David Bispham - Annie Laurie

recorded in 1908

David Scull Bispham (January 5, 1857 -- October 2, 1921) was the first American--born operatic baritone to win an international reputation.

Bispham made his American debut, once again in Wagner, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on November 18, 1896; that night he sang the role of Sixtus Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He remained with the company until 1903, singing mainly Wagnerian roles; he also appeared in the American premieres of Ignace Paderewski's Manru and Ethel Smyth's Der Wald. Bispham was influential in establishing the career of Carrie Jacobs-Bond as in 1901 he gave a recital exclusively featuring her songs in Chicago's Studebaker Theatre.[3] After 1903 Bispham's operatic appearances were few, and he devoted most of his time to recitals, with which he had much success. He made a point of singing English versions of songs by such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann.

In 1916 he appeared in an English-language version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor in New York. The performance was such a success that it led to the formation of the Society of American Singers; the company, with Bispham's inspiration, gave three seasons of light operas in English. Bispham's commitment to opera in English also led, after his death, to the creation of the Bispham Memorial Medal Award, to be awarded to operas in English by American composers. He was a 'strong' advocate for performing vocal music in the audience's language.

He was a close personal friend of American soprano Lillian Nordica, with whom he travelled to Australia on her last tour before her death. He was also a frequent professional colleague of both De Reszke brothers (Jean and Edouard), Olive Fremstad, Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Dame Clara Butt, among singers, and Hans Richter, Arthur Nikisch, Felix Mottl, Anton Seidl and Walter Damrosch, among conductors. Damrosch's setting of Rudyard Kipling's "Danny Deever", as sung by Bispham, became a favorite of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Bispham was the first singer to introduce Brahms's Four Serious Songs and Magelone Lieder to American audiences in the 1896-97 concert season. Bispham also sang Horatio Parker's oratorio, Hora Novissima, in 1897 (with Johanna Gadski, Gertrude May Stein, and Evan Williams as the other soloists). Upon his immediate return to Great Britain, he provided a copy of the score to Hans Richter, which led to the premiere of the piece in Worcester, England, and the Festival of the Three Choirs.

In 1908, he was awarded national honorary membership in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

He wrote a memoir of his professional career called A Quaker Singer's Recollections, published by Macmillan in January 1920. Although it makes no mention whatsoever of his personal life, his marriage, or his children, the book is a valuable insight into the life and times of the international opera singer of his day and source of much first-hand information regarding the state of the vocal art and especially a singer's repertoire of the era.

Bispham died in New York City, New York, in 1921; he is buried in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery.

His legacy lives on in the form of gramophone recordings of songs and arias, some of which have been reissued on CD. He also paved the way for such outstanding American baritones of later generations as Clarence Whitehill, Richard Bonelli, Arthur Endreze, John Charles Thomas, Lawrence Tibbett, Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill.

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[HD7100]

"Lay me doon and de". Very nice of you to share this very old and rare recording. Gary

[pax41]

Glad you liked it. I see your room is getting close to being done.

[HD7100]

For all purposes it is done. I have the Wurlitzer playing again although there are many bugs that have to be fixed I can get some music out of it. I hope to make several music videos from it and by then I should have a new camera with much better audio recording than my present camera. Gary

[pax41]

Do you take requests for songs to play? I would love to hear some of the very early music 1900-1915 played on it. Good Ole Summer time and such songs.

[pax41]

Great information Doug, thank you

[CurzonRoad]

An important singer on the American stage, in Bispham's autobiography, A Quaker Singer's Recollections, he devotes a separate chapter to another song, Danny Deever, on how it became his warhorse, performing it often and everywhere, including the White House for President Teddy Roosevelt. Thank you Bob for posting, and thank you Nate for sharing.

[AulicExclusiva]

Beautiful voice, lovely phrasing. A choice artist.

[HD7100]

I have been thinking of playing "Wait Till the Sun Shines Nelly" (and a few others like it). I love the verse and words to that olde tune. There are also some rag time pieces I would like to work on but I have to get my technique polished back up first. I am sadly out of practice. Gary

[Corrie121]

This is a song from the Scottish Border region, and this interpretation of it is A1. David Bispham sings it as it was written. He uses the Scots words i.e "gied" (gave) and "dee" (die) .

Thank you for sharing this fine post. Much appreciated.

[meltzerboy]

Thank you, Bob, and I wish you the same.