Student and Singer
The Reminiscences of Charles Santley

The 1892 memoirs of the English baritone whose career spanned over fifty years, embracing both the operatic and concert stages.

Charles Santley (Author)

9781108076845, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 January 2015

352 pages, 2 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.45 kg

Sir Charles Santley (1834–1922), the English baritone whose career spanned more than fifty years, embracing both the operatic and concert stages, ranked among the foremost singers of his generation. After studying in Italy, he returned to England, where he was soon in great demand on the concert platform and in operatic roles, singing with the Pyne-Harrison, Mapleson and Carl Rosa opera companies, the Sacred Harmonic Society, the Philharmonic Society, and at the major English music festivals. His name is linked inseparably with the lavish Handel festivals at the Crystal Palace, and with the prophet in Mendelssohn's great oratorio Elijah. Santley's memoirs, first published in 1892 and reissued here in the third edition of that year, concentrate almost exclusively on his operatic career (a further volume on his concert experiences had been planned). His genial and informative anecdotes underpin the overriding message that hard work and perseverance win the day.

Preface
1. The sea
2. Youthful aspirations and subsequent disillusionment
3. Carl Formes' influence upon me
4. Farewell to Liverpool
5. My lodgings
6. Vocalizzi and solfeggi
7. A cold winter
8. Church festivals and their curious customs
9. Efforts to obtain work
10. Return to Milan
11. Visit to Hullah
12. A formidable fellow-lodger
13. 1862, an eventful year
14. My new comrades
15. Season of 1864
16. Season of 1865
17. Season of 1866
18. Death of J. C. Tully
19. Season of 1869
20. Mr George Wood undertakes the Italian opera at Drury Lane
21. Off to America
22. Success with 'Zampa'
23. Retrospect and prospect.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]