Horace Stevens

Declared by the composer, Edward Elgar, "the greatest Elijah the world has ever known," Stevens didn't begin his professional career until he was over 40 years of age. Although he sang in choirs and as an amateur, he first appeared professionally in 1919.

Born in Windsor, Victoria, Australia in 1874, he studied dentistry and built up a dental practice in Melbourne. During World War I, when he served in the British armed forces, he was heard by the famous conductor, Sir Henry Wood, who advised him to abandon dentistry and consider a singing career. Wood engaged him for concerts at the Queen's Hall, London, in 1919. Further concerts followed, including his first Elijah in Birmingham. The success of his appearance in this role proved the foundation of his career. Soon he was singing at all of the major choral festivals in England, as well as touring the United States and various parts of the British Empire in a repertoire including Messiah, Samson, St. Matthew Passion, Brahms' Requiem, and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius.

Unlike Peter Dawson, whose career was basically limited to the concert stage, Stevens was a member of the British National Opera Company throughout the Twenties; among his roles were Falstaff, Hans Sachs, Mephistofeles, the Dutchman, the Landgrave in Tannhaüser, the Walküre Wotan, Prince Igor and Ramfis in Aida.

He returned to Melbourne in 1934 and took part in the premiere of Alfred Hill's Australian opera Auster in 1936. In 1938, he joined the staff of the Melbourne University Conservatory, teaching singing; the following year he became conductor of the Royal Victoria Liedertafel, which post he held until his death in 1954.

Stevens had an exceptional ability to vary the sound of his voice. Indeed, he almost had two voices: a round, smooth, warm tone for legato passages; and a more virile, lighter attacking voice for the florid passages. It is unfortunate that Stevens' recorded legacy is so limited, and that what he did leave behind was recorded so poorly. Sound quality varied from label to label, but none flattered him at all. However, one can hear enough to realize that this was one of the greatest bass-baritone voices of his time.

Coleridge-Taylor Hiawatha: Hiawatha's Vision
Elgar Dream of Gerontius: Jesu! by that shudd'ring death (Sept. 1925 concert conducted by Elgar)
Elgar Pipes of Pan
Handel Messiah: The trumpet shall sound
Handel Messiah: Why do the nations?
Hatton Simon the Cellarer
Haydn Creation: Now Heaven in fullest glory
Hensel Young Dietrich
Leoncavallo Pagliacci: Prologue
Leoncavallo Pagliacci: Prologue (Electric)
Mendelssohn Elijah: For the mountains shall depart
Mendelssohn Elijah: Is not his word like a fire?
Mendelssohn Elijah: It is enough
Mendelssohn Elijah: Lord God of Abraham
Mendelssohn Saint Paul: O God have mercy
Mendelssohn Sons and Strangers: I am a roamer
Nelson The Windmill
Ricci Prigione d'Edinburgo: Sulla Poppa
Somervel Maude Cycle: A voice by the cedar tree
Somervel Maude Cycle: O that 'twere possible
Somervel Maude Cycle: O let the solid ground
Somervel Maude Cycle: Go not, happy day
Sullivan Thou art passing hence
traditional I am a friar of orders grey
traditional arr. Sharp Wayside Cross, The
Wagner Walküre: Wotan's Farewell

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