Arthur Middleton

Arthur Middleton (Logan, Iowa, November 28, 1880 – Chicago, Illinois, February 16, 1929) was an American operatic and concert bass-baritone. Father was Wiley Middleton and mother was Julia Lockling Middleton.

Life

Middleton studied with Charles R. Adams and Alexander Emslie and made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1914.

Middleton sang secondary roles at the Metropolitan Opera during a tenure encompassing only 22 performances between November 1914 and February 1916. In both his debut on November 18, 1914 and his farewell on February 26, 1916, he appeared as the Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. He sang two other Wagnerian roles for the company: Titurel in Parsifal and Donner in Das Rheingold. His non-Wagnerian roles were Ludwig in Weber's Euryanthe and Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio. Middleton also appeared at least once with the company on tour in Philadelphia, where he again appeared as the Lohengrin Herald on December 8, 1914.

Middleton's repertory was somewhat more varied and substantial when he participated in seven concerts at the Metropolitan Opera House during approximately the same period, although he tended to repeat selections in successive appearances. In the first concert, taking place on November 22, 1914, just a few days after his Metropolitan Opera debut, he sang O du, mein holder abendstern from Wagner's Tannhäuser and Air du tambour major from Thomas's Le Caïd. In subsequent concerts, he was heard in Wotan's Farewell from Wagner's Die Walküre, Walter Damrosch's celebrated song Danny Deever, and Why Do the Nations from Handel's Messiah and Largo al factotum from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the last two figuring in his final appearance at the house on November 19, 1916. New York, October 29, 1917: Middleton's first New York song recital, given at Aeolian Hall, included Where'er You Walk from Handel's Semele; Schubert's Der Wanderer; the same Thomas and Rossini arias noted above; and lighter fare including old English airs, Hotner's Uncle Rom, Lucy Broadwood's Old Surrey Air, and "ballads from Kipling", presumably including Danny Deever. [New York Times, "Tenor and Baritone Heard", October 30, 1917] New York, June, 1918: Participant in Lewisohn Stadium concerts organized for the support and entertainment of American military personnel mobilizing for World War I. [New York Times, "Wartime 'Pop' Concerts", June 16, 1918] Spartanburg, South Carolina, May, 1921: Participant in Converse College Choral Society 25th anniversary concert series. [New York Times, "Music News and Notes", May 1, 1921] Weatherford, Oklahoma, 1921: Concert at the Southwestern Normal Auditorium. San Francisco, California, December 15, 1925: Soloist in first performance of Handel's Messiah by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; other soloists were Lorna Lachmund, Belle Montgomery, Paul Althouse, and Warren D. Allen, and Alfred Hertz conducted. Des Moines, Iowa, 1926: Appeared in The Birth of the Messiah at the Iowa State Fair.

Middleton also taught singing; among his pupils was Olive Townend-Middleton. Arthur Middleton died in February 1929 of Bright's Disease.

Recordings

Despite his less than stellar operatic career, Middleton became in essence the house bass for Thomas Edison's National Phonograph Company, which promoted his association with the Metropolitan Opera and recorded him in repertory of far larger import and scope than anything he presented on the stage. Middleton recorded not only under his own name but also as Edward Allen and Eduard Mittelstadt. Middleton figured in the company's celebrated "tone tests," in which recording artists would perform in tandem with their recordings, played on Edison equipment, before an audience in order to demonstrate that the two were indistinguishable; one of the first such presentations, taking place on November 18, 1915 at Boston's Symphony Hall, included his recording of Pro Peccatis from Rossini's Stabat Mater, although the live performer on that occasion was contralto Christine Miller.