Walter Hyde
Walter Hyde (6 February 1875 – 11 November 1951) was a British tenor, actor and teacher of voice whose career spanned genres from musical theatre to grand opera.
In 1901 he sang Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing and soon appeared in London's West End in light opera and Edwardian musical comedy.
He received lessons in voice before winning a £40-per-annum[a] scholarship to the Royal College of Music,[5] where he studied composition under Joseph Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford and harmony and orchestration with Walter Parratt, among others.
[3] In December 1906 Hyde oversaw the premiere in London of a comic opera adaptation of The Vicar of Wakefield on behalf of the composer Liza Lehmann at the Prince of Wales Theatre starring Isabel Jay as Olivia and David Bispham as the Vicar; however, the brogue of the Irish tenor engaged to play Squire Thornhill being incomprehensible to audiences, Hyde took on the role at short notice.
On 21 August 1907 he opened as Andrea, the lead male role in The Three Kisses at the Apollo Theatre in London opposite Caroline Hatchard as Marietta.
[6] Richter was preparing for a 1908 production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in English at the Royal Opera House and cast Hyde as Froh in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre.
[3] For Thomas Beecham's first season at the Royal Opera House in February 1910 Hyde sang Sali in A Village Romeo and Juliet by Frederick Delius.
[3] Upon his return to Britain in the autumn of 1910 Hyde appeared as Lionel in Edmond Missa's Muguette, Ferrando in Così fan tutte in English and Toni in Clutsam's A Summer Night.
In March and April 1911 Hyde sang Loge in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre in Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow, while May 1911 saw him playing the title role in Baron Trenck at the Whitney Theatre.
[3][6] During 1923 Hyde created the role of the Troubador in Holst's The Perfect Fool[12] and sang in Wagner's Ring cycle at the Royal Opera House in the first production since the end of the War.
Commencing on Boxing Day at Covent Garden that year, he sang in Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, The Magic Flute and as Belmonte in Il Seraglio.
[3] His farewell performances were at the Leeds Triennial Festival in October 1928 where he sang in Handel's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day and Berlioz's Te Deum under Beecham's baton.
[3] On retiring from the theatre and concert platform in 1928 Hyde took up an appointment as Professor of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music in London where his wife also was on the staff[11] and where he taught a new generation of performers including Geraint Evans,[18] Eric Shilling, David Lloyd, Norman Walker, Owen Brannigan and Gwen Catley.
