Men of Empire


Men of Empire is a CD-ROM containing recordings of British singers born in the 19th century. Harold Byrnes compiled the recordings by transcribing the original 78s for this compilation. Mike Richter was the editor and producer of the CD-ROM. This compilation impresses by the wealth of recordings provided. It is a worthwile CD-ROM. Please go to the House of Opera website for details on how to get the CD-ROM. The non-tenor singers include:

Peter Dawson, Fraser Gange, Norman Allin, George Baker, Andrew Black, John Brownlee, Harry Dearth, Harry Plunkett-Greene, Percy Heming, Roy Henderson, George Henschel, Herbert Heyner, Malcolm McEachern, Robert Radford, Frederik Ranalow, Charles Santley, Horace Stevens, and Robert Watkin-Mills.

We also get some excerpts of the Faust performed at Covent Garden on June 26th, 1928. We can hear Fjodor Shaljapin, and Joseph Hislop; we do get a few words each from Wagner (Franklyn Kelsey) and Siébel (Jane Laugier).

Regarding the tenors, there is quite a wide choice of voices. Those include:

  • Tom Burke

    • Puccini: Turandot, Nessun dorma
    • Tosti: My dreams

  • Lionello Cecil

    • Giordano: Fedora, Amor ti vieta

  • John Coates

    • Sedley: The knotting song
    • Thomson: The knight of Bethlehem
    • unknown: Phillida flouts me

  • Ben Davies

    • Gounod: Faust, Salve dimora (recorded 1903)
    • White: To Mary (recorded 1913)

  • Tudor Davies

    • Elgar: King Olaf, And King Olaf heard the cry (creator record)
    • Coleridge-Taylor: Hiawatha, Onaway! Awake beloved

  • Hubert Eisdell

    • Lehmann: Ah! Moon of my delight

  • Gervase Elwes

    • Dvořák: Songs my mother taught me (recorded 1917)
    • Grieg: Ich liebe dich (recorded 1911)
    • Händel: Semele, Wher'er you walk (recorded 1917)
    • Henschel: Morning hymn (recorded 1911)
    • Vaughan Williams: Roadside fire (recorded 1916)

  • Louis Graveure

    • Balfe: Bohemian girl, This heart bowed down (as a baritone)
    • Händel: Atalanta, Care selve
    • Künneke: Ich zog hinaus weit über's Meer (opera scene from film: Es gibt nur eine Liebe)
    • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci, Prologo (as a baritone)
    • Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Mädchen in deinen Augen (with Margherita Perras)
    • Woodeford-Finden: Less than the dust (as a baritone)

  • Joseph Hislop

    • Gounod: Faust, Salut demeure (live Covent Garden performance, 1928)
    • Lee: MacGregor's gathering (recorded 1931)
    • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci, No! Pagliacco non son
    • Massenet: Werther, Pourquoi me reveiller? (recorded 1926)
    • Rakhmaninov: To the children (recorded 1928)
    • Verdi: Rigoletto, Women are fickle (recorded 1914)
    • Wagner Lohengrin: In a far-off land (recorded 1922)

  • Walter Hyde

    • Offenbach: Contes d'Hoffmann, Legend of Kleinzack
    • Wagner: Walküre, Winter storms

  • Edward Johnson

    • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci, Vesti la giubba
    • Van der Stucken: O come with me in the summer's night

  • Parry Jones

    • Mendelssohn: Elijah, Then shall the righteous
    • Warlock: As ever I saw

  • Edward Lloyd

    • Gounod: Reine de Saba, Lend me your aid (recorded 1905)

  • John McCormack (Odeon)

    • Adams: Lx 2798 Roses
    • Allitsen: Lx 2558 The Lord is my light
    • Balfe:
      • Lx 2619 Bohemian girl: When other lips
      • Lx 1582 Killarney
    • Batten: Lxx 3134-2 A Southern song
    • Bennett: Lx 3137 Take, oh take those lips away
    • Bizet: Lx 3138 Carmen: Il fior
    • Blumenthal: Lxx 3163 My queen
    • Buzzi-Peccia: Lxx 2962 Lolita
    • Capel: Lx 2432-2 Love's golden treasury
    • Claribel: Lx 1579 Come back to Erin
    • Clay: Lx 2796-2 I'll sing thee songs of Araby
    • Crouch: Lx 1577-2 Kathleen Mavourneen
    • de Vere: Lx 1570 The snowy-breasted pearl
    • Donizetti: Lxx 3152-2 Favorite: Spirto gentil
    • Jackson: Lx 1569 The dear little shamrock
    • Leoncavallo:
      • Lx 2793-2 Mattinata
      • Lx 2489 Pagliacci: On with the motley
    • Liddle: Lx 2431-2 A farewell
    • Marshall:
      • Lx 2502 A child's song
      • Lx 2852 I hear you calling me (w. piano)
      • Lxx 2854 I hear you calling me (w. orchestra)
      • Lx 2853 When shadows gather (w. Marshall, piano)
      • Lx 3136-2 When shadows gather
    • Mascagni: Lx 2488 Cavalleria rusticana: Siciliana
    • Metcalf: Lx 2430 Absent
    • Needham:
      • Lx 2132 My dark Rosaleen
      • Lxx 3151-2 My dark Rosaleen
    • Pinsuti:
      • Lxx 3164 The last watch
      • Lxx 2799 Pianto del core
    • Puccini:
      • Lxx 2791 Bohème: Che gelida manina
      • Lx 2501-2 Tosca: E lucevan le stelle
    • Ronald: Lxx 3158 O lovely night
    • Rookol:
      • Lx 1576 The green isle of Erin
      • Lxx 3160 The green isle of Erin
    • Root: Lx 1566 God save Ireland
    • Simson: Lx 2545 I sent my love two roses
    • Squire:
      • Lx 2487 Like stars above
      • Lxx 3135 Mountain lovers
    • Thomas: Lx 2797 Mignon: In her simplicity
    • Tosti:
      • Lx 3157 Ideale
      • Lx 2963 Parted
      • Lx 3162 L'ultima canzone
      • Lx 3153-2 Voi dormite signora
    • Verdi:
      • Lxx 3173 Aida: Celeste Aida
      • Lx 2491-4 Rigoletto: La donna è mobile
      • Lx 2559-3 Rigoletto: Questa o quella
    • Waldeck: Lx 3168 The bay of Biscay
    • Wallace: Lx 2844 Maritana: There is a flower that bloometh
      The following recordings are all Irish songs:
    • Lx 2841 Avenging and bright
    • Lx 1567 The boys of Wexford
    • Lx 1568 The croppy boy
    • Lx 3156 Eileen Aroon
    • Lx 2840 Has sorrow thy young days shaded?
    • Lx 2850 Mary of Allendale (arr. Wilson)
    • Lx 1565 A nation once again
    • Lxx 3167 Ould plaid shawl
    • Lx 2133-2 Savourneen Deelish
    • Lx 2134 Terence's farewell to Kathleen
    • Lx 2843 Trottin' to the fair

  • Frank Mullings

    • Gounod: Reine de Saba, Lend me your aid
    • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci, On with the motley
    • Verdi: Otello, Love duet (w. Miriam Licette)
    • Wagner: Tannhäuser, Rome narrative

  • Heddle Nash

    • Bizet: Jolie fille de Perth, Serenade
    • Donizetti: Favorite, Spirit so fair
    • Händel: Judas Maccabeus, How vain is man
    • Händel: Judas Maccabeus, Sound an alarm

  • John O'Sullivan

    • Rossini: Guglielmo Tell, O muto asil
    • Verdi: Otello, Esultate
    • Verdi: Otello, Dio mi potevi scagliar

  • Alfred Piccaver

    • Donizetti: Dom Sebastien, Deserto in terra
    • Geehl: For you alone
    • Puccini: Turandot, Non piangere Liù
    • Tosti: Beauty's eyes
    • Tosti: Pour un baiser
    • Weber: Silvana, So soll denn dieses Herz nie Liebe finden
    • Woodeford-Finden: Kashmiri song

  • Harry Wendon

    • Coleridge-Taylor: Eleanore

  • Walter Widdop

    • Borodin: Knjaz Igor, Daylight is fading
    • Gounod: Reine de Saba, Lend me your aid
    • Wagner: Lohengrin, In distant lands
    • Wallace: Maritana, Yes! Let me like a soldier fall

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