Thursday, July 16, 2015


                                       WELSH OPERATIC TENOR DAN BEDDOE

The Welsh operatic tenor, Dan Beddoe, was born in Aberdare, Wales, UK on March 16th 1863. He died in December 1937 at the age of 74.

A Cincinnati Enquirer review of a May 1931 performance stated that he "stole the show with voice clear and ringing" with "countless" calls for encores and "with the entire audience of many thousands rising en masse to pay him special tribute."

A December 1931 New York Evening Post article, recalling his singing in the Messiah and the Elijah for the Oratorio Society of New York, noted that he had "been singing for a generation" since his first appearance there in 1903 and described  how he was "in marvelous voice and received a standing ovation after each aria he sang.

A New York Times review of the same performance noted that "For Dan Beddoe it was the fortieth year of public appearance. He has become almost indispensable to the Society's performances of the Messiah. The 64-year-old tenor sang as always in keeping with the spirit of the work and with fine musicianship. Age does not stale the many resources of his art."

Here is the great Welsh tenor singing "O Danny Boy:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3otalrk8Ig

And here is "A Moonlight Song:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06OJQ_eJTyY
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5 comments:

  1. Edmund St. AustellJuly 16, 2015 at 2:11 PM

    There are few Dan Beddoe records available. I'm happy to be able to present two of them here. Edmund

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  2. JD HobbesJuly 16, 2015 at 3:08 PM

    Very nice! He has such a strong, clear voice. It is a pity there aren't more recordings.

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  3. Edmund St. AustellJuly 16, 2015 at 4:54 PM

    Thank you Mr. Hobbes; always a pleasure to hear from you! And you are right about the strong clear voice! Edmund

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  4. CurzonRoadJuly 16, 2015 at 6:47 PM

    Legend has it that Caruso had a "golden rule" of never going to see the competition. While it may be a stretch, as Beddoe only appeared in concerts, but the story goes that the world's greatest tenor made an exception for Beddoe (this is stated in The Kutsch & Riemens Concise Biographical Dictionary of Singers, and again in The Record of Singing by Michael Scott. Whatever the case, Beddoe, who off the top made one recording for Edision (unpublished?), a handful or so for Victor (Red Seal), a few for Columbia, another small series for Rainbow, and a few electricals for Brunswick, is indeed a fine, very fine singer. Thank you, Edmund!

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  5. Edmund St. AustellJuly 16, 2015 at 8:33 PM

    great comment Doug. Edmund

    ReplyDelete