Howell Glynne

Howell Glynne (1906 – 24 November 1969) was an operatic bass. He was born in Britain but lived the latter years of his life in Canada, and taught singing at the University of Toronto.

Biography

He was born in Britain as Howell Glynne Jones in 1906, in Swansea, South Wales.[1] He studied under Ben Davies and Reinhold von Warlich.

He made his operatic debut in 1931 as Sparafucile in Rigoletto.

In the 1950s he appeared at Covent Garden, London, and other venues in Boris Godunov, Fidelio, The Bohemian Girl, Der Rosenkavalier, Le coq d'or, Aida, The Midsummer Marriage and other operas,[2] Die Fledermaus[3] and La Cenerentola.[4] He appeared as Fiesco in the English revival of Simon Boccanegra, with Arnold Matters in the title role. In 1962 he sang Pooh-Bah in a radio broadcast of The Mikado.[5]

He created the roles of Ford in the first professional performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love (April 1946),[6] Joseph Lavatte in Sir Arthur Bliss's opera The Olympians (1949), and in Canada, the Hon William McDougall in Harry Somers’ opera Louis Riel (1967).[7] He appeared as the Ghost in the first performance in English of Humphrey Searle's opera Hamlet, in Toronto in February 1969.[8]

His students included Stafford Dean.[9] His recordings include excerpts from Simon Boccanegra, Merrie England, The Merry Widow,[10] and a complete Tosca (as the Sacristan, to Renata Tebaldi's Tosca).

His first wife was Lena Williams. They had two children, Enid Mair Jones (born 12/24/1927) and Barbara Jean Jones (born 4/18/30). His second wife was Frieda Irons, a model. Frieda had one son by a former marriage, Michael, who legally changed his name to Michael Glynne, but was not formally adopted by Howell Glynne.

He died in a car accident in Toronto on 24 November 1969.[1]

The Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada) endows a Howell Glynne Operatic Scholarship.[11]

References
  1. "Howell Glynne". BFI. Archived from the original on 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  2. "ROB WILTON THEATRICALIA ROH 1950s". www.phyllis.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  3. "Library Services - University of Kent". www.kent.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  4. "Opera and Musical Comedy | Robbins Library Digital Projects". d.lib.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  5. Gilbertian Gossip, Summer 1994
  6. Kennedy, Michael (1992). The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198163305.
  7. "Louis Riel (opera)". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  8. "Humphrey Searle: Memoirs - Quadrille with a Raven: (16) To Be or Not to Be". www.musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  9. Publications, Europa (2003). International Who's Who in Classical Music 2003. Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 9781857431742.
  10. The Merry Widow on Record
  11. "Royal Conservatory". Archived from the original on 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
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