Walter Widdop

Walter Widdop, born: 19 April 1892, Norland, near Halifax, Yorkshire, was a powerful British tenor of exceptional technical skill who is best remembered today for his outstanding Wagnerian performances. His repertoire, however, also encompassed Verdi, Leoncavallo, Handel and Bach.

As a teenager, Widdop worked in a woollen mill and sang in a church choir. He won a number of singing prizes too in his native Yorkshire, earning praise for his "God-given" voice, which was honed by a local teacher. He served in the First World War, married in 1917 and made his professional operatic debut as Radames in Verdi's Aida during 1923 with the British National Opera Company. The venue was Leeds. He debuted in London the following year, as Siegfried at Covent Garden. For the rest of his career, he would remain in demand at Covent Garden and elsewhere for his highly impressive performances of taxing Heldentenor roles and the heavier Italian operatic parts. His Handelian singing was remarkable, too, for its virile, rock-solid tone, clear diction and flexibility. No mere 'belter'. Widdop was capable of modlating his large voice, singing softly and with a surprising degree of sweetness when necessary.

In 1938, Widdop was one of the four tenor soloists chosen to perform Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, written to celebrate Sir Henry Wood’s silver jubilee as a conductor. In the solo lines written for them, Heddle Nash and Frank Titterton, with their lighter tenor voices, preceded Widdop (his solo line was ‘Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins’), with the plaintive tones of Parry Jones concluding the section.

Widdop sang in Australia to acclaim in 1934-35. During World War Two, he toured South Africa, Canada and the Middle East for ENSA. He resumed his stage and concert career after the war and in 1949 sang the title role in Wagner's Parsifal, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, at the Royal Albert Hall.

On 6 September 1949, Widdop died suddenly in Hampstead. He is generally regarded to be the finest British dramatic tenor whose voice is preserved on disc. The exceptional recordings of arias and songs that he made for HMV during his vocal prime in the 1920s and '30s are available on modern CD transfers.