Charles Santley

He enlisted, however, as a violinist in the Festival Choral Society and the Società Armonica, and as a chorus member, with his father and sister, he sang in a performance of Haydn's The Creation at the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool, in which Jenny Lind was a soloist.

Soon afterwards he was in a hand-picked choir for Handel's Messiah, where the tenor Sims Reeves headed the soloists, at the Eisteddfod at Rhuddlan Castle, and was in the chorus for Elijah and Rossini's Stabat Mater under Julius Benedict at the Liverpool Festival.

Nava taught him buffo roles in Rossini's La Cenerentola, L'italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia, and in Mercadante's operas, laying the basis of sound vocal technique as a baritone.

[2] In 1857 Santley returned to London, and made his first appearance (16 November) for John Hullah in the role of Adam in Haydn's Creation: it is related that he broke down in the duet Graceful Consort owing to nerves, but the audience burst into applause for him and bade him continue.

[2][11] In July of the following year, at St James's Hall Piccadilly, he appeared in the Philharmonic Society's 50th Jubilee Concert, singing an item from Hummel's Mathilde of Guise, and With Joy the Impatient Husbandman from Haydn's The Seasons.

On that occasion he shared a platform (though in separate performance) with Jenny Lind, the pianist Lucy Anderson (her last public appearance), Thérèse Tietjens, and Alfredo Piatti the cellist, under the direction of William Sterndale Bennett.

At the Birmingham festival of 1864 was given Michael Costa's new work Naaman, where (as Elisha) he sang opposite Sims Reeves and the young Adelina Patti (then making her first appearance in oratorio).

In 1866 he was at Worcester Festival, and then at Norwich, where Costa's Naaman was given again, in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Benedict's new cantata St Cecilia (libretto by Chorley) was introduced.

At the Handel Festival in June 1868 he sang the Messiah solos, and on the selection day, 'O voi dell'Erebo' from La Resurrezione and 'O ruddier than the cherry' from Acis and Galatea.

In mid-May he sang in the first performance in England of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, with the dramatic soprano Thérèse Tietjens, Pietro Mongini and the mezzo-soprano Sofia Scalchi.

In such songs as "To Anthea", "Simon the Cellarer" and the "Maid of Athens", he was viewed as being unapproachable, and his oratorio singing was praised for perpetuating the finest traditions of the art form.

[15] In the first years after his return to England, Santley used often to sing buffo duets (for example 'Che l'antipatica vostra figura' from Ricci's Chiara di Rosemberg) with Giorgio Ronconi and Giovanni Belletti, at parties held by the influential critic H. F. Chorley.

[11][16] In the same season he sang in the English Il trovatore (Di Luna), The Rose of Castille, Satanella, La sonnambula, and as Rhineberg in Wallace's Lurline, with William Harrison and Louisa Pyne.

Mapleson mounted a new opera, George Alexander Macfarren's Robin Hood, featuring a cast led by Sims Reeves and stage-debutante Helen Lemmens-Sherrington, under the direction of Charles Hallé.

In the same season Santley sang (for Pyne and Harrison) Fra Diavolo, La Reine Topaze, The Bohemian Girl (with Mme Parepa), Il trovatore and Wallace's The Amber Witch, which later transferred to Drury Lane.

Worn out by this busy season, Santley decided to turn his attention to Italian opera, and, armed with a letter from Michael Costa, paid a visit to Rossini in Paris.

[2] Mapleson won Santley back for his own Italian opera company, and in the 1862–63 season at Majesty's, he performed in Il trovatore (as Di Luna), The Marriage of Figaro (as Almaviva) and Les Huguenots (as de Nevers).

[2] With Mapleson's Italian Opera he joined some of the 19th century's most celebrated singers, including Thérèse Tietjens, Marietta Alboni, Antonio Giuglini and Zelia Trebelli.

[2] After hearing Santley's Valentine, Gounod composed the aria Even bravest heart expressly for him to an original English text by Chorley (now, ironically, better known in French translation as Avant de quitter or in Italian as Dio possente) and this was introduced in London in January 1864 at the opening of the spring session.

He arrived back in Britain to join Mapleson's spring tour at Dublin, on the same day stepping in at Tietjens's insistence to save a failing production of Lucrezia Borgia.

After the autumn tour with Alessandro Bettini in Les Huguenots, the November session opened with Faust, followed by La traviata and Martha, and Linda di Chamounix, in which Santley first sang the part of Antonio.

Also produced at Drury Lane that season were Les Huguenots, Le nozze di Figaro, La Figlia del Reggimento and Faust (with Nilsson as Marguerite).

In the Italian season, from mid-March to the end of April, he was with Mme Parepa-Rosa, Adelaide Phillips and the tenor Theodore Wachtel (1823–1893), and with Karl Formes, who sang Marcel in Les Huguenots with Santley (Saint-Bris), at the Academy of Music in New York under Adolph Neuendorff.

[2] However, in 1875 Carl Rosa tempted him back to the stage for a season at the Princess's Theatre, London, in which he played in Le nozze di Figaro, Il trovatore, The Siege of Rochelle (as Michel), Cherubini's The Water Carrier (Mikelì) and The Porter of Havre (Martin).

[31] Indeed, in 1904 he brought Dawson in on a tour of the West Country, beginning at Plymouth, led by Emma Albani, with William Green (tenor), Giulia Ravogli, Johannes Wolf, Adela Verne and Theodore Flint.

[27] In 1915, at the request of London's Lady Mayoress, he sang at the Mansion House concert for Belgian refugees, when the accurate intonation, fine quality and vigour of his voice were still apparent.

In addition to a 'haunting' beauty of timbre,[34] Santley's technique and musicianship made him a master in the singing of Handel or Mozart, where a fresh and accurate management of rhythm and roulade created an effect of spontaneity, vigour and ideal phrasing.

'[38] His clarity and freedom from strain enabled him to continue singing with remarkable freshness throughout a career lasting more than 60 years, perhaps partly because he had not over-taxed his voice by remaining for too long on the operatic stage.

His most famous record preserves his remarkably vivid and lively rendering of 'Non piu andrai' (Figaro), employing a portamento (notably on the word 'narcisetto', usually broken by modern interpreters) that is fit to satisfy Garcia himself.

Hatton's 'To Anthea' and 'Simon the Cellarer' are characteristic of Santley's earlier ballad repertoire, and are repeated in the Columbia series, which also includes Ethelbert Nevin's 'My Rosary', C.V. Stanford's 'Father O'Flynn,' Sullivan's 'Thou'rt passing hence, my brother,' and other titles.