Walter Hyde

Walter Hyde (6 February 1875 – 11 November 1951) was a British tenor, actor and teacher of voice whose career spanned genres from musical theatre to grand opera. In 1901 he sang Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing and soon appeared in London's West End in light opera and Edwardian musical comedy. He appeared regularly at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden between 1908 and 1924, becoming known for roles in Wagner operas, among others, both in Britain and America. and Elizabeth née Hiley (1851–1932). His twin brothers, Harry and Charles, were two years older. The family had musical inclinations. Hyde later recalled: My earliest recollection of things musical is going to church one Sunday morning with my father, who was principal tenor in the choir. I was presented to an elderly, dignified gentleman, who asked me to sing "Doh, re, mi." With all the assurance that the mature age of six could command, I stammered, `Yes, sir.' There was a touch of comedy behind all this, because the smallest surplice was much too large for my tiny body. However, it was placed upon me, and I walked up the aisle with the other members of the choir – holding huge folds of starched linen in my, then, small hands – I was a choir boy. At that early age I could read, and before I could tell the time I could read music.

For six years Hyde was a Chorister at the Chapel Royal in London. Intent on becoming a tenor, in 1895 he became one of the first students to enroll at the recently restructured Music Department at the Birmingham and Midland Institute. He received lessons in voice before winning a £40-per-annum scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition under Joseph Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford and harmony and orchestration with Walter Parratt, among others. He received tuition in singing from Gustave Garcia.

Early career

On graduating Hyde was engaged by the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden to create the role of Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing on 30 May 1901. He next created the role of Lionel Bland in the comic opera My Lady Molly at Brighton in 1902, and when the show transferred to Terry's Theatre in London on 14 March 1903 Hyde continued in the role, making his West End début. who had sung in Messiah that year in Hull. The couple had three children: Denis Atherden Hyde (1907–1911), Walter Siegmund Hyde (1909–1989) and Joan Valerie Hyde (1913–1999). and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado. Earlier in 1907 he recorded excerpts from H.M.S. Pinafore for the Russell Hunting Record Company.

Hyde was appearing as Bandmaster van Vuyt in Miss Hook of Holland when he impressed Percy Pitt who introduced him to Hans Richter. he was to remain for nearly two years touring in light opera and singing in concerts. In 1912 he appeared as the title character in a revival of Reginald De Koven's Robin Hood at the New Amsterdam Theatre and the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York before taking the opera to the Princess Theatre in Toronto in Canada in March 1913. In May 1917 he sang Dick Johnson in Puccini's Girl of the Golden West in English at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where in September he sang in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov in that piece's first performance in English. In 1918 at Manchester under Beecham's baton he sang in Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. In June of that year he sang Phoebus in Bach's cantata Phoebus and Pan during Beecham's Summer Season at Drury Lane, as well as Siegmund in Die Walküre. and again in 1919 he played Samson in Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah.

In May 1919 he sang Muezzin in Isidore de Lara's Nail, while in November that year he appeared in the title role in Wagner's Parsifal at Covent Garden, reprising the role in February 1920 at the same venue, followed by The Fair Maid of Perth and Pedrillo and Sali in A Village Romeo and Juliet. After the failure of the Beecham Opera Company in 1920 various members of that Company including Hyde formed the British National Opera Company (BNOC), which operated from 1922 to 1929 with Hyde as a director, and sang in Wagner's Ring cycle at the Royal Opera House in the first production since the end of the War. Commencing on Boxing Day at Covent Garden that year, he sang in Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, The Magic Flute and as Belmonte in Il Seraglio. In January 1924 he was Admetus in Boughton's Alkestis. Hyde continued to sing in the mid-1920s, mainly in the provinces, but occasionally in a London season with the BNOC, including in Pelléas and Mélisande in English. In 1926 in Manchester he sang in Tannhäuser and in 1927 he gave his Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Golders Green Hippodrome. Eric Shilling, David Lloyd, Norman Walker, Owen Brannigan and Gwen Catley.