Richard Watson (singer)
Encyclopedia
Richard Charles Watson was an Australian bass opera and concert singer and actor. He is probably best remembered as a long-time principal with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
who sang the comic bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas, but he appeared in a wide range of operas at the Royal Opera House
and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
with singers including Lotte Lehmann
and Lauritz Melchior
, under conductors including Sir Thomas Beecham
and Bruno Walter
.
He recorded some operatic music, and over a half dozen of his recordings with D'Oyly Carte remain in print, including his 1932 recording of King Hildebrand in Princess Ida
and his recordings of the Learned Judge, Sergeant of Police, Pooh-Bah, Sir Despard Murgatroyd, Wilfred Shadbolt and Don Alhambra, released in 1949 and 1950.
. After training at the Elder Conservatorium
, he taught locally before being awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music
in London in 1925. He also studied with the baritone
Dinh Gilly
.
He made his London stage debut in a one-off charity matinée performance of a musical fantasy called The Ladder at Daly's Theatre
in June 1927, in a cast led by Maggie Teyte
. Also in the cast was Walter Johnstone-Douglas, who had taught Watson at the Royal College. He engaged Watson to appear in 1928 in a company including Astra Desmond
, Roy Henderson and Steuart Wilson
, performing in a season of operas at the Royal Court Theatre
, London, in Così fan tutte
, Master Peter's Puppet Show, The Secret Marriage
, and Vaughan Williams's
new opera, The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains
. Later that year, he sang in Charpentier's
Louise
, conducted by Malcolm Sargent
.
In 1929 Watson played Falstaff in the original production of Vaughan Williams's Sir John in Love
, conducted by Sargent. Later in the year, he sang in The Tales of Hoffmann with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
and then joined the Covent Garden Opera
touring company, under John Barbirolli
, in a wide repertory from Wagner
(The Mastersingers
), to Verdi
(Falstaff
), to verismo
(Cavalleria rusticana
and Pagliacci
).
Watson was invited to sing with the international opera company at Covent Garden in the summer of 1930. He performed in Debussy's
Pelléas et Mélisande
and in Die Meistersinger (this time in German) under Bruno Walter
. The latter was broadcast live by the BBC
. After the international season, Watson again joined the touring company, performing in a range of operas, including Turandot
, Rigoletto
, Aida
and Tosca
, which were relayed by the BBC. In 1932, he sang in Sir Thomas Beecham
's Wagner festival at Covent Garden, in a company headed by Lotte Lehmann
, Frida Leider
, Lauritz Melchior
and Friedrich Schorr
. All the main Wagner operas were performed, with the exceptions of Parsifal
(which Beecham never conducted) and Lohengrin
; Watson appeared in every production.
From the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Watson was in demand as a concert singer and as a broadcasting and recording artist. He sang in Elgar
's The Apostles
, in Worcester Cathedral under Sir Ivor Atkins
, Schubert's
Mass in A flat under Adrian Boult
with the Bach Choir, Handel's
Judas Maccabaeus, and the Verdi Requiem
.
, remaining with the company for two years. His roles were Private Willis in Iolanthe
and King Hildebrand in Princess Ida
, which he took over from the company's veteran bass-baritone Sydney Granville
, and the Lieutenant of the Tower
in The Yeomen of the Guard
, previously played by Leslie Rands
. In December 1932, when The Sorcerer
was revived, he was also given the small role of the Notary; in June 1933 he took over the role of Old Adam in Ruddigore
. During his two seasons, he also deputised occasionally for Darrell Fancourt
as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance
and for Granville as Don Alhambra, the Grand Inquisitor, in The Gondoliers
.
In June 1934, Watson left D'Oyly Carte to rejoin the Carl Rosa company, touring for six months in a range of operas including Wagner's Tannhäuser
. At the end of the tour, he returned to Australia, touring with the J. C. Williamson
Company in 1935–36 in the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas, and three other pieces, Lilac Time
, The Chocolate Soldier
, and a rare revival of Robert Planquette
's Paul Jones. Also in the company were other former D'Oyly Carte performers, including Winifred Lawson
and Ivan Menzies
. Watson played Bouncer in Cox and Box
, the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury
, the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance, Colonel Calverley in Patience
, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado
, Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore, Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers.
Watson returned to England in 1936, and from then to 1939 appeared in concerts and operas, including a last-minute engagement to sing in The Bartered Bride
at Covent Garden when the singer cast as Krušina fell ill. Watson and another bass, Booth Hitchen, learned the role within 24 hours, rehearsed by Beecham, and played the role for one act each. Watson then returned to Australia for another Williamson tour. During the tour, he added the Savoy opera roles of Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer and Bill Bobstay in H.M.S. Pinafore
to his repertory. In December 1940, Watson married Joyce Armitage Tapson in Melbourne. In 1943, he was appointed principal teacher of singing at his old college, the Elder Conservatorium.
In September 1947, Watson returned to England and rejoined the D'Oyly Carte company. His roles were Bouncer, Private Willis (both shared with Richard Walker
), the Learned Judge, Captain Corcoran in Pinafore, Pooh-Bah, the Lieutenant, and Don Alhambra. He substituted for Fancourt in the 1947–48 season as the Pirate King. Walker, finding so many of his roles given to Watson, soon left the company, and Watson then took over Walker's remaining roles of Sergeant of Police in Pirates and Shadbolt in Yeomen. In the 1947–48 season, Watson gave up the role of Captain Corcoran and played Bill Bobstay in Pinafore. He also filled in on occasion for Fancourt as Colonel Calverley in Patience. From November 1948, Watson also appeared as Sir Despard in Ruddigore. He played most of these roles for his last three seasons with the company.
Watson left for the second and last time at the end of the company's London season at the Savoy Theatre
in August 1951. In 1949, the company had engaged Eleanor Evans
as Stage Director. The choice was highly unpopular among the actors and contributed to a wave of defections, including the company's principal comedian, Martyn Green
. Green wrote: "Discontent grew, changes were constantly taking place, and criticism became rampant. ... [Evans's methods] suggest a complete lack of knowledge, evidenced ... by constant self-contradiction. There were other accusations levelled against her, of a more serious nature". In addition to Green, "Ella Halman
left too. So did Richard Watson ... Radley Flynn and no fewer than twenty-two other small part players and choristers. It was the largest single exodus of performers in D'Oyly Carte history".
in Canada. He returned to Australia and made a final tour with the Williamson company from 1956 to 1958, playing his accustomed Gilbert and Sullivan roles. In the early 1960s, Watson played his last known part, as Bumble the beadle in the original Australian production of Lionel Bart
's Oliver!
.
Watson died in Adelaide in 1968, aged 65.
company. In the 1930s he made a series of recordings of operatic numbers and a few old ballads. Operatic solos included arias from Mozart's
The Seraglio
and The Magic Flute
and Basilio's "Calumny" aria from Rossini's The Barber of Seville
and, later, bass solos from works by Gounod
and Bizet
. He took part in recordings of duets and ensemble numbers from operas by Verdi, Puccini
and Gounod; and, with Steuart Wilson
and the pianist Gerald Moore
and others, Brahms
's Liebeslieder-Walzer.
In 1932, Watson recorded King Hildebrand in Princess Ida with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Watson's second engagement with D'Oyly Carte coincided with an intensive period of recording by Decca of the main works of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. He recorded the roles of the Learned Judge, Sergeant of Police, Pooh-Bah, Sir Despard, Shadbolt and Don Alhambra, released in 1949 and 1950. Of his Sergeant of Police on the 1949 Pirates recording, one reviewer wrote, "the chief glory of this recording is Richard Watson's Sergeant of Police. This performance alone makes the set worthwhile having."
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...
who sang the comic bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas, but he appeared in a wide range of operas 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...
and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
with singers including Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann
Charlotte "Lotte" Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest...
and Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.-Biography:...
, under conductors including 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...
and Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
.
He recorded some operatic music, and over a half dozen of his recordings with D'Oyly Carte remain in print, including his 1932 recording of King Hildebrand 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...
and his recordings of the Learned Judge, Sergeant of Police, Pooh-Bah, Sir Despard Murgatroyd, Wilfred Shadbolt and Don Alhambra, released in 1949 and 1950.
Early years
Watson was born in AdelaideAdelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. After training at the Elder Conservatorium
Elder Conservatorium
The Elder Conservatorium of Music is Australia's senior academy of music and one of the country's most distinguished institutions for comprehensive education, professional training, and research in music...
, he taught locally before being awarded a scholarship to 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...
in London in 1925. He also studied with the 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...
Dinh Gilly
Dinh Gilly
Dinh Gilly was a French-Algerian operatic baritone and teacher.-Biography:He studied in Toulouse, Rome and at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won a premier prix in 1902. That same year he made his debut at the Paris Opera as Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci...
.
He made his London stage debut in a one-off charity matinée performance of a musical fantasy called The Ladder at Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
in June 1927, in a cast led by 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...
. Also in the cast was Walter Johnstone-Douglas, who had taught Watson at the Royal College. He engaged Watson to appear in 1928 in a company including Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond CBE was a British contralto of the early and middle twentieth century.-Early years:Astra Desmond was born Gwendolyn Mary Thompson, in Torquay, England. She was educated at Notting Hill High School and Westfield College, where she was a classical scholar...
, Roy Henderson and Steuart Wilson
Steuart Wilson
Sir James Steuart Wilson was an English singer, known for tenor roles in oratorios and concerts in the first half of the 20th century....
, performing in a season of operas at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, London, in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Master Peter's Puppet Show, The Secret Marriage
Il matrimonio segreto
Il matrimonio segreto is an opera in two acts, music by Domenico Cimarosa, on a libretto by Giovanni Bertati, based on the play The Clandestine Marriage by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick...
, and Vaughan Williams's
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...
new opera, The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains
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...
. Later that year, he sang in Charpentier's
Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier, , born in Dieuze, Moselle on 25 June 1860, died Paris, 18 February 1956) was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.-Life and career:...
Louise
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
, conducted by 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...
.
In 1929 Watson played Falstaff in the original production of Vaughan Williams's Sir John in Love
Sir John in Love
Sir John in Love is an opera in four acts by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Vaughan Williams originally titled his opera The Fat Knight...
, conducted by Sargent. Later in the year, he sang in The Tales of Hoffmann with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
and then joined the Covent Garden Opera
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...
touring company, under 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...
, in a wide repertory from 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...
(The Mastersingers
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
), to Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
(Falstaff
Falstaff (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...
), to verismo
Verismo
Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....
(Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
and 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...
).
Watson was invited to sing with the international opera company at Covent Garden in the summer of 1930. He performed in Debussy's
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
and in Die Meistersinger (this time in German) under Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
. The latter was broadcast live by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. After the international season, Watson again joined the touring company, performing in a range of operas, including 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...
, Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
and 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...
, which were relayed by the BBC. In 1932, he sang in 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...
's Wagner festival at Covent Garden, in a company headed by Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann
Charlotte "Lotte" Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest...
, Frida Leider
Frida Leider
Frida Leider was a German opera singer.Leider was one of the most important dramatic sopranos of the 20th century. Her most famous roles were Wagner's Isolde and Brünnhilde, Beethoven's Fidelio, Mozart's Donna Anna, and Verdi's Aida and Leonora...
, Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.-Biography:...
and Friedrich Schorr
Friedrich Schorr
Friedrich Schorr , was a renowned Austrian-Hungarian bass-baritone opera singer of Jewish origin. He later became a naturalized American....
. All the main Wagner operas were performed, with the exceptions of Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
(which Beecham never conducted) and Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
; Watson appeared in every production.
From the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Watson was in demand as a concert singer and as a broadcasting and recording artist. He sang in Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's The Apostles
The Apostles
The Apostles are an experimental punk rock band who developed within the confines of the 1980s Anarcho Punk scene in the UK, but did not necessarily adhere to the aesthetics of that movement.-History:...
, in Worcester Cathedral under Sir Ivor Atkins
Ivor Atkins
Sir Ivor Algernon Atkins was the choirmaster and organist at Worcester Cathedral for over 50 years . He is well known for editing Allegri's Miserere with the famous top-C part for the treble...
, Schubert's
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
Mass in A flat under Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
with the Bach Choir, Handel's
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
Judas Maccabaeus, and the Verdi Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
.
D'Oyly Carte and later career
In August 1932, Watson joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera CompanyD'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...
, remaining with the company for two years. His roles were Private Willis 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 King Hildebrand 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...
, which he took over from the company's veteran bass-baritone Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, and the Lieutenant of the Tower
Richard Cholmondeley
Sir Richard Cholmondeley was an English farmer and soldier, who served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1513 to 1520 during the reign of Henry VIII. He is remembered because of his tomb at the Tower of London and because he is fictionalized as a character in Gilbert and Sullivan's...
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...
, previously played by Leslie Rands
Leslie Rands
Leslie Rands was an English opera singer, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He married D'Oyly Carte soprano Marjorie Eyre in 1926.-Life and career:...
. In December 1932, when 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...
was revived, he was also given the small role of the Notary; in June 1933 he took over the role of Old Adam 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...
. During his two seasons, he also deputised occasionally for Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt was an English bass-baritone, known for his performances and recordings of the Savoy Operas....
as the Pirate King 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 for Granville as Don Alhambra, the Grand Inquisitor, 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...
.
In June 1934, Watson left D'Oyly Carte to rejoin the Carl Rosa company, touring for six months in a range of operas including Wagner's Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
. At the end of the tour, he returned to Australia, touring with the J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
Company in 1935–36 in the 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...
operas, and three other pieces, Lilac Time
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Das Dreimäderlhaus , adapted into English language versions as Blossom Time and Lilac Time, is a Viennese pastiche 'operetta' with music by Franz Schubert, rearranged by Hungarian Heinrich Berté , and a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert...
, The Chocolate Soldier
The Chocolate Soldier
The Chocolate Soldier is an operetta composed in 1908 by Oscar Straus based on George Bernard Shaw's 1894 play, Arms and the Man...
, and a rare revival of Robert Planquette
Robert Planquette
Jean Robert Planquette was a French composer of songs and operettas.Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, including Les cloches de Corneville , the length of whose initial London run broke all records for any piece of musical theatre up to that time, and Rip...
's Paul Jones. Also in the company were other former D'Oyly Carte performers, including Winifred Lawson
Winifred Lawson
Winifred Lawson was an opera and concert singer in the first half of the 20th century. She is best remembered for her performances in the soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Life and career:Lawson was born in Wolverhampton, England...
and Ivan Menzies
Ivan Menzies
J. Ivan "Jimmy" Menzies was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain in the 1920s and the J. C. Williamson Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in Australia the 1930s and 1940s.Menzies...
. Watson played Bouncer in 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...
, the Learned Judge 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...
, the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance, Colonel Calverley 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...
, Pooh-Bah 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...
, Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore, Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers.
Watson returned to England in 1936, and from then to 1939 appeared in concerts and operas, including a last-minute engagement to sing in The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
at Covent Garden when the singer cast as Krušina fell ill. Watson and another bass, Booth Hitchen, learned the role within 24 hours, rehearsed by Beecham, and played the role for one act each. Watson then returned to Australia for another Williamson tour. During the tour, he added the Savoy opera roles of Doctor Daly in The Sorcerer and Bill Bobstay 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...
to his repertory. In December 1940, Watson married Joyce Armitage Tapson in Melbourne. In 1943, he was appointed principal teacher of singing at his old college, the Elder Conservatorium.
In September 1947, Watson returned to England and rejoined the D'Oyly Carte company. His roles were Bouncer, Private Willis (both shared with Richard Walker
Richard Walker (singer)
Richard Walker, was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Between 1932 and 1939 Walker was married to D'Oyly Carte chorister Ena Martin...
), the Learned Judge, Captain Corcoran in Pinafore, Pooh-Bah, the Lieutenant, and Don Alhambra. He substituted for Fancourt in the 1947–48 season as the Pirate King. Walker, finding so many of his roles given to Watson, soon left the company, and Watson then took over Walker's remaining roles of Sergeant of Police in Pirates and Shadbolt in Yeomen. In the 1947–48 season, Watson gave up the role of Captain Corcoran and played Bill Bobstay in Pinafore. He also filled in on occasion for Fancourt as Colonel Calverley in Patience. From November 1948, Watson also appeared as Sir Despard in Ruddigore. He played most of these roles for his last three seasons with the company.
Watson left for the second and last time at the end of the company's London season 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 August 1951. In 1949, the company had engaged Eleanor Evans
Eleanor Evans
Eleanor Evans was a Welsh actress, singer and stage director. She performed in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas for over a span of more than 20 years with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
as Stage Director. The choice was highly unpopular among the actors and contributed to a wave of defections, including the company's principal comedian, Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
. Green wrote: "Discontent grew, changes were constantly taking place, and criticism became rampant. ... [Evans's methods] suggest a complete lack of knowledge, evidenced ... by constant self-contradiction. There were other accusations levelled against her, of a more serious nature". In addition to Green, "Ella Halman
Ella Halman
Ella Louise Halman was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the contralto roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She married another D'Oyly Carte performer, L. Radley Flynn, in 1940.-Life and career:Halman was born in Ealing, Middlesex...
left too. So did Richard Watson ... Radley Flynn and no fewer than twenty-two other small part players and choristers. It was the largest single exodus of performers in D'Oyly Carte history".
Last years
From 1951 to 1955, Watson was Director of the Regina Conservatory of Music at the University of SaskatchewanUniversity of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...
in Canada. He returned to Australia and made a final tour with the Williamson company from 1956 to 1958, playing his accustomed Gilbert and Sullivan roles. In the early 1960s, Watson played his last known part, as Bumble the beadle in the original Australian production of Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
's Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
.
Watson died in Adelaide in 1968, aged 65.
Recordings
Watson made numerous recordings for the DeccaDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
company. In the 1930s he made a series of recordings of operatic numbers and a few old ballads. Operatic solos included arias from Mozart's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
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...
and 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 Basilio's "Calumny" aria from Rossini's The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
and, later, bass solos from works by Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
and Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
. He took part in recordings of duets and ensemble numbers from operas by Verdi, Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo 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...
and Gounod; and, with Steuart Wilson
Steuart Wilson
Sir James Steuart Wilson was an English singer, known for tenor roles in oratorios and concerts in the first half of the 20th century....
and the pianist Gerald Moore
Gerald Moore
Gerald Moore CBE was an English pianist best known for his career as one of the most in-demand accompanists of his day, accompanying many of the world's most famous musicians...
and others, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
's Liebeslieder-Walzer.
In 1932, Watson recorded King Hildebrand in Princess Ida with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Watson's second engagement with D'Oyly Carte coincided with an intensive period of recording by Decca of the main works of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. He recorded the roles of the Learned Judge, Sergeant of Police, Pooh-Bah, Sir Despard, Shadbolt and Don Alhambra, released in 1949 and 1950. Of his Sergeant of Police on the 1949 Pirates recording, one reviewer wrote, "the chief glory of this recording is Richard Watson's Sergeant of Police. This performance alone makes the set worthwhile having."