Fisher Morgan
Encyclopedia
Thomas Fisher Morgan was a Welsh
singer and actor best remembered as a principal bass-baritone
with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
during the 1950s.
Morgan studied music at London's Trinity College of Music
and began his career in concert work and radio. He broadcast on the BBC Forces network during World War II
. From 1951 to 1956, he became a principal player with the D'Oyly Carte, recording three of his roles for Decca
. After leaving the company, he played in pantomime
. He died suddenly at the age of 50.
in Wales
, Morgan participated as a youth in amateur productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, playing the role of Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard
at the age of 17. He studied at Trinity College of Music
in London, and while still a student, he appeared in recitals and broadcast for the BBC
in regional programmes. In 1939, The Observer
wrote of him, "a fine discovery ... who should very soon develop into a singer Glyndebourne would be proud to possess." During World War II
, Morgan broadcast on the BBC Forces network. His concert work included the bass
lead in Bach
's St. Matthew Passion in 1940, and in British works by composers from Henry Purcell
to Hubert Parry
.
In April 1951, Morgan was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
, immediately taking on the roles of Sergeant Bouncer in Cox and Box
, and Richard Cholmondeley
in The Yeomen of the Guard, and understudying, and occasionally performing, the roles of Private Willis in Iolanthe
, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado
, Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers
. In the autumn of that year, after the departure of the company's principal bass-baritone
, Richard Watson
, Morgan began to regularly perform the roles of the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury
, the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance
, Private Willis in Iolanthe, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Sir Despard in Ruddigore
, Wilfred in Yeomen and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers. In 1954, when the company revived Princess Ida
, he also took on the part of King Hildebrand, having dropped the role of Bouncer the previous year. In his final D'Oyly Carte season, which ended in April 1956, he gave up the role of the Judge. Record producer Chris Webster wrote that Morgan "must be one of the best Pooh-Bahs ever". In The Manchester Guardian, Edward Greenfield
wrote of Morgan's Don Alhambra, "His ability to overact pompously is unrivalled, and more than anyone else last night he managed to project his personality to everyone in the audience." Of the 1954 recording of Princess Ida, Mel Moratti commented, "Fisher Morgan, as King Hildebrand, has the most stunning voice I have heard for some time". A 1973 article in The Savoyard magazine ranked Sir Despard as Morgan's greatest role: "his grisly first entrance [was] brilliantly contrasted with just the right degree of sobriety and sedateness in Act II ... a superb performance of singing and dancing."
After leaving D'Oyly Carte, Morgan appeared in pantomime
. He played the role of the Emperor of China for three seasons in Aladdin
at three different theatres. These were the London Palladium
(1956–57, with Sonnie Hale
and Norman Wisdom
), at Nottingham
(1957–58), and at the Empire Theatre
Liverpool
(1958–59). On 18 January 1959, returning to his home in Cheam
, Surrey
, after a performance of Aladdin, Morgan died suddenly, aged 50.
LP recordings as Private Willis in Iolanthe
(1952), Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre in The Sorcerer
(1953) and King Hildebrand in Princess Ida
(1955). Morgan also participated in radio broadcasts by the company. For Sir Thomas Beecham
, Morgan recorded the role of Luther in Offenbach
's The Tales of Hoffmann (1947 soundtrack recording for the 1951 film).
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
singer and actor best remembered as a principal bass-baritone
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
during the 1950s.
Morgan studied music at London's Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
and began his career in concert work and radio. He broadcast on the BBC Forces network during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. From 1951 to 1956, he became a principal player with the D'Oyly Carte, recording three of his roles for Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. After leaving the company, he played in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
. He died suddenly at the age of 50.
Life and career
Born in GlamorganGlamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Morgan participated as a youth in amateur productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, playing the role of Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
at the age of 17. He studied at Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
in London, and while still a student, he appeared in recitals and broadcast for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in regional programmes. In 1939, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
wrote of him, "a fine discovery ... who should very soon develop into a singer Glyndebourne would be proud to possess." During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Morgan broadcast on the BBC Forces network. His concert work included the bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
lead in Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's St. Matthew Passion in 1940, and in British works by composers from Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
to Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
.
In April 1951, Morgan was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
, immediately taking on the roles of Sergeant Bouncer in Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
, and Richard Cholmondeley
Richard Cholmondeley
Sir Richard Cholmondeley was an English farmer and soldier, who served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1513 to 1520 during the reign of Henry VIII. He is remembered because of his tomb at the Tower of London and because he is fictionalized as a character in Gilbert and Sullivan's...
in The Yeomen of the Guard, and understudying, and occasionally performing, the roles of Private Willis in Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
. In the autumn of that year, after the departure of the company's principal bass-baritone
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
, Richard Watson
Richard Watson (singer)
Richard Charles Watson was an Australian bass opera and concert singer and actor. He is probably best remembered as a long-time principal with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company who sang the comic bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas, but he appeared in a wide range of operas at the Royal Opera...
, Morgan began to regularly perform the roles of the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, Private Willis in Iolanthe, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Sir Despard in Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Wilfred in Yeomen and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers. In 1954, when the company revived Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
, he also took on the part of King Hildebrand, having dropped the role of Bouncer the previous year. In his final D'Oyly Carte season, which ended in April 1956, he gave up the role of the Judge. Record producer Chris Webster wrote that Morgan "must be one of the best Pooh-Bahs ever". In The Manchester Guardian, Edward Greenfield
Edward Greenfield
Edward Greenfield is an English music critic and broadcaster. He joined the Manchester Guardian in 1953, working as a lobby correspondent in the House of Commons. He has been a record critic for the newspaper since 1955, a music critic since 1964, and was chief music critic from 1977 until his...
wrote of Morgan's Don Alhambra, "His ability to overact pompously is unrivalled, and more than anyone else last night he managed to project his personality to everyone in the audience." Of the 1954 recording of Princess Ida, Mel Moratti commented, "Fisher Morgan, as King Hildebrand, has the most stunning voice I have heard for some time". A 1973 article in The Savoyard magazine ranked Sir Despard as Morgan's greatest role: "his grisly first entrance [was] brilliantly contrasted with just the right degree of sobriety and sedateness in Act II ... a superb performance of singing and dancing."
After leaving D'Oyly Carte, Morgan appeared in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
. He played the role of the Emperor of China for three seasons in Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
at three different theatres. These were the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
(1956–57, with Sonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale was an English theatre and cinema actor and director.John Robert Hale-Monro was born in London, the son of Robert Hale and Belle Reynolds. His father and sister, Binnie Hale were actors. He worked chiefly in musical and revue theatre, but also acted in several films with occasional...
and Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
), at Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
(1957–58), and at the Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre is located on the corner of Lime Street and London Road in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people...
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
(1958–59). On 18 January 1959, returning to his home in Cheam
Cheam
Cheam is a large suburban village close to Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton, England, and is located close to the southern boundary between Greater London and Surrey. It is divided into two main areas: North Cheam and Cheam Village. North Cheam includes more retail shops and supermarkets,...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, after a performance of Aladdin, Morgan died suddenly, aged 50.
Recordings and broadcasts
For the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Morgan recorded early DeccaDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
LP recordings as Private Willis in Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
(1952), Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre in The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
(1953) and King Hildebrand in Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
(1955). Morgan also participated in radio broadcasts by the company. For Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, Morgan recorded the role of Luther in Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's The Tales of Hoffmann (1947 soundtrack recording for the 1951 film).
External links
- Fisher Morgan on Classics Online
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0604652/Fisher Morgan on the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
] - Postcards of Morgan in several roles
- Photo of Morgan as Hildebrand
- Photo of Morgan as Pooh-Bah
- Photo of Morgan as Despard
- Photo of Morgan as Sgt. of Police
- Photo of Morgan as Pvt. Willis
- Photo of Morgan as Don Alhambra
- Photo of Morgan as the Learned Judge