Forgotten Opera Singers

Forgotten Opera Singers

Mar 9, 2025

BRITISH TENOR HENRY WENDON (1894-1963) CDR

 



HENRY WENDON (STOKE DAMEREL, 1894 – NEWDIGATE, SURREY, 1963)


 

 


In 1925, he made his debut at the Old Vic Theatre in London as Radamès in Aida. He spent his later years as a professor of voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.


Chronology of some appearances


1925: London, Old Vic Theatre – Aida (Radames)

1925: London, Old Vic Theatre – Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)

1925: London, Old Vic Theatre – Lohengrin (Lohengrin)

1927–1939: Touring with English operatic companies

1930s–1940: London, Sadler’s Wells Opera – Various roles

1930s: London, Covent Garden – Das Rheingold (Froh), Cavalleria Rusticana (Turiddu), Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)

1942: London, Strand Theatre – Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Hoffmann)



TRACKLIST


 

Aida (Verdi) Fuggiam gli ardori Inospiti (w. Blyth & Watson) Decca K 533 MA1540-1A

Aida (Verdi) Sì, fuggiam da queste mura… Di Napata le gole! (w. Blyth & Watson) Decca K 533 MA1541-1A

Boheme (Puccini) On wings of song Memories Part 1 (The Story of the Film) (w. Clare & Cross) C.2775 2EA1539 HMV

Boheme (Puccini) On wings of song Memories Part 2 (The Story of the Film) (w. Clare & Cross) C.2775 2EA1539 HMV

Come to the fair (From Songs of The Fair) DB2064 CA18873 Columbia

Eleanore (E. MacKay, S. Coleridge Taylor) DB 2083 CA 18875 Columbia

Lawrance Collingwood, Vic-Wells Orchestra

(Recorded 10th October, 1933, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London)

King Heinrich — Harry Brindle

Lohengrin — Henry Wendon

Elsa von Brabant — Joan Cross

Friedrich von Telramund — Booth Hitchin

Ortrud — Constance Willis

King’s Herald — George Hancock

Act 1: “By Hea’en’s behest to me was vict’ry lent”

Act 2: “Rest thee with me! Oh, let me teach thee”

Act 3: “My gracious sov’reign, bear me blameless”

Act 3: “In distant land, denied to feet of mortals”

Fragments from a live performance of “Lohengrin” given at Sadler’s Wells in London on 10th October 1933 – three fragments were recorded including two of Henry Wendon as Wagner’s grail knight from the conclusion of the first Act and then the third Act in in Lohengrin’s farewell (sung in English); with Constance Willis as Ortrud, Harry Brindle as King Henry, Booth Hitchen as Frederick of Telramund and Joan Cross as Elsa. The opera was conducted by Lawrance Collingwood.


BRITISH TENOR HENRY WENDON (1894-1963) CDR

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