John Fryatt
Encyclopedia
John James Fryatt was an English actor and opera singer best known for his performance in comic character roles.
Fryatt began his career with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
in 1952 in Gilbert and Sullivan
roles, then Sadler's Wells Opera in 1959, becoming popular in tenor
character roles in Offenbach
operettas. His international opera career continued from the 1960s to the 1990s, becoming known in the roles of Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro
and Sellem in The Rake's Progress
, among many others. He also played a role in the West End
as Roscoe in the 1987 production of Follies
.
. From 1950, he studied privately with Frank Titterton
and subsequently with Joseph Hislop
.
He was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
in January 1952, playing Gilbert and Sullivan
chorus roles. His first named role there, in 1953, was the small tenor
part of the First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard
. The next year, he was also given the role of Francesco in The Gondoliers
. His first leading role was Prince Hilarion in Princess Ida
in 1954, followed the next year by the Defendant in Trial by Jury
, and he was also given the role of Leonard Meryll in Yeomen. That year, he also occasionally began to play the roles of Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore
, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance
, and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado
. In 1957, he was also given the larger role of Luiz in The Gondoliers
, while still playing some chorus parts. He also had occasion to play Earl Tolloller in Iolanthe
and the Duke of Dunstable in Patience
. He left the D'Oyly Carte company in 1959.
Fryatt joined Sadler's Wells Opera in 1959, beginning in the chorus, and became associated with tenor character roles in Wendy Toye
's productions of Offenbach
operettas in the 1960s. These included the Brazilian in La vie parisienne
, the title role in Orpheus in the Underworld
, Menelaus in La belle Hélène
and King Bobêche in Bluebeard
. Other roles included Pedrillo in The Seraglio
, Guillot in Manon
, Spalanzani in The Tales of Hoffmann, Monostatos in The Magic Flute
and, in the British premiere of Janáček's The Makropulos Case, Count Hauk-Sendorff. He repeated some of his Offenbach roles at the London Coliseum
when the Sadler's Wells company became English National Opera
(ENO). In 1964 he created the role of Dr. Graham in Malcolm Williamson
's opera English Eccentrics, and was singled out by the reviewer Andrew Porter
as "deserving special mention". He also created the role of the mute Trim in The Mines of Sulphur
in 1965, reprising it with Opera North
in 1980. With The New Opera Company, he sang the roles of Mephisto and Jacob Glock in the 1965 British stage premiere of Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel
.
He occasionally revisited Gilbert and Sullivan, singing the roles of Cyril in Princess Ida, Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore
, and Marco in The Gondoliers, in 1966 for BBC radio, and appearing in the 1982 Brent Walker television productions of Cox and Box
(as Mr. Box) and Patience (as Archibald Grosvenor). He returned to Sadler's Wells in 1984 to play the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. In The Musical Times in 1984, the reviewer Andrew Lamb
called Fryatt "a highly amusing North Country Duke of Plaza-Toro."
, singing the role at ENO, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
and at various opera houses in Britain, Europe and America. In some productions of the opera he played Don Curzio as well as Basilio. He recorded the part of Don Basilio in a cast headed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
, Heather Harper
and Geraint Evans
, conducted by Daniel Barenboim
in 1977. Also at Glyndebourne he sang in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
, Monsieur Triquet in Eugene Onegin
and Sellem in The Rake's Progress
, praised by The Independent
for his "classic timing". There he also created the role of Captain Lillywhite in the premiere of The Rising of the Moon
(1970). He appeared at Rome Opera as Sellem in The Rake's Progress, at Carnegie Hall
, as Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess
, with Amsterdam Opera
, as Goro in Madama Butterfly
and in several character roles at Santa Fe Opera
. At London's Royal Opera House
, he sang the Dancing Master in Manon Lescaut. One of his last operatic roles was the Emperor Altoum in Turandot
, which he played for ENO in 1995. Rodney Milnes
, writing in The Times
praised Fryatt's performance: "often on a thread of sound, he made every single word tell, he was thinking them, and for a brief moment Turandot sprang into life as living drama rather than just noise."
Fryatt was eager to play in a West End
musical. In 1987 he finally achieved this goal, playing Roscoe for nine months in Stephen Sondheim
's Follies
at the Shaftesbury Theatre
. In 1986, together with fellow ex-D'Oyly Carte artist Cynthia Morey, Fryatt wrote a Gilbert and Sullivan pantomime
adaptation entitled The Sleeping Beauty of the Savoy. In 1995, they collaborated on Off the Beaten Track, featuring songs from forgotten shows.
After beginning to sing at Glyndebourne, Fryatt moved to nearby Lewes
, Sussex. In later years, he was a Vice President of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, London. He died in Brighton
at the age of 83, and his funeral is at Woodvale Crematorium Brighton on 24 January 2011.
Fryatt also recorded the tenor part in Stravinsky
's Pulcinella
ballet, conducted by Simon Rattle
(1978).
Fryatt began his career 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...
in 1952 in Gilbert and Sullivan
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...
roles, then Sadler's Wells Opera in 1959, becoming popular in tenor
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...
character roles in Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
operettas. His international opera career continued from the 1960s to the 1990s, becoming known in the roles of Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and Sellem in The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
, among many others. He also played a role in the West End
West 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...
as Roscoe in the 1987 production of Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
.
Early life and career
Fryatt was born in YorkYork
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. From 1950, he studied privately with Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton was a well known British lyric tenor of the mid twentieth century. He was noted for his musicianship.Titterton's career was mainly in the concert hall...
and subsequently with Joseph Hislop
Joseph Hislop
Joseph Hislop was a lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio and gave concerts around the world....
.
He was engaged by 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...
in January 1952, playing Gilbert and Sullivan
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...
chorus roles. His first named role there, in 1953, was the small tenor
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...
part of the First Citizen 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...
. The next year, he was also given the role of Francesco 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...
. His first leading role was Prince Hilarion 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 1954, followed the next year by the Defendant in Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, and he was also given the role of Leonard Meryll in Yeomen. That year, he also occasionally began to play the roles of 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...
, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, and 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...
. In 1957, he was also given the larger role of Luiz 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...
, while still playing some chorus parts. He also had occasion to play Earl 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....
and 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...
. He left the D'Oyly Carte company in 1959.
Fryatt joined Sadler's Wells Opera in 1959, beginning in the chorus, and became associated with tenor character roles in Wendy Toye
Wendy Toye
Wendy Toye, CBE, was a British dancer, stage and film director and actress.Beryl May Jessie Toye was born in London. She initially worked as a dancer and choreographer both on stage and on film, collaborating with the likes of directors Jean Cocteau and Carol Reed...
's productions of Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
operettas in the 1960s. These included the Brazilian in La vie parisienne
La vie parisienne
La vie parisienne is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects...
, the title role in Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
, Menelaus in La belle Hélène
La belle Hélène
La belle Hélène , opéra bouffe in three acts, is an operetta by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy...
and King Bobêche in Bluebeard
Barbe-bleue
Barbe-bleue is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on Charles Perrault's 1697 story.-Performance history:...
. Other roles included Pedrillo in The Seraglio
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
, Guillot 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...
, Spalanzani in The Tales of Hoffmann, Monostatos in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
and, in the British premiere of Janáček's The Makropulos Case, Count Hauk-Sendorff. He repeated some of his Offenbach roles at the London Coliseum
Coliseum Theatre
The London Coliseum is an opera house and major performing venue on St. Martin's Lane, central London. It is one of London's largest and best equipped theatres and opened in 1904, designed by theatrical architect Frank Matcham , for impresario Oswald Stoll...
when the Sadler's Wells company became English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
(ENO). In 1964 he created the role of Dr. Graham in Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
's opera English Eccentrics, and was singled out by the reviewer Andrew Porter
Andrew Porter (music critic)
Andrew Porter, born 26 August 1928, in Cape Town, South Africa, is a British music critic, scholar, organist, and opera director. He studied organ at University College, Oxford University, in the late nineteen-forties, then began writing music criticism for various London newspapers, including The...
as "deserving special mention". He also created the role of the mute Trim in The Mines of Sulphur
The Mines of Sulphur
The Mines of Sulphur is an opera in three acts by Richard Rodney Bennett, his first full-length opera, composed in 1963. Beverley Cross wrote the libretto, based on his play Scarlet Ribbons, at the suggestion of Colin Graham, who eventually directed the first production in 1965...
in 1965, reprising it with Opera North
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
in 1980. With The New Opera Company, he sang the roles of Mephisto and Jacob Glock in the 1965 British stage premiere of Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel
The Fiery Angel
The Fiery Angel is* The Fiery Angel , a novel by the Russian poet Valery Bryusov* The Fiery Angel , an opera by Sergei Prokofiev based on Bryusov's novel...
.
He occasionally revisited Gilbert and Sullivan, singing the roles of Cyril in Princess Ida, Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
, and Marco in The Gondoliers, in 1966 for BBC radio, and appearing in the 1982 Brent Walker television productions of Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
(as Mr. Box) and Patience (as Archibald Grosvenor). He returned to Sadler's Wells in 1984 to play the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. In The Musical Times in 1984, the reviewer Andrew Lamb
Andrew Lamb
Andrew Lamb , bishop of Brechin and bishop of Galloway, was probably son or relative of Andrew Lamb of Leith, a lay member of the general assembly of 1560...
called Fryatt "a highly amusing North Country Duke of Plaza-Toro."
Later years
Fryatt became known for his portrayal of Don Basilio in The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, singing the role at ENO, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
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:...
and at various opera houses in Britain, Europe and America. In some productions of the opera he played Don Curzio as well as Basilio. He recorded the part of Don Basilio in a cast headed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, Heather Harper
Heather Harper
Heather Harper CBE is a Northern Ireland-born British operatic soprano.She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1930, where she received her early musical training...
and Geraint Evans
Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
, conducted by Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
in 1977. Also at Glyndebourne he sang in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria is an opera in a prologue and five acts , set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season...
, Monsieur Triquet in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
and Sellem in The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
, praised by The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
for his "classic timing". There he also created the role of Captain Lillywhite in the premiere of The Rising of the Moon
The Rising of the Moon (opera)
The Rising of the Moon is an operatic comedy in three acts composed by Nicholas Maw to a libretto by Beverley Cross. It premiered on 19 July 1970 at the Glyndebourne Festival conducted by Raymond Leppard and directed by Colin Graham...
(1970). He appeared at Rome Opera as Sellem in The Rake's Progress, at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, as Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
, with Amsterdam Opera
De Nederlandse Opera
De Nederlandse Opera , in Amsterdam, is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Het Muziektheater, a modern building designed by Cees Dam which opened in 1986....
, as Goro 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...
and in several character roles at Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
. At London's 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...
, he sang the Dancing Master in Manon Lescaut. One of his last operatic roles was the Emperor Altoum in Turandot
Turandot
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...
, which he played for ENO in 1995. Rodney Milnes
Rodney Milnes
Rodney Milnes Blumer is an English music critic, musicologist, writer, translator and broadcaster, with a particular interest in opera.He attended Rugby School and Oxford University before working in publishing....
, writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
praised Fryatt's performance: "often on a thread of sound, he made every single word tell, he was thinking them, and for a brief moment Turandot sprang into life as living drama rather than just noise."
Fryatt was eager to play in a West End
West 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...
musical. In 1987 he finally achieved this goal, playing Roscoe for nine months in Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
. In 1986, together with fellow ex-D'Oyly Carte artist Cynthia Morey, Fryatt wrote a Gilbert and Sullivan pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
adaptation entitled The Sleeping Beauty of the Savoy. In 1995, they collaborated on Off the Beaten Track, featuring songs from forgotten shows.
After beginning to sing at Glyndebourne, Fryatt moved to nearby Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
, Sussex. In later years, he was a Vice President of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, London. He died in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
at the age of 83, and his funeral is at Woodvale Crematorium Brighton on 24 January 2011.
Recordings
Fryatt's opera recordings were:- The Brazilian in extended excerpts from OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's La vie parisienneLa vie parisienneLa vie parisienne is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects...
(in English), with Sadler's Wells forces conducted by Alexander FarisAlexander FarisAlexander "Sandy" Faris is an Irish composer, conductor and writer, known for his television theme tunes. He has composed and recorded many operas and musicals, and has composed film scores and orchestral works.-Life and career:...
(1961). - Pedrillo in Mozart's The Abduction from the SeraglioDie Entführung aus dem SerailDie Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
(in English), with Bath Festival forces conducted by Yehudi MenuhinYehudi MenuhinYehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
(1968). - Don Basilio in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, with Dietrich Fischer-DieskauDietrich Fischer-DieskauDietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, Heather HarperHeather HarperHeather Harper CBE is a Northern Ireland-born British operatic soprano.She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1930, where she received her early musical training...
and Geraint EvansGeraint EvansSir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
, conducted by Daniel BarenboimDaniel BarenboimDaniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
(1977). - Cascada in excerpts from LehárFranz LehárFranz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
's The Merry WidowThe Merry WidowThe Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, in a cast headed by Joan SutherlandJoan SutherlandDame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
and Valerie MastersonValerie MastersonMargaret Valerie Masterson , is a retired English opera singer, a lecturer and Vice-President of British Youth Opera. After study in Italy, she began to sing opera in Europe...
, conducted by Richard BonyngeRichard BonyngeRichard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
(1979). - The turnkey in Vaughan Williams's Hugh the DroverHugh the DroverHugh the Drover is an opera in two acts by Ralph Vaughan Williams to an original English libretto by Harold Child. According to Michael Kennedy, the composer took first inspiration for the opera from this question to Bruce Richmond, editor of The Times Literary Supplement, around 1909–1910:"I...
, with Robert TearRobert TearRobert Tear, CBE was a Welsh tenor and conductor.Tear was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, UK, the son of Thomas and Edith Tear. He attended Barry Boys' Grammar School and during this period sang in the chorus of the first Welsh National Opera's production of 'Cavalleria Rusticana' in April 1946...
as Hugh, conducted by Sir Charles GrovesCharles GrovesSir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
(1979). - Pisandro in MonteverdiClaudio MonteverdiClaudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patriaIl ritorno d'Ulisse in patriaIl ritorno d'Ulisse in patria is an opera in a prologue and five acts , set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season...
, with Richard StilwellRichard StilwellRichard Stilwell III is an operatic and concert baritone.After graduating from Indiana University in 1966, Stilwell joined the Army Chorus in Washington. He appeared as a soloist with the chorus singing the tribute: "One Small Step" in a national telecast with the returning astronauts of Apollo 11...
as Ulisse and Frederica von StadeFrederica von StadeFrederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
as Penelope, conducted by Raymond LeppardRaymond LeppardRaymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School...
(1980). - The dance master in PucciniGiacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Manon LescautManon Lescaut (Puccini)Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
, in a cast headed by Mirella FreniMirella FreniMirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky...
and Plácido DomingoPlácido DomingoPlácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, conducted by Giuseppe SinopoliGiuseppe Sinopoli-Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...
(1984). - The Rector in BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's Peter GrimesPeter GrimesPeter 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...
, with Philip LangridgePhilip LangridgePhilip Gordon Langridge CBE was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio....
in the title role, conducted by Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
(1996).
Fryatt also recorded the tenor part in Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Pulcinella
Pulcinella (ballet)
Pulcinella is a ballet by Igor Stravinsky based on an 18th-century play — Pulcinella is a character originating from Commedia dell'arte. The ballet premiered at the Paris Opera on 15 May 1920 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet. The dancer Léonide Massine created both the libretto and choreography,...
ballet, conducted by Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
(1978).
Television
Several of Fryatt's opera productions were televised. His performances on television include the following:- 1973 The Return of Ulysses to his HomelandIl ritorno d'Ulisse in patriaIl ritorno d'Ulisse in patria is an opera in a prologue and five acts , set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season...
, Pisandro - 1973 Le nozze di Figaro, Basilio
- 1974 IdomeneoIdomeneoIdomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
, High Priest - 1975 The Rake's ProgressThe Rake's ProgressThe Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
, Sellem - 1976 FalstaffFalstaff (opera)Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, Dottor Cajus - 1978 The Magic FluteThe Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Monostatos - 1982 PatiencePatience (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...
, Archibald Grosvenor - 1982 Cox and BoxCox and BoxCox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
, Box - 1983 Manon LescautManon Lescaut (Puccini)Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
, Dance master - 1983 Orpheus in the UnderworldOrpheus in the UnderworldOrphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
, Mars - 1984 Eugene OneginEugene Onegin (opera)Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, Triquet
External links
- Clip of Fryatt as Don Basilio
- Fryatt's Naxos albums
- Fryatt's Decca recording of The Merry Widow
- Profile of Fryatt and photo of him as M. Triquet in Eugene Onegin, 1994 at Glyndebourne
- 1950s Photo of Fryatt as Prince Hilarion