SIMS REEVES, THE ENGLISH TENOR.

Evening Star, Issue 4141, 5 June 1876, Page 3

SIMS REEVES, THE ENGLISH TENOR.

Among male singers there is none who occupies a more enviable position than the gentleman whose name heads this article. It is not merely that he has an exquisite and exceptional voice, but that there is a study and finish in his art which transcends that of any of his contemporaries. He seems to have become the absolute standard by which all other tenors are measured as if with a common consent.

Mr Reeves made his first appearance at the Newcastle Theatre in 1838, at the age of seventeen, in what are known as “ singing walking-gentleman’s ” parts, including such “ A * You Like It,” or The School for Scandal.” His voicewasthen classed as a baritone. He shortly afterwards went to Paris and Milan to study, and m&de his debut in Italian opera with considerable success. On returning to England he found the. field occupied with such great favorites as Mano, Tamberlick, Calzolari, and others : and after giving a short trial to his fortunes in this line, he determined to give his attention rather in the direction of English opera. He createdtheprincipal parts in Macfarren’s Robin Hood” and Wallace’s “Amber Witch. He was afterwards the first to sing the role of “ Faust ”in England. But his great fame has been gained as an oratorio and ballad singer. Here he has achieved a reputation absolutely peerless, and raised his execution of this class of music to a full level with that of opera by the greatest foreign artistes. At the time that Sims Reeves commenced to give his attention to oratorio singing sacred music had just commenced to make vast, advances. Costa had just put fresh lue into the Sacred Harmonic Society, and the provincial festivals were commencing to be organised on the vast scale which they have since grown to. But tenor singers fit • music Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mendelssohn were scarce, Braha-u and Temmeton were gone, and even Mario and Tamberlick had faded to meet public expectation in oratorios. This was Sims Reeves’s golden chance,, and he seized it. Since that time he has reigned supremely. No music furnishes so perfect a test of the perfection of mere singing as that of the oratorio. There are no arms which so try the voice and bring to light any imperfections, no matter how carefully they may be covered up. The compose™ hayq exhausted their skill and ingemuty in burdening these solo passages with the most complicated difficulties. .Lnere is nothing dramatic in the surroundings to relieve the attention and watchfulness of the audience. The,whole effect is dependent on the intelligence and vocalisation of the artist. , Sms Reeves has taken a rank so exalted that he . ™ ,s ’ EO V* spook, created a new school, and there seems to be no successor on whom his mbntltt u likely to fall.

I Aside from the extreme beauty and sweet* Bess of this singer’s voice and the perfect finish of his vocalisation, he seems to be paramount by the intelligence with which he interprets the meaning of the music, the insight, which enables him to dramatise the effects by delivery alone. This musical elocution is something •« e rarely meet either in opera or oratorio, and of itself it jr pf such importance as to offset signal defects of this kind. The translation of passion, power, tenderness, by inflection and emphasis, into the-musical delivery of words is the last and crowning achievement. It is here that Mr Sims Reeves is reputed to be so prominent over all his contemporaries, whether on the operatic stage or the oratorio, or concertroom. In this, as well as in the phrasing of the music itself, the great English temr produces such touching and admirable effects that the critics have become impatient and disdainful of all his competitors in the same line of effort; From the fiery vigor of suck arias as “Soundan Alarm,” “Thou shalt dash them,” or “ Philistines, Hark!” down to the quaint and tender simqlicity of “My Pretty Jane” and similar ballads,, he is said to have a mastery over all the difficult styles. His early dramatic training has probably helped him to impart intense expression to his voice, and though, like all other great tenors, he sometimes introduced changes in Handel’s music, which are unwarrantable liberties, for the purpose of showing oS his voice, bis hearers always forgave him before he had finished. Sims Reeves has become notorious for the number of times that he has disappointed the public by failing to appear, and harsh constructions have often tteSfr- put on his motives. But the truth seems to be that his throat is exceptionally delicate, 'and he will not sing except when he is in perfect voice.. To this precaution and obstinacy he probably owes jt that he has retained his voice in perfection so long. He knows that his organ is too precious to be tampered with, and the public have now learned to feel that, though their disappointments are trying, their favorite tenor, by his care of himself, has a long outlook for their interests as well as his own.

How decided the rank of Mr Sims Reeves is shows itself in the utter dissatisfaction of audiences with any substitute. He unquestionably ranks favorably with any of the great modem singers ; and thongh some of them may surpass him in volume of voice, he more than compensates by the legitimacy of his style, his superb phrasing, and his intensity of expression. In the variety of his talents as a singer he certainly need not fear rivalry, according to the unanimous verdict of foreign critics. ‘Appleton’s Journal.’