Willoughby Weiss

Willoughby Hunter Weiss (April 2, 1820, Liverpool - October 24, 1867, London) was an English oratorio and opera singer and composer. He became one of the most celebrated bass singers of the 19th century, and sang in the premieres of many English works.

He was born in Liverpool, the son of Willoughby Gaspard Weiss Esq., a professor of Flute and a music publisher. He studied under Sir George Thomas Smart and Michael Balfe [Dictionary of National Biography] .

Weiss made his operatic debut in Dublin in 1842 as Oroveso, and in London at the Prince's Theatre at that time as Count Rodolfo in "La sonnambula". [H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera", (OUP, London 1974).] H. F. Chorley saw him as Oroveso in an English "Norma" at the Princess's Theatre, London, opposite Adelaide Sartoris, saying 'he sang well and looked like a giraffe.' [C. Santley, "Reminiscences of my Life" (Pitman, London 1909), p. 20.] In 1845 he married Georgina Ansell Barrett. Mme Georgina Weiss (1826-1880), a soprano, often sang with her husband, and made her stage debut at Drury Lane in 1847. [Rosenthal and Warrack 1974.]

In 1846 he appeared at Drury Lane opposite Anna Bishop in the premiere of Lewis Henry Lavenu's opera "Loretta:A Tale of Seville", as Don Juanito. In 1847 he supported Sims Reeves there, at his debut in a leading role (Edgardo) in "Lucia di Lammermoor" (with Dorus Gras and Henry Whitworth), conducted by Hector Berlioz, in Louis Antoine Jullien's company: soon afterwards Reeves and Weiss sang together again in the premiere of Balfe's opera "Maid of Honour". [S. Reeves, "The Life of Sims Reeves, Written by Himself" (Simpkin, Marshall & Co, London 1888, p. 65-69: C. Pearce, "Sims Reeves - Fifty Years of Music in England" (Stanley Paul, London 1924), p. 94-97.]

In 1854 he set Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Village Blacksmith" to music, from which he made a considerable fortune. In that year Weiss was in Jarrett's company at Drury Lane, with Reeves, Agnes Büry, Mme Rudersdorff, Louisa Pyne and others, in a season including "Lucia", "Fra Diavolo", "La Sonnambula", "Il Seraglio" and "Masaniello". [Pearce 1924, 176.] On New Year's Day 1856, with Reeves, Novello and Lewis Thomas, he gave a performance of Méhul's 1807 opera "Joseph" (with bowdlerized libretto) at Windsor Castle. [Pearce 1924, 187.] Reeves, Clara Novello, Mme Sainton-Dolby and Weiss gave the premiere of William Sterndale Bennett's cantata "The May Queen" at the founding of the Leeds Festival, in 1858. In January 1861 he sang "The Messiah" at St. Paul's cathedral, the first oratorio to be heard there, with Reeves, Helen Lemmens-Sherrington and Mrs Lockey. [Pearce 1924, 228-229.] The fellow-Liverpudlian Charles Santley, who often sang with him (and refers to his 'well-merited position as the leading (English) basso of his time'), called him 'a fine, handsome fellow, about six foot two in height, slim in his youth.' Weiss was a leading baritone in the Pyne and Harrison Opera Company at Covent Garden in the late 1850s-early 1860s. [Santley 1909, p. 20.]

Santley and Weiss gave famous performances of Handel's duet 'The Lord is a man of War' from "Israel in Egypt", perhaps first at the opening of Leeds Town Hall by Queen Victoria in 1858. [C. Santley, "Student and Singer, The reminiscences of Charles Santley" (Edward Arnold, London 1892), p. 155.] In the centennial Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace in 1859 he was the bass soloist, with Mmes Novello, Sainton-Dolby, Sims Reeves and Giovanni Belletti, in "The Messiah", "Israel in Egypt" and "Judas Maccabaeus". [Reeves 1888, p. 229.] Shortly before his early death, Weiss performed an extensive programme of sacred music, including a complete "Elijah", at Hereford Festival, and again an "Elijah" and a "St. Paul" at the Birmingham Festival. [ Santley 1892, p. 251-252.]

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