[[File:Charles Santley - DPLA - 7f394a3ebe68ee176453a91ff818b337 (page 1).jpg|alt=Photograph of Charles Santley, [ca. 1859–1870]. Carte de Visite Collection, Boston Public Library.|thumb|Charles Santley, [ca. 1859–1870]. Carte de Visite Collection, Boston Public Library.]]

thumb|Charles Santley in [[Daniel Auber|Auber's opera Fra Diavolo.]]

Sir Charles Santley (28 February 1834 – 22 September 1922) was an English opera and oratorio baritone with a bravura technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era. His has been called 'the longest, most distinguished and most versatile vocal career which history records.'

Santley appeared in many major opera and oratorio productions in Great Britain and North America, giving numerous recitals as well. Having made his debut in Italy in 1857 after undertaking vocal studies in that country, he elected to base himself in England for the remainder of his life, apart from occasional trips overseas. One of the highlights of his stage career occurred in 1870 when he led the cast in the first Wagner opera to be performed in London, The Flying Dutchman, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Santley retired from opera during the 1870s in order to concentrate on the lucrative concert circuit.

Santley also wrote books on vocal technique and two sets of memoirs.

Early training

thumb|left|Gaetano Nava, Santley's singing teacher in Milan

Santley was the elder son of William Santley, a journeyman bookbinder, organist and music teacher of Liverpool in northern England. He had a brother and two sisters, one of whom named Catherine should not be confused with the actor-manager Kate Santley. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute High School, and as a boy sang alto in the choir of a local Unitarian church. His voice began to break before he was fourteen. Following musical lessons from his father (who insisted upon his singing tenor), he passed the examination for admission to the second tenors of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society on his fifteenth birthday, and in the same year took part in the concerts at the opening of the Philharmonic Hall. Santley was apprenticed to the provision trade. He enlisted, however, as a violinist in the Festival Choral Society and the Società Armonica, and as a chorus member, with his father and sister, he sang in a performance of Haydn's The Creation at the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool, in which Jenny Lind was a soloist. Soon afterwards he was in a hand-picked choir for Handel's Messiah, where the tenor Sims Reeves headed the soloists, at the Eisteddfod at Rhuddlan Castle, and was in the chorus for Elijah and Rossini's Stabat Mater under Julius Benedict at the Liverpool Festival. He heard Pauline Viardot, Luigi Lablache and Mario there. While acting as accompanist to his sister at St Anne's Catholic Church, Edge Hill, Liverpool, he sang 'Et incarnatus est' from Haydn's Second Mass, reading from the same score as Julius Stockhausen, as a trial, and obtained a place as bass soloist, modelling himself upon the style of the Austrian bass Josef Staudigl (1807–1861), and of the German bass Karl Formes (1815–1889) (whom he heard as Sarastro in London).

In 1855, Santley went to Italy to study as a singer, with advice from Sims Reeves to visit Lamperti in Milan. However he chose to study under Gaetano Nava, who became his lifelong friend. Nava taught him buffo roles in Rossini's La Cenerentola, L'italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia, and in Mercadante's operas, laying the basis of sound vocal technique as a baritone. He also taught him Italian speech. Santley studied duets from Bellini's Zaira and Rossini's Semiramide and The Siege of Corinth. He was a frequent guest at concerts and conversaziones of the Marani family. At the theatres, he heard Antonio Giuglini, Scheggi, Marini and Enrico Delle Sedie, and saw Ristori in Maria Stuarda, attending La Scala, Milan, and the Carcano Theatre.

He made his stage debut on 1 January 1857 in Pavia as Dr Grenvill in La traviata (later in the same run singing Germont père), and Don Silva in Ernani. Other minor engagements followed, After a thin summer, however, Henry Fothergill Chorley visited and urged his return to England. Manuel García, who heard him, offered training which Santley accepted gratefully. There were a few concerts at the Crystal Palace and elsewhere, under Chorley's guidance, and at a Chorley party he met Gertrude Kemble, who became his wife a year later. Through her he was introduced to the salon of Henry Greville, at whose musical parties he joined company with Mario, Giulia Grisi, Italo Gardoni, Ciro Pinsuti and others. for over 50 years. From the first, he was given firm encouragement by Sims Reeves and Clara Novello, and by Mario and Grisi, with whom he sang on various occasions. At the inauguration of the original Leeds Festival of autumn 1858 he was the star performer (with Willoughby Weiss) in Rossini's Stabat Mater. In the autumn of 1859 he was singing items from St Paul, Judas Maccabaeus and Messiah at the Bradford Festival, shortly before embarking on his initial operatic season. In July of the following year, at St James's Hall Piccadilly, he appeared in the Philharmonic Society's 50th Jubilee Concert, singing an item from Hummel's Mathilde of Guise, and With Joy the Impatient Husbandman from Haydn's The Seasons. On that occasion he shared a platform (though in separate performance) with Jenny Lind, the pianist Lucy Anderson (her last public appearance), Thérèse Tietjens, and Alfredo Piatti the cellist, under the direction of William Sterndale Bennett. Bennett had just drilled a new orchestra to a level of high efficiency, creating a sensation before a huge audience. In 1862 Santley appeared at the Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace. Santley also appeared there in Messiah and Arthur Sullivan's The Masque at Kenilworth.

In early 1870, as his departure from the theatre was approaching, Santley sang at concerts in London and at Exeter Hall. Then, under the management of George Wood, he made a six-week concert tour of the provinces. The touring company included Clarice Sinico, the violinist August Wilhelmj and the pianist Arabella Goddard (later joined by Ernst Pauer). Santley's concert singing reached a high point of acclaim during his subsequent United States and Canadian tour of 1871–72. In such songs as "To Anthea", "Simon the Cellarer" and the "Maid of Athens", he was viewed as being unapproachable, and his oratorio singing was praised for perpetuating the finest traditions of the art form.

Operatic career 1857–1876

The early years

In the first years after his return to England, Santley often sang buffo duets (for example 'Che l'antipatica vostra figura' from Ricci's Chiara di Rosemberg) with Giorgio Ronconi and Giovanni Belletti, at parties held by the influential critic H. F. Chorley. In 1859 he made his debut at Covent Garden as Hoel in Meyerbeer's opera Dinorah. In the same season he sang in the English Il trovatore (Di Luna), The Rose of Castille, Satanella, La sonnambula, and as Rhineberg in Wallace's Lurline, with William Harrison and Louisa Pyne. Wallace transcribed the latter role (originally for bass) to suit his higher register, and composed the character's part in the final act expressly for him. Dinorah also received a royal command performance before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was also able to fit in performances of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride in Manchester, with Sims Reeves and Catherine Hayes, for Charles Hallé. These were twice repeated at the residence of Lord Ward in Park Lane, London. He was announced to sing in Verdi's Macbeth with Giulia Grisi in 1861, but the promotion collapsed. that was with the English soprano Fanny Gordosa, Constance Nantier-Didiée, the Italian dramatic tenor Enrico Tamberlik and the Franco-Italian bass-baritone Joseph Tagliafico. Santley's performances were received rapturously by the Covent Garden audience. joined it, appearing in Lucia di Lammermoor. Santley took on three new roles: Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute, Creonte in Cherubini's Médée and Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio (opposite Tietjens). In September there was a short touring season, in which he played Don Giovanni (with Mario) for the first time, at Manchester. He also sang Caspar in Der Freischütz in London in October. Santley then went on to appear in a season at La Scala, Milan, where Il trovatore was staged for his debut there as de Luna (he alone of all the cast was not hooted by the audience), as well as Nicolai's Il Templario (in which he sang the role of Brian the Templar). Returning to London in March 1866, Santley appeared in the spring season with Tietjens, Gardoni and Gassier in Iphigénie en Tauride. He also sang in Dinorah (with de Murska and Gardoni) and Ernani (with Tietjens, Tasca and Gassier). During the autumn, he performed as Leporello in Don Giovanni at Her Majesty's. Scalchi, Mongini and Foli, in Norma and Fidelio, in Linda di Chamounix with di Murska and in Il trovatore. La Gazza Ladra was also staged with Santley appearing opposite Trebelli, Bettini and Patti. Santley led the cast, with Nilsson as his Ophelia, in the London premiere of Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas. He enjoyed the role, which was sung in Italian, apart from the 'Brindisi'. He also played Hoel in Dinorah opposite Patti, and although a planned partnership with her in L'Etoile du Nord did not occur, they did perform Rigoletto together for Patti's benefit. Santley's Hamlet was repeated in the autumn, with de Murska replacing Nilsson, and with Karl Formes as the ghost. Santley was also particularly proud to have sung once in that season with his friend and idol, Giorgio Ronconi, who was Leporello to Santley's Don Giovanni. The company also played Il trovatore, Rigoletto, Lucrezia Borgia, Martha and Guglielmo Tell. The houses and receipts were enormous, and they sailed to England well pleased in early May 1872. Santley's wish to play Wolfram in Tannhäuser also remained unrealised. He disliked the prominence of the Wagnerian orchestra and regretted the innovation which saw orchestral players being relegated to a pit beneath the opera stage. (Almaviva), Aynsley Cook (Bartolo), Charles Lyall (Basilio), Ostava Torriani (Contessa), Rose Hersee (Susanna), Josephine York (Cherubino) and Mrs Aynsley Cook (Marcellina). This received a special performance for the Prince and Princess of Wales. There was a provincial tour in the autumn.

In the same season they undertook a work new to him, Nicolo's Joconde, and he played Zampa and The Porter of Havre again. The final work was a new opera with a role (Claude Melnotte) written especially for him, the Pauline of F. H. Cowen: the work was not successful. The tour took them to Dublin, Sheffield, Hanley and Birmingham. That, apart from two appearances as Sir Harry in The School for Scandal at Drury Lane benefits, and his eventual farewell appearance at Covent Garden in 1911, was the end of his stage career. He settled down to concert and oratorio work in England.

Santley, to whom European travel had been a holiday routine for many years, toured in Australia and New Zealand in 1889–1890, to the United States and Canada in 1891 and South Africa in 1893 and again in 1903. He sang last at the Birmingham festival in 1891 after an unbroken series of thirty years of appearances there. George Bernard Shaw, describing Santley as the hero of the 1894 Handel Festival, remarked especially on his Honour and Arms and Nasce al Bosco. 'Santley's singing of the division of Selection Day was, humanly speaking, perfect. It tested the middle of his voice from C to C exhaustively; and that octave came out of the test hall-marked; there was not a scrape on its fine surface, not a break or a weak link in the chain anywhere; while the vocal touch was impeccably light and steady, and the florid execution accurate as clockwork.' In these two arias his entire compass from low G to top E flat, and in Nasce al Bosco the top E natural and F, were exhibited 'in such a way as made it impossible for him to conceal any blemish, if there had been one.'

thumb|upright|Santley caricatured by [[Leslie Ward|Spy for Vanity Fair, 1902]]

In January 1894 he was with Clara Butt, Edward Lloyd, Antoinette Sterling and other singers at the first of the Chappell's Ballad Concerts, when they were transferred from St James's Hall to Queen's Hall. From 1894 Santley devoted his time increasingly to teaching: between 1903 and 1907 he trained the Australian baritone Peter Dawson, taking him meticulously through Messiah, The Creation and Elijah. Indeed, in 1904 he brought Dawson in on a tour of the West Country, beginning at Plymouth, led by Emma Albani, with William Green (tenor), Giulia Ravogli, Johannes Wolf, Adela Verne and Theodore Flint.

In January 1907 he sang Elijah at Manchester Town Hall, having sung Messiah and Elijah every year there since 1858. He celebrated the jubilee of his singing career in the company of many of his musician friends at a grand benefit concert held at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 May 1907. He was knighted (the first singer to receive this honour) in December of that year, after singing at Bristol, and sang Elijah at Hanley two days later. Santley's technique and musicianship made him a master in the singing of Handel or Mozart, where a fresh and accurate management of rhythm and roulade created an effect of spontaneity, vigour and ideal phrasing. His ensemble singing was also noted, for example, as Figaro and in Fidelio. Henry J. Wood observed that his compass ranged from the bass E-flat to the baritone top G, and was exceptionally even throughout. 'All his low F's told – even to the remotest corners of the largest concert-hall while his top F's were as a silver trumpet.' His clarity and freedom from strain enabled him to continue singing with remarkable freshness throughout a career lasting more than 60 years, perhaps partly because he had not over-taxed his voice by remaining for too long on the operatic stage.

George Bernard Shaw, who first saw him on stage as Di Luna in Il trovatore, considered that Santley's dramatic powers were 'blunt, unpractised, and prone to fall back on a good-humoured nonchalance in his relations with the audience, which was highly popular, but which destroyed all dramatic illusion. He was always Santley, the good fellow with no nonsense about him, and a splendid singer.... The nonchalance was really diffidence....' He played Valentin, in Faust, 'in an unfinished, hail-fellow-well-met way.' Later on, as Vanderdecken, etc., 'his dramatic grip was much surer; and at the present moment [1892], on the verge of his sixtieth year, he is a more thorough artist than ever.'

Personal life

Santley married twice, first (in 1858) to Gertrude Kemble (granddaughter of Charles Kemble), who before her marriage had a professional career as a soprano singer. Their daughter Edith also became a concert singer. Gertrude died in 1882. The couple had five children.

Santley's second marriage, on 7 January 1884, was to Elizabeth Mary Rose-Innes (), eldest daughter of George () Rose-Innes, a Valparaíso merchant and banker whose father was British. They had one son.

Santley converted to Roman Catholicism in 1880, and in 1887 Pope Leo XIII created him a Knight Commander of St Gregory the Great.

Recordings

Charles Santley made a few recordings, mostly of ballads. His earlier series was made for the Gramophone Company (His Master's Voice) in 1903. Although the voice lacks much of its former brilliant resonance due to age it remains firm and steady. His most famous record preserves his remarkably vivid and lively rendering of 'Non piu andrai' (Figaro), employing a portamento (notably on the word 'narcisetto', usually broken by modern interpreters) that is fit to satisfy Garcia himself. He did not commit any souvenirs of his Handel performances to disc. His 1903 discs are:

  • 2-2862 Simon the Cellarer (Hatton) (10") File:Santley simon.ogg
  • 2-2863 The vicar of Bray (10") File:Santley vicar.ogg
  • 052000 Ehi capitano/Non piu andrai (Figaro – Mozart) (12") File:Non piu' andrai.ogg
  • 2-2864 To Anthea (Hatton) (10")
  • 02015 Thou'rt passing hence, my brother (Sullivan) (12")

Several years later he cut a group of ballad titles for the Columbia label. Hatton's 'To Anthea' and 'Simon the Cellarer' are characteristic of Santley's earlier ballad repertoire, and are repeated in the Columbia series, which also includes Ethelbert Nevin's 'My Rosary', C.V. Stanford's 'Father O'Flynn,' Sullivan's 'Thou'rt passing hence, my brother,' and other titles.

Books

Santley's publications include the following:

  • Method of Instruction for a Baritone Voice, a translation of "Metodo pratico di vocalizzazione, per le voci de basso e baritono" by G. Nava (London, c 1872)
  • Student and Singer, Reminiscences of Charles Santley (Macmillan, London 1893)
  • The Singing Master (1900)
  • The Art of Singing and Vocal Declamation (1908)
  • Reminiscences of my Life (Isaac Pitman, London 1909)

Of the volumes of reminiscences, Student and Singer deals with his career up to circa 1870, and Reminiscences of My Life includes material for the later period.

Compositions

  • Mass in A flat
  • Ave Maria, Berceuse for Orchestra

Santley also composed a number of songs under the pseudonym of Ralph Betterton.

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • J.R. Bennett, Voices of the Past – Catalogue of Vocal recordings from the English Catalogues of the Gramophone Company, etc. (c1955).
  • J.R. Bennett, Voices of the Past – Vol 2. A Catalogue of Vocal recordings from the Italian Catalogues of The Gramophone Company, etc. (Oakwood Press (1957), 1967).
  • G. Davidson, Opera Biographies (Werner Laurie, London 1955), 264–267.
  • J.H. Mapleson, The Mapleson Memoirs (Chicago & New York 1888).
  • S.Reeves, Sims Reeves, His Life and Recollections Written by Himself (Simpkin Marshall & Co, London 1888).
  • H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (Corrected Edition, Oxford 1974).
  • M. Scott, The Record of Singing to 1914 (Duckworth 1977).
  • G.B. Shaw, 1932, Music in London 1890-94 by Bernard Shaw, 3 Vols (Constable & Co, London)
  • Herbert Thompson, Herbert. "Sir Charles Santley 1834-1922", The Musical Times, Vol. 63, No. 957 (1 November 1922), pp. 784–92