Robert Radford

Robert Radford (b. 13 May 1874, Nottingham; d. 3 March 1933, London) [H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera" (London 1974 impression), 327).] was a British bass singer who made his career entirely in Britain, becoming one of the foremost singers of oratorio and concert work and equally having great success in a wide range of operatic roles from Wagner to Gilbert and Sullivan.

Early career

Even as a very young man Radford had a deep and resonant voice. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, mainly under the conductor Alberto Randegger, but also received lessons from Battison Haynes and Frederick King. He had natural dramatic gifts which from the outset suggested an operatic career, but his early professional life was devoted particularly to oratorio and the concert platform. [G. Davidson, "Opera Biographies" (Werner Laurie, London 1955), 236-238); see also Eaglefield-Hull 1924 (below).]

Concert and Oratorio, 1899-1915

His debut was at the Norwich Music Festival in 1899. [A. Eaglefield-Hull, "A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians" (Dent, London 1924), 403.] He appeared for Henry J. Wood at a Queen's Hall prom on February 9 1900 in Sullivan's "The Martyr of Antioch" (with Esther Palliser, Ada Crossley, Lloyd Chandos, W.A. Peterkin and the Nottingham Sacred Harmonic Society). [H.J. Wood, My Life of Music (Gollancz, London 1946 edn), 137-138).] He was also a soloist at Wood's Trafalgar Day Centenary Concert of 21 October 1905 (at which Wood's "Fantasia on British Sea-Songs" was first performed). [Wood 1946, 190-191.] In 1906 he became the principal bass soloist in the Handel Festival (The Crystal Palace) concerts, and remained so until the 1920s. [Eaglefield-Hull, 1924.]

On 26th May 1911 he took part in the Sheffield Festival Chorus performance of J. S. Bach's "Mass in B minor" for the London Music Festival, with Agnes Nicholls, Edna Thornton, Ben Davies and others; on the following day he was with Gervase Elwes and others in the big Leeds Choral Union performance of the "St Matthew Passion". He was also in the Leeds Chorus performance of the "Mass in B minor", with Carrie Tubb, John Coates and others, in the 'Three B's' Festival' of April 1915, again at Queen's Hall, under Henri Verbrugghen with the London Symphony Orchestra. [R. Elkin, "Queen's Hall 1893-1941" (Rider, London 1944), 77.]

Operatic career before 1914

So early as November 1900, Henry Wood engaged Radford for his uncut performance at Nottingham of the first two acts of "Tannhäuser" (introducing the Paris version of the "Venusberg" scene for the first time in England), along with Robert Watkin-Mills and others. [Wood 1946, 147.] In 1904 he made his first appearance at Covent Garden, as the Commendatore in "Don Giovanni" under Hans Richter. [Davidson 1955, 237; Rosenthal & Warrack 1974.] He was again engaged for Richter's "Ring cycle" in 1908, taking the roles of Fasolt in "Das Rheingold", Hunding in "Die Walküre," [Davidson 1955.] and (according to another source) Hagen in "Götterdämmerung". [Rosenthal & Warrack 1974.]

He was then engaged with the Grand Opera Syndicate at Covent Garden, and he was successively engaged by Thomas Beecham in his productions at Covent Garden, Drury Lane and His Majesty's Theatre. In Beecham's "Ring cycle" he again played Fasolt, opposite the Fafnir of Norman Allin. Among his best-known roles were Mephistopheles (Gounod's "Faust"), Osmin ("Il Seraglio"), Sarastro ("The Magic Flute"), the Father (Charpentier's "Louise"), "Ivan the Terrible" and "Boris Godunov" (title role), [Davidson 1955.] which he was the first to sing in English. [Rosenthal & Warrack 1974.] In April 1914 he was in the first English-language performance of Wagner's "Parsifal" with English soloists (with the London Choral Society, Carrie Tubb, John Coates, Thorpe Bates and Dawson Freer). [Elkin 1944, 64. His (English) Gurnemanz appears in highlights recorded under Albert Coates, with Walter Widdop and Percy Hemming (Amfortas).]

Recording, 1903-1914

Radford had a very early and successful relationship with the gramophone, beginning with a song called 'Ho! ho! hear the wild winds blow' for the Gramophone Company in June 1903. His first 12" records were 'It is enough' and 'Lord God of Abraham' from Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in 1906-7 (supplementing 'For the mountains shall depart', and 'Is not his word like a fire' on 10" records): over the next few years he added 'I am a Roamer' (Mendelssohn), 'Nazareth', 'Vulcan's Song' ("Philemon and Baucis"), and 'She alone charmeth my sadness' (Gounod), 'O ruddier than the cherry' ("Acis and Galatea"), 'Hear, ye winds and waves' ("Scipio"), 'Honour and Arms', 'Arm, arm ye brave' ("Judas Maccabaeus") (Handel), 'Arise ye subterranean winds' (Purcell), and many of the better and longer ballads of the time. [J. R. Bennett, "A Catalogue of Vocal recordings from the English catalogue of the Gramophone Company" etc, (Oakwood Press, 1955).]

In 1912 he joined with the company of George W. Byng of the Alhambra Theatre in the first major project to record Gilbert and Sullivan operas, together with Bessie Jones, Violet Essex, Nellie Walker, Edna Thornton, George Baker, Ernest Pike, Derek Oldham, Peter Dawson and others. [P. Dawson, "Fifty Years of Song" (Hutchinson, London 1951), 126.] He recorded the standard bass and tenor duets ('Larboard Watch', 'The Gendarmes', 'Excelsior', 'The moon hath raised her lamp above', and 'Watchman, what of the night'?) with John Harrison, and also recorded English songs in quartette arrangements (e.g., Pearsall's 'O, who will o'er the downs so free?') with John Harrison, Maud Perceval Allen or Alice Lakin, and Edna Thornton. [Bennett 1955: see also The Catalogue of 'His Master's Voice' Records up to and including November 1914 (Butcher, Curnow & Co, Blackheath 1914), 109-110.]

After the war

Radford continued to record from time to time during the Great War, and was a valuable asset to the promenade concerts in that period. [Wood 1946, 302.] In 1918-1920 he assisted in a number of Gilbert and Sullivan highlights selections recordings, and recorded several new titles from his own repertoire. [Bennett 1955.] On March 26 1919 he appeared at a Royal Philharmonic Society Concert singing 'Wotan's Farewell' ("Die Walküre" Act 3) under Landon Ronald. [R. Elkin, "Royal Philharmonic" (Rider, London 1946), 146.] He appeared in "The Dream of Gerontius" with the Northampton Musical Society under Charles King on October 29th 1920, with Norah Dawnay and Gervase Elwes: this was to be the last occasion on which Elwes sang the work. The artists (together with W.H. Reed and others) stayed at the Elwes home at Little Billing for the occasion. [W. & R. Elwes, "Gervase Elwes, The Story of his Life" (Grayson and Grayson, London 1935), 265.]

In 1920-22 he became a founder Director of the British National Opera Company, and also became an important member of its singing company. [Eaglefield-Hull 1924; Davidson 1955; Rosenthal & Warrack 1974.] He sang in two Philharmonic Society performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, first under Felix Weingartner in March 1924 with Florence Austral, Margaret Balfour and Frank Titterton, and again in October 1925 with Dorothy Silk, Muriel Brunskill and Walter Widdop, under Albert Coates. [Elkin 1946, 153, 154.] He continued to make recordings for HMV after the advent of the electric microphone in 1925. In late acoustic and early electric sets of Wagnerian passages, he is heard at some length (often opposite Florence Austral) as Alberich in "Das Rheingold", Wotan in "Die Walkure", and Hagen in "Götterdämmerung", ["Opera at Home" (Gramophone Company, London 1927 Revised edition), 356-380.] as Gurnemanz in "Parsifal" (HMV D 1025-29) and as both Hans Sachs and Pogner in "Die Meistersinger", ["Opera at Home" 1927, 252-265.] all under the baton of Albert Coates: the recorded sound is mostly disappointing. In 1924 it was stated that in oratorio his voice was best suited to bass parts in "The Creation" (Haydn) and in the Handel oratorios. [Eaglefield-Hull 1924.]

Radford is said to have suffered from ill-health all his life, which prevented him from developing his career on the international scene. [Davidson 1955.] A photograph of him (but no account of his career) is shown by Michael Scott. [M. Scott, "The Record of Singing II" (Duckworth, London 1979), p.181 fig. 133.] He is the subject of a brief story in Peter Dawson's autobiography. [Dawson 1951, 208-209.]

Notes

External links

*Brief biographical notice with photo [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Radford-Robert.htm]
*Six portraits of Robert Radford in NPG [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=as&grp=1096%3BSingers&lDate=&LinkID=mp59316]