Joseph Maas

The son of a singer, he was a boy soprano at Rochester Cathedral, and took his first voice lessons already back then. After his voice broke, he abandoned singing for a while and worked as a clerk, but in 1869, he went to Milano to train his voice with Antonio Sangiovanni.

In 1871, he returned to England and made his debut in concert in London, stepping in for Sims Reeves; and in 1872, he made his stage debut at Covent Garden. After singing opera at the Crystal Palace, he crossed the Atlantic with the Clara Kellogg English Opera Company, and stayed in America for four years.

When coming back to England in 1878, he became principal tenor of the Carl Rosa Opera Company, which is what he remained up to his untimely death of rheumatic fever. He also made a few guest appearances at Covent Garden, and at Her Majesty's Theatre. His most famous roles were (a weird bunch!) Rienzi, Massenet's des Grieux, Radames, Wilhelm Meister, Gounod's Faust, Raoul and Edgardo. He must have been a really lousy actor.

At least as important as his stage career, though, was his concert work, for instance at the Norwich and Birmingham festivals, as well as a Bach and Händel festival in Brussels.

Reference 1, reference 2, reference 3, reference 4: Kutsch & Riemens