A NOTED SINGER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 299, 13 September 1919, Page 2

A NOTED SINGER

ME. SAURY DEARTH IN WELLING '' - TON. One of. best, known and. most ■popular baritones, in the person of Mn Hari'v Dearth, arrived from Sydney by the Manuka yesterday- in prosecution of 1 n concert tour under the management of Messrs. J. and :N.. Tait. Mr. Dearth is , ' ,a-young ein.ger rwith-a record many a, ' veteran might be proud of;, Seen by n.r ' Dominion-reporter yesterday, Mr. Dea'rtK ' Baid that being, possessed of a voice thait • was well thought of even in his youth, ho decided-to go to tho Royal Academy {if :Music and study thero under the greait , Garcia, son of Manual Garcia, workUfamoug teariher of singing. . 'Mr.. Dearth studied .with such profit that at. :the'termination of his tutelago ho was •Appointed to .the position known as ."lay ■vicar" at ■ Westminster ( Abbey, (the 'title ' iheld by charter by tlie soloist). 110 ' ,/eniained. at, the-Abbey .under,'tlie lata , Sir Frederick. Bridge", for ■ fourteen years, at'which timo ho could have .retired on a.pension, but,elected to resign in order to jp.iri tho first, Beecham Grand Opera Company. He was the bass lead the first performance by that company .of "Tho Tales of Hoffmann," in which ;he was associated with Miss Norah D'Argel (Nora. Long), . who curiously enough received the groundwork of her vocal training, at St. .Mary's Convent, Wellington, under Sister Ifary Agnes. • He- thero'.'learned . what hard work really was,'' having on occasions to learn an opera by Strauss, Wagner, or -. Puccini in three.'..weeks. He remained' with Mr. (afterwards,. Sir ; -Thomas)-Becohaiji for three seasons, and ' 'holds that-'.'he is at tho .present' timo , tlie finest. : musician in England, and - it - creditable;, .chip.,. of tho. old block (Sir Joseph Beecham). He given . Richard Strauss- (composer of "Salome"'* arid "Blektra"V tho palm for writing - tho most difficult music, for ' 'vocalists." After his grand op,era_experience','Mr; "Dearth states (Hat ,he was tonipted with an, offer fro mthe late Mr. ' George Edwardes, of Gaiety'Theatro, and played underhis heneficont manage- , ment; for three....'-years, 'appearing , in ■ "Gipsy Love," "The Marriage, Market," . and other light pieces. ' Two'years, ago he had the pleasure of appearing in an opera entitled "Young England," by the ex-New Zealnnde'r, Mr; George Clutsam, ail opera that was entirely successful, bo- . ;ih'g,'transferred from, Daly's Theatre to Drury Lane,-followed by an extensive provincial. tour. , Tho opera was based !on the life of Sir Frauds Drake, and f llr. Dearth' was entrusted with the pic- '/ '.tiiresque rover of Elizabethan daj>. Still * following his. love for tho . lyric stage,/ Mr. Dearth, some two years ago, appearcd in "Shanghai," in-tho cast of which Misa Dorothy Brunton.was concerned, h

Tho visiting 6inger has alßo sung in ; all the oratorios, and in concerts under •the direction of Landon Donald, i Sir Henry Wood, Sir Frederick Bridge, Parry, Saffanoff, and other leading lights in the English world ol music. , In lighter vein lie told an epi6odo associated with tlio performance of the garden scene in "Faust," in Dublin, in ,• which the Faust was Mr. John M'C'prmack. To obtain a weird demoniacal glare he had attached small pieces of tinfoil to his. eyelids, tlio idea being that when he entered at the back with his eyes closed tho spot light on the red tinfoil would produce tho effect aimed at 4t the proper cue Jib opened Iho gates, . arid with closed eyes sang tlio incanta- - tio'n over the lovers, who wero situated down' stage. The solo finished, ho opened his eyes, to find that ho was behind J a Hugo stago palm, and'had not been " «een at all by tho audience. . Mr. Dearth, with Aliss Carlieu Jurs, a ■'! gifted pianist, left for the south last . evening to commence tlio tour iii Christ- ' church.