George Bentham

George Bentham (9 December 1843 – 25 March 1911) was an English tenor best remembered today for creating the role of Alexis in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Sorcerer in 1877. As Giorgio Bentami he pursued a professional opera and concert career in Europe and Britain from 1868 to 1877. Alexis proved to be his last role.

Early life Bentham was born in York in 1843, the youngest child and only son of Captain (later Lieutenant-Colonel) John Bentham (died 1858), who served in the 6th Dragoon Guards and the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot, among others, and his wife Emma Sophia (née Ikin). The family was well-connected and rich. Bentham gained a post in the War Office, and, being possessed of a fine tenor voice, by 1866 he became involved in amateur high society concerts, the first recorded being given by the Margate Volunteers at the local Assembly Rooms. Of his performance the local press wrote: "Rarely do concert-goers hear such a tenor as Mr Bentham ... his singing of 'The Message' was something superb."

Career By 1868 Bentham, often performing as Signor Bentami, had become a professional singer in Europe and was appearing in Copenhagen, in Il Trovatore and Rigoletto, where his performance of the former was described as "a great surprise … a soft, sonorous, sympathetic voice ... intonation as pure as the sound of a silver bell". Bentham made his London début in April 1871 in the role of Carlo in Linda di Chamounix. He was still billed as "Signor Bentami", but the London critics were not deceived, and after they made this clear he abandoned the pseudo-Italian stage name and appeared under his real name. He then appeared in various concerts alongside such London stars as Thérèse Tietjens and Sims Reeves. He returned to the operatic stage later that year playing Idreno in Semiramide at Her Majesty's Theatre. He soon sang Lionel in Martha. in violation of his Mapleson contract. On 8 September 1871 at All Saints Church in Kensington he married the 20 year-old mezzo-soprano Cecile Fernandez. His singing on the opening night was hampered by a bad cold, but even after he had recovered, the critics found his performance disappointing, marked by wooden acting and pallid characterisation. In March 1878, at Arthur Sullivan's request, he was asked to join Carte's touring company playing the opera in the British provinces; George Power took over the role of Alexis in London.

Last years and death Following this, at the age of 34, Bentham gave up his singing career. His wife and he apparently never reconciled and never divorced. She continued to perform as Madame Bentham-Fernandez, or Fernandez-Bentami, or under her maiden name, until at least 1913. Bentham died, aged 67, a man of "independent means and no fixed abode", at the Strand Palace Hotel in 1911 from fatty degeneration of the heart leading to a sudden heart failure. Although he had the disease for some years, his death certificate reports that he had been ill "for a few minutes".