Tudor Davies(1892-1958)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Operatic tenor, with a fresh warm voice, and considerable conviction
and panache. Born in Wales, U.K., on 12 November 1892. Trained in
Cardiff, and at Royal College of Music, London; teachers were Gustave
Garcia and Vladimir Rosing. Served in the Royal Navy during WWI. Debut
at Old Vic (1920) as Tamino in THE MAGIC FLUTE, then sang title roles
in FAUST and LOHENGRIN. Joined British National Opera Company in 1922.
Sang with the Vic-Wells Opera 1931-1941. During WWII worked for ENSA,
where he met and married the soprano Ruth Packer. Sang with the Carl
Rosa Opera Company 1941-1946. Besides all the standard operatic tenor
roles, he also sang in AT THE BOAR'S HEAD (Holst) and FETE GALANTE
(Ethel Smyth), and in the first Sadler's Wells performances of THE
DEVIL TAKE HER (Arthur Benjamin), THE SNOW MAIDEN (Rimsky-Korsakov) and
DON CARLOS (Verdi). In the 1950s he gave up the operatic stage for the
concert hall, and taught in Cardiff. In 1958, he became ill with a
liver complaint; he died in hospital after failed surgery, and was
buried at Penallt, Momouth, Wales, U.K. on 2nd April 1958. He recorded
many discs; as well as a large number of individual arias, he also
recorded a complete performance of MADAME BUTTERFLY (in English), and
substantial excerpts from Wagner's RING CYCLE and THE MASTERSINGERS OF
NUREMBERG, and from Vaughan Williams's HUGH THE DROVER.