Edgar Evans (opera singer)
Encyclopedia
Edgar Evans was a Welsh opera singer. His most famous role was Hermann in Tchaikovsky
's The Queen of Spades
at the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
.
Evans was born in Cardiganshire
, Wales
. In all, he sang some 45 roles – most of them major ones - at Covent Garden from 1946 - when, as one of its three principal tenors, he became a founder member of the Covent Garden Opera Company - to his retirement in 1975. In that time, he sang more roles and more performances at the Opera House than any other artist.
Those roles included Steva in the first British stage performance of Jenůfa
, Zinovy in the British premiere of Katerina Ismailova
, The Interpreter and A Celestial Messenger in the premiere of Vaughan Williams
' The Pilgrim's Progress
, Andres in the first Covent Garden Wozzeck
and Captain Davidson in Richard Rodney Bennett
's Victory. In addition, he was Dmitri in the company's first Boris Godunov
, Hermann in the first Covent Garden Queen of Spades
under Kleiber
, Gustavus in the first Masked Ball
performed at Covent Garden since the War, Aegisthus in the first post-War Elektra
, Hellenus in The Trojans
conducted by Kubelík
, Narraboth in the Brook
-Dalí
Salome
, and Froh in the first post-War Covent Garden Ring
.
Completely untaught, Evans practised both 'preaching' in the declamatory 'Welsh chapel' style and singing in a barn-cum-boilerhouse on the farm. He received no encouragement as a boy - being always told that he sang too loudly. At 11 he entered the local Eisteddfod as a singer unsuccessfully, but by the age of 17 he had improved enough to steal the show at an end of term concert at his secondary school in Newquay
. He went on to win various prizes at local Eisteddfodau as a baritone.
, from where he was referred to Arthur Fagg
, conductor of the London Choral Society, who knew Dawson Freer, a singing teacher at the Royal College of Music
.
One week later, Evans became a pupil of Freer's - who began by telling him that he sang too loudly. These early lessons helped Evans to establish himself as a professional singer, but he felt that his voice and vocal technique improved immeasurably when, later in his career, the Royal Opera arranged for him to continue his studies - this time with the Italian maestro Luigi Ricci in Rome.
For 18 months, Evans studied with Dawson Freer, using up his legacy from his father – who had died in 1927 – to support himself and pay the six guineas for every ten singing lessons. Running out of funds, Evans took on a milk round in Camberwell
– for the Royal Arsenal Co-Operative - getting up at five o’clock each morning and, eventually, progressed to the round in Coldharbour Lane
in Brixton
.
Some 18 months after meeting Freer, Edgar gave his first audition. As a result Lilian Baylis
offered him a contract to sing as a chorister, under the direction of chorus master Geoffrey Corbett, with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company in 1937 on a salary of £3 a week - the same wage he was getting as a milkman.
Throughout the war, he was singing in shows for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) and ENSA
, entertaining the troops, under the direction of Walter Legge
and performing with artists including Maggie Teyte
, Joyce Grenfell
and many others. After 18 months, he left the police to concentrate on performing, and, in all, he sang in over 500 concerts during the war.
In the latter years of the war and when hostilities ceased, Edgar toured the main theatres in the UK and Europe, singing with the 'Anglo-Russian Merry Go Round Company’ performing in a number of cities, including Paris.
's production of Gay Rosalinda at the Palace Theatre
, in London, under the musical direction of Richard Tauber
. He later worked for Delfont again in a show in Ryde
, on the Isle of Wight
.
A chance meeting with Henry Robinson
, formerly stage manager at Sadler's Wells, resulted in Evans applying for an audition with the newly formed Covent Garden Opera Company. Singing "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca
and the "Flower Song" from Carmen
, he was chosen from scores of tenor hopefuls from around the world and progressed successfully through three auditions to receive the offer of a contract from the Administrator, David Webster
, in the middle of August 1946.
His first roles were as the Bird God and Lover in Purcell
's The Faerie Queene
in a cast that included Michael Hordern
, Constance Shacklock
, Margot Fonteyn
and Moira Shearer
. He made his Covent Garden debut, deputising for Heddle Nash
, as Des Grieux in Manon
, under the direction of Reginald Goodall
.
He became one of the first British singers to sing in opera abroad after the War when Erich Kleiber
took him to sing in Wagner
's Ring in Rome, with the Rome Opera. Later, he was the tenor soloist in Beethoven
's Choral Symphony
when Kleiber conducted the work at Covent Garden at a concert to help establish an artists' pension fund.
at Glyndebourne
in 1974, Evans was a well-respected member of the music world. His acting and vocal ability evoked comparison with the very best and elicited reviews such as:
His voice has a pleasant timbre and is produced with ease. But the most notable thing about his performance was the fact that it realised perfectly the elegant as well as the sentimental character of the melodic line. (Daily Telegraph, April 1947, on his debut as Des Grieux in Manon)
‘As the cheerful but unfortunate King of Sweden (in A Masked Ball
), Edgar Evans follows in the line of some of the greatest tenors who have ever sung in opera, including Jean de Reszke
and Caruso.’ (Education, November 27, 1953)
Of that production of Masked Ball in 1953 – singing with Gobbi
- Evans commented: "Hearing Gobbi reminded me of Ricci's teaching. It inspired me to sing the best I ever sang."
under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli
. He regularly demonstrated his remarkable strength of voice by singing several major roles including Pinkerton (in Madama Butterfly
), Don Jose (Carmen), Max (Der Freischütz
) and Peter Grimes
in the same week.
Eventually the stress of this punishing schedule caught up with him and he was forced to rest for 20 weeks. After this he never resumed the preeminence among principal tenors at Covent Garden that had been his.
Subsequently, he conducted his share of masterclasses and adjudicated at singing competitions. Even in his later years, he had a regular procession of singers all anxious to learn his secrets of vocal technique and his opinion of their vocal talents and abilities.
On his retirement from Covent Garden, Evans was invited by Sir David Willcocks to join the teaching staff at the Royal College of Music
. For ten years he taught vocal technique there and many singers can pay tribute to his masterly teaching.
His final public appearance as a soloist was at the wedding of Robert (Bob) and Helen Little, at Marshalswick Baptist Free Church, St Albans, on 18 October 1980. He sang "Ombra mai fù
" from Handel's opera Xerxes
.
He sang with leading singers; with leading orchestras, both in Britain and in Europe, and worked with leading conductors including Erich Kleiber
, Karl Rankl
, Sir Thomas Beecham
, Sir John Barbirolli
, Sir Malcolm Sargent
, Sir Georg Solti
, Otto Klemperer
, Rudolf Kempe
and Carlo Maria Giulini
. Among those to whom he felt he owed a special debt of gratitude was Peter Gellhorn
who, as a repetiteur and conductor at Covent Garden, taught Evans the part of Hermann in The Queen of Spades
in the remarkably short time of just 14 hours.
He sang the title role in Peter Grimes and Captain Vere (Billy Budd
) after Peter Pears
had initially brought these characters to theatrical life. He sang Dmitri in Boris Godunov
, in English, under Clemens Krauss
, and later in Russian; Steva in Janáček
's Jenůfa
under Rafael Kubelík
; the Drum Major in Alban Berg
's Wozzeck
, under Kleiber; Calaf in Turandot under Barbirolli and many more roles. Barbirolli and Kleiber were among Evans' favourite conductors, closely followed by Kempe and Giulini.
Only the recording studio failed to do justice to Evans's robust, romantic voice. Appearances as Melot in Wagner
's Tristan und Isolde
(HMV) under Furtwängler
; Britten's Albert Herring
(Decca), with the composer conducting, and his recording of "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot are all that remain to stir the memory.
He married Nan (née Walters, died December 1998) on 19 August 1939. Their son Huw died in June 1999, and Evans had two grandchildren; Rebecca and Edward. Evans himself died in Northwick Park Hospital
Harrow
.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
.
Evans was born in Cardiganshire
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. In all, he sang some 45 roles – most of them major ones - at Covent Garden from 1946 - when, as one of its three principal tenors, he became a founder member of the Covent Garden Opera Company - to his retirement in 1975. In that time, he sang more roles and more performances at the Opera House than any other artist.
Those roles included Steva in the first British stage performance of Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
, Zinovy in the British premiere of Katerina Ismailova
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto was written by Alexander Preis and the composer, and is based on the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is sometimes referred to informally as Lady Macbeth...
, The Interpreter and A Celestial Messenger in the premiere of Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
' The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress (opera)
The Pilgrim's Progress is an opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. The composer himself described the work as a 'Morality' rather than an opera, while nonetheless he intended the work to be performed on stage, rather than in a church or cathedral...
, Andres in the first Covent Garden Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
and Captain Davidson in Richard Rodney Bennett
Richard Rodney Bennett
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, CBE is an English composer renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works...
's Victory. In addition, he was Dmitri in the company's first Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, Hermann in the first Covent Garden Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
under Kleiber
Carlos Kleiber
Carlos Kleiber was a German-born, Austrian classical conductor who spent most of his early life in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Vienna and New York City, and from the early 1960s his professional career in Germany.- Early career :...
, Gustavus in the first Masked Ball
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
performed at Covent Garden since the War, Aegisthus in the first post-War Elektra
Elektra (opera)
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
, Hellenus in The Trojans
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
conducted by Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
, Narraboth in the Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
-Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
, and Froh in the first post-War Covent Garden Ring
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
.
Early life
The son of a farmer and the youngest - by eight years - of 13 children, Evans heard the voice of Enrico Caruso over the radio when he was a young boy. From then on his only ambition was to be a singer, despite his father's ambitions for him to become a banker or an architect.Completely untaught, Evans practised both 'preaching' in the declamatory 'Welsh chapel' style and singing in a barn-cum-boilerhouse on the farm. He received no encouragement as a boy - being always told that he sang too loudly. At 11 he entered the local Eisteddfod as a singer unsuccessfully, but by the age of 17 he had improved enough to steal the show at an end of term concert at his secondary school in Newquay
Newquay
Newquay is a town, civil parish, seaside resort and fishing port in Cornwall, England. It is situated on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall approximately west of Bodmin and north of Truro....
. He went on to win various prizes at local Eisteddfodau as a baritone.
First steps in singing career
The opportunity to take up singing professionally came when Evans (by now an articled pupil to the County Architect) was heard singing 'Loch Lomond' by a talent scout in a pub called The Irish House, Piccadilly, while on a rugby trip to London in 1935. He was taken immediately to The Odd Spot nightclub in London's West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, from where he was referred to Arthur Fagg
Arthur Fagg
Arthur Edward Fagg was an English cricketer, who played for Kent and England....
, conductor of the London Choral Society, who knew Dawson Freer, a singing teacher at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
.
One week later, Evans became a pupil of Freer's - who began by telling him that he sang too loudly. These early lessons helped Evans to establish himself as a professional singer, but he felt that his voice and vocal technique improved immeasurably when, later in his career, the Royal Opera arranged for him to continue his studies - this time with the Italian maestro Luigi Ricci in Rome.
For 18 months, Evans studied with Dawson Freer, using up his legacy from his father – who had died in 1927 – to support himself and pay the six guineas for every ten singing lessons. Running out of funds, Evans took on a milk round in Camberwell
Camberwell
Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...
– for the Royal Arsenal Co-Operative - getting up at five o’clock each morning and, eventually, progressed to the round in Coldharbour Lane
Coldharbour Lane
Coldharbour Lane is a road in South London that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. In total the road is over 1 mile long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings - the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Market contains shops, bars and restaurants...
in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
.
Some 18 months after meeting Freer, Edgar gave his first audition. As a result Lilian Baylis
Lilian Baylis
Lilian Mary BaylisCH was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London, and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera , a theatre company, which evolved into the English National Theatre, and a ballet company, which...
offered him a contract to sing as a chorister, under the direction of chorus master Geoffrey Corbett, with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company in 1937 on a salary of £3 a week - the same wage he was getting as a milkman.
World War II
From September 1939 to June 1942 he was a member of the Police Reserve – again on wages of £3 a week - having been turned down for service in the armed forces - he was dogged by kidney problems throughout his life.Throughout the war, he was singing in shows for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) and ENSA
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
, entertaining the troops, under the direction of Walter Legge
Walter Legge
Harry Walter Legge was an influential English classical record producer, most notably for EMI. His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the Century". He worked in the recording industry from 1927, combining this with the post of junior...
and performing with artists including Maggie Teyte
Maggie Teyte
Dame Maggie Teyte DBE was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song.-Early years:Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a successful wine and spirit merchant and proprietor of public houses and later lodgings. Her parents...
, Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell, OBE was an English actress, comedienne, diseuse and singer-songwriter.-Early life:...
and many others. After 18 months, he left the police to concentrate on performing, and, in all, he sang in over 500 concerts during the war.
In the latter years of the war and when hostilities ceased, Edgar toured the main theatres in the UK and Europe, singing with the 'Anglo-Russian Merry Go Round Company’ performing in a number of cities, including Paris.
Post-war career
For a while, he was in Bernard DelfontBernard Delfont
Bernard Delfont, Baron Delfont , born Boris Winogradsky, was a leading Russian-born British theatrical impresario....
's production of Gay Rosalinda at the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
, in London, under the musical direction of Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...
. He later worked for Delfont again in a show in Ryde
Ryde
Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...
, on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
.
A chance meeting with Henry Robinson
Henry Robinson
Henry Robinson may refer to:*Henry Robinson , Bishop of Carlisle, 1598–1616*Henry Robinson , English writer on religious tolerance*Henry Crabb Robinson , British diarist...
, formerly stage manager at Sadler's Wells, resulted in Evans applying for an audition with the newly formed Covent Garden Opera Company. Singing "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
and the "Flower Song" from Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, he was chosen from scores of tenor hopefuls from around the world and progressed successfully through three auditions to receive the offer of a contract from the Administrator, David Webster
David Webster (opera manager)
Sir David Webster was the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1945 to 1970. He played a key part in the establishment of the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera companies....
, in the middle of August 1946.
His first roles were as the Bird God and Lover in Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
's The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
in a cast that included Michael Hordern
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
, Constance Shacklock
Constance Shacklock
Constance Shacklock OBE was an English contralto. After more than a decade of roles with the Covent Garden Opera Company, with other companies and on the concert stage, Shacklock performed for six years in The Sound of Music in London as the Mother Abbess...
, Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina of the 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...
and Moira Shearer
Moira Shearer
Moira Shearer, Lady Kennedy , was an internationally famous Scottish ballet dancer and actress.-Early life:She was born Moira Shearer King in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the daughter of actor Harold V. King...
. He made his Covent Garden debut, deputising for Heddle Nash
Heddle Nash
William Heddle Nash was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio in the middle decades of the twentieth century. He also made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues....
, as Des Grieux in Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, under the direction of Reginald Goodall
Reginald Goodall
Sir Reginald Goodall was an English conductor, noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten.-Biography:...
.
He became one of the first British singers to sing in opera abroad after the War when Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Biography :Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague...
took him to sing in Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Ring in Rome, with the Rome Opera. Later, he was the tenor soloist in Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Choral Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
when Kleiber conducted the work at Covent Garden at a concert to help establish an artists' pension fund.
Reviews
From that first appearance as Des Grieux to his farewell performance, as the butler in The Visit of the Old Lady by Gottfried von EinemGottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ.-Biography:...
at Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
in 1974, Evans was a well-respected member of the music world. His acting and vocal ability evoked comparison with the very best and elicited reviews such as:
His voice has a pleasant timbre and is produced with ease. But the most notable thing about his performance was the fact that it realised perfectly the elegant as well as the sentimental character of the melodic line. (Daily Telegraph, April 1947, on his debut as Des Grieux in Manon)
‘As the cheerful but unfortunate King of Sweden (in A Masked Ball
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
), Edgar Evans follows in the line of some of the greatest tenors who have ever sung in opera, including Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, , was a Polish tenor. Renowned internationally for the high quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing, he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century....
and Caruso.’ (Education, November 27, 1953)
Of that production of Masked Ball in 1953 – singing with Gobbi
Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.-Biography:Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa and studied law at the University of Padua before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome...
- Evans commented: "Hearing Gobbi reminded me of Ricci's teaching. It inspired me to sing the best I ever sang."
Later career
Within three weeks of returning from Ricci in Rome, the higher part of his vocal range now completely secure, Evans sang Calaf in TurandotTurandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
. He regularly demonstrated his remarkable strength of voice by singing several major roles including Pinkerton (in Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
), Don Jose (Carmen), Max (Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
) and Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
in the same week.
Eventually the stress of this punishing schedule caught up with him and he was forced to rest for 20 weeks. After this he never resumed the preeminence among principal tenors at Covent Garden that had been his.
Subsequently, he conducted his share of masterclasses and adjudicated at singing competitions. Even in his later years, he had a regular procession of singers all anxious to learn his secrets of vocal technique and his opinion of their vocal talents and abilities.
On his retirement from Covent Garden, Evans was invited by Sir David Willcocks to join the teaching staff at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. For ten years he taught vocal technique there and many singers can pay tribute to his masterly teaching.
His final public appearance as a soloist was at the wedding of Robert (Bob) and Helen Little, at Marshalswick Baptist Free Church, St Albans, on 18 October 1980. He sang "Ombra mai fù
Ombra mai fu
"Ombra mai fu" is the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse by George Frideric Handel.-Context:The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, the aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces...
" from Handel's opera Xerxes
Xerxes
Xerxes is a male name. Most notably, it may refer to Xerxes I of Persia . It may also refer to:-People:*Xerxes II of Persia, reigned 424 BCE*Xerxes of Armenia, Armenian king, assassinated around 212 BCE...
.
He sang with leading singers; with leading orchestras, both in Britain and in Europe, and worked with leading conductors including Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Biography :Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague...
, Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl was a British conductor and composer of Austrian birth. A pupil of the composers Schoenberg and Webern, he conducted at opera houses in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia until fleeing from the Nazis and taking refuge in England in 1939.Rankl was appointed musical director of the...
, Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
, Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
, Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
, Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor.- Biography :Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929...
and Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
. Among those to whom he felt he owed a special debt of gratitude was Peter Gellhorn
Peter Gellhorn
Peter Gellhorn was a German conductor, composer, pianist and teacher who settled in London and made a career in Britain that lasted unbroken until his death....
who, as a repetiteur and conductor at Covent Garden, taught Evans the part of Hermann in The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
in the remarkably short time of just 14 hours.
He sang the title role in Peter Grimes and Captain Vere (Billy Budd
Billy Budd (opera)
Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten, from a libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, was first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 1 December 1951. It is based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville....
) after Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
had initially brought these characters to theatrical life. He sang Dmitri in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, in English, under Clemens Krauss
Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...
, and later in Russian; Steva in Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
under Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
; the Drum Major in Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
's Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
, under Kleiber; Calaf in Turandot under Barbirolli and many more roles. Barbirolli and Kleiber were among Evans' favourite conductors, closely followed by Kempe and Giulini.
Only the recording studio failed to do justice to Evans's robust, romantic voice. Appearances as Melot in Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
(HMV) under Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
; Britten's Albert Herring
Albert Herring
Albert Herring, Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten.Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera The Rape of Lucretia...
(Decca), with the composer conducting, and his recording of "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot are all that remain to stir the memory.
He married Nan (née Walters, died December 1998) on 19 August 1939. Their son Huw died in June 1999, and Evans had two grandchildren; Rebecca and Edward. Evans himself died in Northwick Park Hospital
Northwick Park Hospital
Northwick Park Hospital is a large hospital in the northwest corner of the London Borough of Brent in Greater London, England.-Hospital role:...
Harrow
Harrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
.
Literature
- G. Davidson, Opera Biographies (Werner Laurie, London 1955), 92-93.
- Robert Little, Edgar Evans Extempore (Bob Little Press & PR, 2005). ISBN 0-9543113-1-0