Thomas L. Thomas
Encyclopedia
Thomas Llyfnwy Thomas was a Welsh American
baritone
concert singer who achieved fame for his performances both in concert halls and on television and radio, most notably on The Voice of Firestone
, where he was the most frequently featured singer. His concert repertoire included lied
er, opera aria
s, ballads, spiritual
s and songs from musical theatre
and operetta
.
, Wales in 1911 and emigrated with his family to Scranton, Pennsylvania
when he was 12 years old. His father, Josiah, had been a notable musician who won the Eisteddfod three times and played the flute with the London Symphony Orchestra
. His mother May was also a talented singer and pianist. Tutored by their father, Thomas, his elder brother David ("Elwyn"), and his younger sister Gwyneth all learned singing at an early age. Thomas graduated from the technical school in Scranton, initially intending to become an engineering draughtsman. However, his plans changed in 1932 when he placed first at an Atwater Kent
singing competition and then placed second in the national finals. Shortly after that, both he and his brother David won scholarships to study singing with Oscar Seagle in New York.
Thomas began making a name for himself on the concert circuit and in 1937 became the youngest singer and only Welshman to have won the Metropolitan Opera
's annual radio auditions. The prize was $1000 and the offer of a seven year contract with the company. He made his debut there on 15 May 1937 as Silvio in Pagliacci
. The Mayor of Scranton was in the audience along with 1200 of the city's residents who had travelled to New York for the occasion. The performance was generally well received, but Thomas decided to turn down the contract and return to a concert career instead, believing himself to be too inexperienced to commit himself to a career at the Met. In 1941, he made one exception to his abdandonment of the opera stage, when he sang the title role in Walter Damrosch's opera Cyrano
, after Ezio Pinza
had withdrawn from the production less than a month before the opening night. Damrosch had considerably re-written the opera since its 1913 premiere at the Met with Pasquale Amato
as Cyrano. The revised version premiered in concert form at Carnegie Hall
on 21 February 1941 with excellent reviews for Thomas who "revealed a fresh and voluminous voice". After the performances ended, Damrosch wrote to Thomas:
Nevertheless, Thomas kept to his decision to pursue his career as a concert singer, and it was a phenomenally successful one. At its height, Thomas sang 60 live concerts a year in the United States and further afield in Canada, Wales, England, Germany, and Australia as well as performing on weekly radio broadcasts. For a time he was one of the highest paid concert artists in the United States. In 1948 and 1949 he hosted the weekly radio show, Your Song and Mine, produced by Frank and Anne Hummert
and starred on their Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
in its final years. He also became a fixture on the radio (and later television) program, The Voice of Firestone
, where he appeared from 1942 until 1957. Many of his performances on The Voice of Firestone were released on VHS
video in 2001 under the title Thomas L. Thomas in Opera and Song.
He kept up his connection with his native Wales throughout his life, returning there to sing in 1955, 1956, and 1958, and always including a Welsh song in his recitals. He made one last trip to Wales in 1978 when he was received into the Gorsedd of Bards for his distinguished contribution to Welsh culture. He also participated in the launch of the Welsh television channel, S4C
in 1982, via a filmed interview in which he sang Nos Galan. He and his wife, Celia, had moved from New York to Scottsdale, Arizona
in the 1960s. In the ensuing years, he cut back his concert schedule and concentrated on informal lecture-recitals as well as teaching in Arizona colleges and in his private voice studio. Thomas died at his home in Scottsdale on 17 April 1983, aged 73.
Welsh American
Welsh Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Wales. In the 2008 U.S. Census community survey, an estimated 1.98 million Americans had Welsh ancestry, 0.6% of the total U.S. population. This compares with a population of 3 million in Wales. However,...
baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
concert singer who achieved fame for his performances both in concert halls and on television and radio, most notably on The Voice of Firestone
The Voice of Firestone
The Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...
, where he was the most frequently featured singer. His concert repertoire included lied
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...
er, opera aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
s, ballads, spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
s and songs from musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
and operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
.
Biography
Thomas was born in MaestegMaesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....
, Wales in 1911 and emigrated with his family to Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
when he was 12 years old. His father, Josiah, had been a notable musician who won the Eisteddfod three times and played the flute with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
. His mother May was also a talented singer and pianist. Tutored by their father, Thomas, his elder brother David ("Elwyn"), and his younger sister Gwyneth all learned singing at an early age. Thomas graduated from the technical school in Scranton, initially intending to become an engineering draughtsman. However, his plans changed in 1932 when he placed first at an Atwater Kent
The Atwater Kent Hour
The Atwater Kent Hour was a top-rated radio concert music program heard on NBC and CBS from 1926 to 1934 with stars of the Metropolitan Opera often making appearances. Classical music was performed by a large symphony orchestra under the direction of Josef Pasternack...
singing competition and then placed second in the national finals. Shortly after that, both he and his brother David won scholarships to study singing with Oscar Seagle in New York.
Thomas began making a name for himself on the concert circuit and in 1937 became the youngest singer and only Welshman to have won the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
's annual radio auditions. The prize was $1000 and the offer of a seven year contract with the company. He made his debut there on 15 May 1937 as Silvio in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
. The Mayor of Scranton was in the audience along with 1200 of the city's residents who had travelled to New York for the occasion. The performance was generally well received, but Thomas decided to turn down the contract and return to a concert career instead, believing himself to be too inexperienced to commit himself to a career at the Met. In 1941, he made one exception to his abdandonment of the opera stage, when he sang the title role in Walter Damrosch's opera Cyrano
Cyrano (Damrosch)
Cyrano is an opera in four acts composed by Walter Damrosch to an English language libretto by William James Henderson based on Edmond Rostand's play, Cyrano de Bergerac...
, after Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
had withdrawn from the production less than a month before the opening night. Damrosch had considerably re-written the opera since its 1913 premiere at the Met with Pasquale Amato
Pasquale Amato
Pasquale Amato was an outstanding Italian operatic baritone. Amato enjoyed an international reputation but attained the peak of his fame in New York City, where he sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1908 until 1921....
as Cyrano. The revised version premiered in concert form 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....
on 21 February 1941 with excellent reviews for Thomas who "revealed a fresh and voluminous voice". After the performances ended, Damrosch wrote to Thomas:
With your exquisite voice which you owe to your Welsh ancestors, and with your great artistry, you had already achieved a commanding position on the concert stage - but in your portrayal of ‘Cyrano’ you have developed so fine a perception of the requirements of opera, that that career is also open to you if ever you choose to undertake it.
Nevertheless, Thomas kept to his decision to pursue his career as a concert singer, and it was a phenomenally successful one. At its height, Thomas sang 60 live concerts a year in the United States and further afield in Canada, Wales, England, Germany, and Australia as well as performing on weekly radio broadcasts. For a time he was one of the highest paid concert artists in the United States. In 1948 and 1949 he hosted the weekly radio show, Your Song and Mine, produced by Frank and Anne Hummert
Anne Hummert
Anne Hummert was the leading creator of daytime radio serials during the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for more than three dozen drama series....
and starred on their Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round was a NBC musical variety radio program of the 1930s. Described as a "musical revue," it was produced by Frank and Anne Hummert. Sponsored by Dr...
in its final years. He also became a fixture on the radio (and later television) program, The Voice of Firestone
The Voice of Firestone
The Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...
, where he appeared from 1942 until 1957. Many of his performances on The Voice of Firestone were released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video in 2001 under the title Thomas L. Thomas in Opera and Song.
He kept up his connection with his native Wales throughout his life, returning there to sing in 1955, 1956, and 1958, and always including a Welsh song in his recitals. He made one last trip to Wales in 1978 when he was received into the Gorsedd of Bards for his distinguished contribution to Welsh culture. He also participated in the launch of the Welsh television channel, S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
in 1982, via a filmed interview in which he sang Nos Galan. He and his wife, Celia, had moved from New York to Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
in the 1960s. In the ensuing years, he cut back his concert schedule and concentrated on informal lecture-recitals as well as teaching in Arizona colleges and in his private voice studio. Thomas died at his home in Scottsdale on 17 April 1983, aged 73.
Sources
- Cox, Jim, Frank and Anne Hummert's Radio Factory: The programs and personalities of broadcasting's most prolific producers, McFarland, 2003. ISBN 0786416319
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Thomas L. Thomas Papers 1924-1995, 2008 (accessed 29 April 2010)
- Jones, Bill, "Thomas, Thomas L. (Llyfnwy)" in Barkan, Elliott Robert (ed.), Making it in America: A sourcebook on eminent ethnic Americans, ABC-CLIO, 2001, pp. 375–376. ISBN 1576070980
- Metropolitan Opera, http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/gisrch2k.r?Term=Thomas,%20Thomas%20L.%20%5BBaritone%5D&limit=5000&vsrchtype=no&xBranch=ALL&xmtype=&Start=&End=&theterm=%54homas,%20%54homas%20L.%20%5BBa%72i%74on%65%5D&srt=&x=0&xHome=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/bibpro.htm&xHomePath=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Performance record: Thomas, Thomas L. (Baritone)], MetOpera Database (accessed 29 April 2010)
- New York Times, "Scranton Mayor Leads 1,200 Rooters Here To Hail Their Engineer-Singer in Opera Bow", 16 May 1937, p. 37
- New York Times, "Pinza and Novotna Quit 'Cyrano' Roles", 29 January 1941, p. 19
- New York Times, "David Thomas, Character Actor; In 2,148 'Fair Lady' Performances", 29 January 1981 (accessed 29 April 2010)
- Sanborn, Pitts, "Opera on Stage and Platform", Christian Science Monitor, 1 March 1941, p. 7
- Smith, Elizabeth, Voice of Firestone: Thomas L. Thomas in Opera and Song, Movies, All Media Guide, 2010 (accessed 29 April 2010)
- Thomas, Elfed and Thomas, Barabara, "Thomas Llyfnwy Thomas (1911-1983): Portrait of a Professional", Welsh Music/Cerddoriaeth Cymru , Vol. 8, No. 3 Autumn 1986, pp. 7–12 and Vol. 8, No. 4, Winter 1986, pp. 29–39. A combined version of these articles, updated by Charles Hooey, is published as Thomas Llyfnwy Thomas on Musicweb-International (accessed 29 April 2010)
- Wagner, Charles Ludwig, Seeing Stars, Ayer Publishing, 1977. ISBN 040509714X
- Wall Street Journal, "Metropolitan Notes", 17 May 1937
External links
- Thomas L. Thomas Discography on Music-Web International
- The Thomas L. Thomas Papers, including correspondence, phonograph albums, photographs and audio/video cassettes, are available for research use at the Historical Society of PennsylvaniaHistorical Society of PennsylvaniaThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
.