This takes us almost as far back into operatic history as possible. Charles Santley was a pillar of the British musical establishment for most of the second half of the 19th century. He took part in the first staged performance of a Wagner opera in England and Gounod was so impressed by his performance as Valentin in Faust that he wrote an additional aria for him.
Santley gave up the operatic stage relatively early in his career and concentrated on oratorio and ballad singing - in those days it was perfectly possible for a "serious" singer to perform ballads - indeed the ballad concert was a very important past of Victorian music life.
Santley made a number of recordings at the end of his career, mostly of the ballad repertory. This is my favourite - the Vicar of Bray, recorded in1904. Santley was born in 1834 so he was 70 when he recorded this.
Clearly this is the voice on an old man and you can hear the wear and tear in the voice. But what I love is the way that he projects the words so vividly. The relish with which he delivers the last line of each verse "I'll be the vicar of Bray sir!" always makes me smile.
We really are linked a long way back through this recording. In his memoirs Santley recalls a performance of Elijah in his youth (he was singing in the chorus) and talks about the difficulties of rehearsal because "this was a comparatively recent work" . Santley was a Garcia pupil, and Garcia's father was the creator of important tenor roles, most notably the count in Rossini's Barber of Seville.
The past is not as far away as we sometimes think!
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