until 1978. Michael Heyland restaged Iolanthe for D'Oyly Carte in 1977, the year of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, with silver-themed designs. Iolanthe has remained one of the most popular of the Gilbert and Sullivan works. Thousands of professional and amateur productions of the opera have been given throughout

24336-408: Was written to match the cadence of the word "Iolanthe", and could only accommodate the word "Perola" by preceding it (awkwardly) with "O", "Come" or "Ah". Henry Irving had produced a W. G. Wills adaptation of King René's Daughter in London in 1880, under the name Iolanthe , and in October 1882 Gilbert asked his producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte , to request Irving's permission to use the name. It

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