Hugh Enes Blackmore
Encyclopedia
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
. His career with D'Oyly Carte spanned almost 30 years, as he briefly became the company's stage manager, and was later a teacher of operatic singing and acting.
Life and career
Blackmore was born in GreenockGreenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
in Scotland. He attended Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
in Edinburgh where he sang tenor solos beginning at age 14. Encouraged by Alexander Potts, his headmaster, Blackmore took lessons in singing and thought to make a career in grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
by training in Italy. However, Blackmore's father wanted him to follow a more secure profession, so he trained as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
. Finding this not to his liking, he gave up law and studied singing under Signor Caravoglia.
Career
Leonora Braham
Leonora Braham , born Leonora Lucy Abraham, was an English opera singer and actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas....
and W. H. Squire
William Henry Squire
William Henry Squire was a composer and cellist. Pieces he wrote include Danse Rustique, Bouree, Tarantella, and Humoresque.Born in Ross-on-Wye, Squire was as well known as a cellist as he was a composer...
. He took part in an evening concert at Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
Town Hall on 22 March 1893 in aid of the fund for building a church at the Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
mission in Walworth
Walworth
-Places:United Kingdom* Walworth, County DurhamUnited States* Walworth County, South Dakota* Walworth County, Wisconsin* Walworth, New York* Walworth, Wisconsin, a village* Walworth , Wisconsin, a town...
. The concert, which included Schubert's incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
from Rosamunde
Rosamunde
Rosamunde can refer to:* The German name for the Beer Barrel Polka* Music by Franz Schubert:**Rosamunde incidental music**Rosamunde String Quartet **Impromptu in B flat major, Op. 142 No. 3...
, receiving its "First performance in England in its original and complete form", was held under the patronage of the Master and fellows of Pembroke College, with a young Henry Wood conducting.
Blackmore's association with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
spanned almost 30 years. In October 1893, he created the small role of Sir Bailey Barre, one of the 'Flowers of Progress', in Gilbert and Sullivan's
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
Utopia, Limited
Utopia, Limited
Utopia, Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was the second-to-last of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen collaborations, premiering on 7 October 1893 for a run of 245 performances...
at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
in London. From 1894-96, he performed with a D'Oyly Carte touring company, playing Captain Fitzbattleaxe in Utopia, Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, Picorin in Mirette
Mirette
Mirette can refer to:*A 19th century comic opera, Mirette ;*A children's book called Mirette on the High Wire; and*A musical by Harvey Schmidt, Mirette , based on the children's book....
, Vasquez in The Chieftain
The Chieftain
The Chieftain is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand based on their 1867 opera, The Contrabandista. It consists of substantially the same first act as the 1867 work with a completely new second act...
, the Duke of Dunstable in Patience
Patience (opera)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...
, Marco in The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
and Ernest Dummkopf in the first British provincial production of The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, 1896, and ran for 123 performances...
.
At the end of 1896, Blackmore left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He toured for more than a year in a new musical comedy, The Ballet Girl, by James T. Tanner
James T. Tanner
James Tolman Tanner was an English stage director and dramatist who wrote many of the successful musicals produced by George Edwardes.-Life and career:...
and Adrian Ross
Adrian Ross
For the NFL player see Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes , better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
, playing the role of Reuben Van Eyt. He then appeared in London in 1898 and 1899 as Piccolo in Edward Jakobowski
Edward Jakobowski
Edward Jakobowski was an English composer best known for writing the comic opera Erminie. Jakobowski was a significant figure on the London musical stage during the last two decades of the 19th Century. He did not challenge Sullivan, nor quite equal Fred Clay or Alfred Cellier but his gift of...
and Ross's musical comedy Milord Sir Smith at the Comedy Theatre. After this, he played Vincent in a tour of Ma Mie Rosette, a "romantic comedy-opera" with music by Paul Lacome
Paul Lacome
Paul-Jean-Jacques Lacome d'Estalenx was a French composer. Between 1870 and the turn of the century he produced a series of operettas and operas-bouffes that were popular both in France and abroad...
and Ivan Caryll
Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin , better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language...
. During this period, Blackmore sang at the Steinway Hall
Steinway Hall
Steinway Hall is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and Steinway-Häuser are located in world cities such as New York City, London, Hamburg, Berlin,...
in London on 2 November 1898 during the first season of the Elderhorst Chamber Concerts.
In 1908, Blackmore rejoined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre for the company's second London repertory season, as a member of the chorus. He played Griffin David in several performances of A Welsh Sunset
A Welsh Sunset
A Welsh Sunset is a one-act comic opera composed by Philip Michael Faraday, with a libretto by Frederick Fenn. It was produced at the Savoy Theatre from 15 July 1908 and played with revivals of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance until 17 October 1908, and from 2 December 1908 until 24...
, which was a curtain-raiser for Pinafore that season. Later that year, Blackmore resumed touring with D'Oyly Carte, taking on the small roles of Leonard Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
and Francesco in The Gondoliers, as well as singing in the chorus of the other shows on tour. In 1910, he gave up playing the character of Francesco but continued to play Leonard until July, after which date he played only chorus roles for the next two years. During D'Oyly Carte's 1912-13 season, he began to play the small role of First Yeoman in Yeomen. In July 1913 he added Annibale in The Gondoliers to his repertoire, stepping up to the more important role of Luiz for a short period in 1914. He also substituted at times in leading tenor roles, including Tolloller in Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
(1914–15), Nanki-Poo in The Mikado (1917), Marco in The Gondoliers (1917), and Alexis in The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
(1918). He also played the role of Cyril in Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
in 1918. Blackmore returned to the D'Oyly Carte chorus in 1918, also playing the roles of Leonard in Yeomen and Annibale in The Gondoliers from July 1919. From 1921, his only principal role was Annibale, but he occasionally filled in for Derek Oldham
Derek Oldham
Derek Oldham was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
as Tolloller in Iolanthe, before retiring from the stage in April 1922.
Blackmore was then employed by D'Oyly Carte to coach the Company's professional understudies
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
in their roles. He was appointed as D'Oyly Carte's stage manager for the 1922-23 season, but, coming into "uncomfortable conflict with the artistic temperament", he was replaced the following season by Frederick Hobbs
Frederick Hobbs (singer)
Frederick Hobbs was a New Zealand-born singer, actor and theatre manager. After performing as a concert singer in New Zealand and Australia and in opera and musicals in Britain, he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1914. There he played the baritone and bass-baritone roles of the Gilbert...
. After leaving the stage, Blackmore taught voice and coached actors in 'operatic stage craft' in the London-based 'G & S School of Opera', which he founded with his wife, describing himself in advertisements for the School as the 'principal tenor and SM' with D'Oyly Carte.
Personal life
"Blackie", as he was known to friends and colleagues, was married to fellow D'Oyly Carter Tessa Snelson (1870–1939), to whom he was introduced on the stage of the Savoy Theatre by W. S. GilbertW. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. The two became early members of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, in which they both served on the Entertainment Committee, supervising 'dramatic recitals' for the Society in celebration of the operas' jubilees, including staging excerpts from Utopia, Limited and The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
for the Society's 1936 centenary celebration of the birth of W.S. Gilbert. Blackmore also served on the Society's Executive Committee
Executive Committee
Executive Committee may refer to:* The Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland, a government body in the United Kingdom 1921–1972* The Northern Ireland Executive, a government body in the United Kingdom...
, and wrote articles for the Society's journal concerning stagecraft in general and his career with the D'Oyly Carte organisation.
Blackmore made his last public appearance by reprising his role as Sir Bailey Barre in The Gilbert and Sullivan Society's concert version of Utopia, Limited on 29 April 1939, forty-six years after having played the role at the Savoy Theatre.
Blackmore died at the age of 81.