Harold Williams (baritone)
Encyclopedia
Harold John Williams MBE (3 September 18935 June 1976) was a leading Australia
n baritone
and music teacher. Born in Sydney
, he enjoyed a long and successful career in England and his native country, performing in opera
, oratorio
and concerts and giving radio
broadcasts.
, a suburb of Sydney
, the third child of Owen Williams, a Victorian-born plumber, and his Scottish wife Isabella, née Wylie. Leaving Woollahra Superior Public School at 14, Harold worked as a messenger-boy, then as a railway stores clerk. He sang with the Waverley Methodist Church choir as a boy soprano and later an amateur baritone; but he found that 'football and cricket
were the most absorbing affairs of my life'. He played for Waverley Cricket Club (1906–15) and Rugby Union
as a wing-three-quarter with the Eastern Suburbs team, representing New South Wales
against New Zealand in August 1914.
On 24 July 1915, during World War I
, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force
(AIF). He was sent to Europe aboard the troop transport Argyllshire in May 1916, having been made a corporal with the 9th Field Ambulance section. During the voyage, his vigorous delivery of ballads became popular fare with his fellow soldiers at shipboard entertainments. After military training in England, he was promoted to sergeant and sent to France with his unit in November 1916, seeing action at Armentières
. In January 1917, he was transferred at General William Birdwood
's request to an entertainment unit, known as the 'Anzac Coves'. He then rejoined the 9th Field Ambulance in March, saw action at Passchendaele and Messines
, and was appointed regimental quartermaster-sergeant.
On leave in England in 1918, Williams sang at a private party at Sheffield
. Present in the audience were several musical luminaries who insisted that he should begin voice lessons as soon as possible. In August he transferred to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield, where he met Dorothy Mason, a staff nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service. The war ended in November 1918, and he began to study singing in London with Charles Phillips and strove to overcome his lack of basic musical knowledge. Attached to AIF Headquarters in London from April 1919, he married Dorothy at St Marylebone's parish church on 5 May that year. Demobilised from the army in July, he found a civilian job as secretary to the Stearn Electric Lamp Company. Reassured that he had 'a fine natural voice', Williams entered numerous competitions. Although his début recital in December at the Wigmore Hall
, London, was kindly received by the critics, he remained with the Stearn company until 1920.
work throughout England and began a long association with the Columbia Graphophone Company
, making records under assumed names such as 'Geoffrey Spencer' as well as his own.
Williams made his opera
tic debut in 1921 as Wolfram
in Richard Wagner
's Tannhäuser
. In 1929 he toured Australia with the pianist William Murdoch. Five years earlier, he had sung in the stage première of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
's The Song of Hiawatha
in London under the baton of Eugene Goossens
. With the exception of the 1929 season, he would appear in all later performances of the work until 1939. He was also a famous Elijah in Mendelssohn
's oratorio of the same name
.
Williams appeared with most of the greatest conductors of his time, including Arturo Toscanini
, Bruno Walter
, Otto Klemperer
, Sir John Barbirolli
, Sir Adrian Boult
and Sir Thomas Beecham
. When in England he sang in every season of Sir Henry Wood
's Promenade Concerts in 1921-51. An acclaimed performer in Elgar
's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius
, Williams often worked with the composer. He sang at Elgar's memorial service in 1934 as well as at the coronation of King George VI
in 1937.
In 1938, he was one of 16 eminent singers invited to take part in the first performance of the Serenade to Music
, written by Vaughan Williams
to mark Sir Henry Wood's Silver Jubilee as a conductor. Apart from the vocal beauty of his singing and overall musicianship, Harold Williams was renowned for his expansive breath control and for the clarity of his diction in English music. Although the concert hall was his natural milieu, he also performed such roles as Iago (Otello
), Wolfram (Tannhäuser) and Tonio (Pagliacci
) with the British National Opera Company
until its demise in 1929. For 16 seasons, he also sang such parts as Mephistopheles (Faust
) and Boris (Boris Godunov
) at Covent Garden
, in London.
Williams made a number of recordings which display the fine quality of his voice and the excellence of his singing technique. His 1933 English-language recording, with his countryman the acclaimed bass
Malcolm McEachern
, of "The Gendarmes' Duet" from Offenbach
's opera Geneviève de Brabant
is an enduring classic of the gramophone
.
Having toured Australia in 1929 for J. & N. Tait, Williams was urged by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to return to his homeland for the Thomas Beecham tour of 1940. He proceeded to become an important touring soloist throughout the duration of World War II
and also taught at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
in Sydney. In September 1946, he took part in the concert marking the inauguration of the BBC
Third Programme, singing in the Serenade to Music, with Isobel Baillie
, Astra Desmond
, Bradbridge White and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
and chorus conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
. He performed the program's opening and closing theme, and delivered weekly humorous pieces. This link continued long after he had left the concert stage — a commitment totalling more than 20 years. He did, however, leave the ABC program temporarily in 1946 to return to Britain for the inaugural Edinburgh Festival
, held in 1947.
In 1952, Williams rejoined the Conservatorium staff in Sydney at the request of an old acquaintance, the conductor/composer Eugene Goossens
, who was now the Conservatorium's director. He once said that he had 'never overcome the onslaught of nervousness' when on stage during his career. Although he had some notable pupils, he was not a strikingly successful teacher of voice production; further, he knew almost nothing of the lieder repertoire and had little strength in non-English languages.
Williams continued to sing in opera and concerts until his voice failed him during a Melbourne
performance of Elijah
in December 1953. He also appeared in the film The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan
in 1952. He belonged to the Savage Club
and took a house at Selsey, Sussex, played village and club cricket, and reputedly never missed a Test match; his friends included the Australian cricketers Alan Kippax
, Stan McCabe
and Bill O'Reilly
.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1966 and retired from musical endeavours in 1972.
Survived by twin daughters, Williams died in 1976 at the age of 82 in the Sydney suburb of Gordon, and was cremated.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
and music teacher. Born in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, he enjoyed a long and successful career in England and his native country, performing in opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
and concerts and giving radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasts.
Early years
Williams was born on 3 September 1893 at Woollahra, New South WalesWoollahra, New South Wales
Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra. The Municipality of Woollahra takes its name from the...
, a suburb of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, the third child of Owen Williams, a Victorian-born plumber, and his Scottish wife Isabella, née Wylie. Leaving Woollahra Superior Public School at 14, Harold worked as a messenger-boy, then as a railway stores clerk. He sang with the Waverley Methodist Church choir as a boy soprano and later an amateur baritone; but he found that 'football and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
were the most absorbing affairs of my life'. He played for Waverley Cricket Club (1906–15) and Rugby Union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
as a wing-three-quarter with the Eastern Suburbs team, representing New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
against New Zealand in August 1914.
On 24 July 1915, during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force
Australian Imperial Force
The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...
(AIF). He was sent to Europe aboard the troop transport Argyllshire in May 1916, having been made a corporal with the 9th Field Ambulance section. During the voyage, his vigorous delivery of ballads became popular fare with his fellow soldiers at shipboard entertainments. After military training in England, he was promoted to sergeant and sent to France with his unit in November 1916, seeing action at Armentières
Armentières
Armentières is a commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France. It is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole, and lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille, on the right bank of the river Lys....
. In January 1917, he was transferred at General William Birdwood
William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, CIE, DSO was a First World War British general who is best known as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.- Youth and early career :Birdwood was born...
's request to an entertainment unit, known as the 'Anzac Coves'. He then rejoined the 9th Field Ambulance in March, saw action at Passchendaele and Messines
Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
, and was appointed regimental quartermaster-sergeant.
On leave in England in 1918, Williams sang at a private party at Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
. Present in the audience were several musical luminaries who insisted that he should begin voice lessons as soon as possible. In August he transferred to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield, where he met Dorothy Mason, a staff nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service. The war ended in November 1918, and he began to study singing in London with Charles Phillips and strove to overcome his lack of basic musical knowledge. Attached to AIF Headquarters in London from April 1919, he married Dorothy at St Marylebone's parish church on 5 May that year. Demobilised from the army in July, he found a civilian job as secretary to the Stearn Electric Lamp Company. Reassured that he had 'a fine natural voice', Williams entered numerous competitions. Although his début recital in December at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, London, was kindly received by the critics, he remained with the Stearn company until 1920.
Career
After working to tone down his Australian accent, Williams received a great deal of musicale, concert and oratorioOratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
work throughout England and began a long association with the Columbia Graphophone Company
Columbia Graphophone Company
The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...
, making records under assumed names such as 'Geoffrey Spencer' as well as his own.
Williams made his opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic debut in 1921 as Wolfram
Wolfram von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.-Life:...
in Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
. In 1929 he toured Australia with the pianist William Murdoch. Five years earlier, he had sung in the stage première of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
's The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor)
The Song of Hiawatha, Op. 30, is a trilogy of cantatas by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, produced between 1898 and 1900. The first part, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, was particularly famous for many years and it made the composer's name known throughout the world.-Background:In 1898, Coleridge-Taylor was...
in London under the baton of Eugene Goossens
Eugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
. With the exception of the 1929 season, he would appear in all later performances of the work until 1939. He was also a famous Elijah in Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's oratorio of the same name
Elijah (oratorio)
Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
.
Williams appeared with most of the greatest conductors of his time, including Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
, Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
, Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
and 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...
. When in England he sang in every season of Sir Henry Wood
Henry Wood
Henry Wood was a British conductor.Henry Wood may also refer to:* Henry C. Wood , American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient* Henry Wood , English cricketer...
's Promenade Concerts in 1921-51. An acclaimed performer in Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
, Williams often worked with the composer. He sang at Elgar's memorial service in 1934 as well as at the coronation of King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
in 1937.
In 1938, he was one of 16 eminent singers invited to take part in the first performance of the Serenade to Music
Serenade to Music
Serenade to Music is a work by Ralph Vaughan Williams for 16 vocal soloists and orchestra, composed in 1938. The text is an adaptation of the discussion about music and the music of the spheres in Act V, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Vaughan Williams later arranged...
, written by Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
to mark Sir Henry Wood's Silver Jubilee as a conductor. Apart from the vocal beauty of his singing and overall musicianship, Harold Williams was renowned for his expansive breath control and for the clarity of his diction in English music. Although the concert hall was his natural milieu, he also performed such roles as Iago (Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
), Wolfram (Tannhäuser) and Tonio (Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
) with the British National Opera Company
British National Opera Company
The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company , which was disbanded when financial problems over...
until its demise in 1929. For 16 seasons, he also sang such parts as Mephistopheles (Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
) and Boris (Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
) at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, in London.
Williams made a number of recordings which display the fine quality of his voice and the excellence of his singing technique. His 1933 English-language recording, with his countryman the acclaimed 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...
Malcolm McEachern
Malcolm McEachern
Walter Malcom Neil McEachern was a noted Australian bass singer who enjoyed a successful career in the United Kingdom, both as a concert soloist and as one half of the comic musical duo Flotsam and Jetsam....
, of "The Gendarmes' Duet" from 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 opera Geneviève de Brabant
Geneviève de Brabant
Geneviève de Brabant is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant....
is an enduring classic of the gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
.
Having toured Australia in 1929 for J. & N. Tait, Williams was urged by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to return to his homeland for the Thomas Beecham tour of 1940. He proceeded to become an important touring soloist throughout the duration of 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...
and also taught at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
in Sydney. In September 1946, he took part in the concert marking the inauguration of 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...
Third Programme, singing in the Serenade to Music, with Isobel Baillie
Isobel Baillie
Dame Isobel Baillie DBE was a Scottish soprano, popular in opera, oratorio and lieder. She was regarded as one of the 20th century's great oratorio singers.Isobel Baillie was born in Hawick, Scottish Borders, in 1895...
, Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond CBE was a British contralto of the early and middle twentieth century.-Early years:Astra Desmond was born Gwendolyn Mary Thompson, in Torquay, England. She was educated at Notting Hill High School and Westfield College, where she was a classical scholar...
, Bradbridge White and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
and chorus conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
Later years
To children listening to ABC radio in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, he was "Orpheus" of the Argonauts ClubArgonauts Club
The Argonauts Club was an Australian children's radio program, first broadcast in 1933 on ABC Radio in Melbourne. Its format was devised by Nina Murdoch who had run the station's Children's Hour on 3LO and stayed on when that station was taken over by the Australian Broadcasting Commission...
. He performed the program's opening and closing theme, and delivered weekly humorous pieces. This link continued long after he had left the concert stage — a commitment totalling more than 20 years. He did, however, leave the ABC program temporarily in 1946 to return to Britain for the inaugural Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, held in 1947.
In 1952, Williams rejoined the Conservatorium staff in Sydney at the request of an old acquaintance, the conductor/composer Eugene Goossens
Eugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
, who was now the Conservatorium's director. He once said that he had 'never overcome the onslaught of nervousness' when on stage during his career. Although he had some notable pupils, he was not a strikingly successful teacher of voice production; further, he knew almost nothing of the lieder repertoire and had little strength in non-English languages.
Williams continued to sing in opera and concerts until his voice failed him during a Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
performance of Elijah
Elijah (oratorio)
Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
in December 1953. He also appeared in the film The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan is a 1953 British technicolor film that dramatises the story of the collaboration between W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan authored 14 comic operas, later referred to as the Savoy Operas, which became the most popular series of musical...
in 1952. He belonged to the Savage Club
Savage Club
The Savage Club, founded in 1857 is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:Many and varied are the stories that have been told about the first meeting of the Savage Club, of the precise purposes for which it was formed, and of its christening...
and took a house at Selsey, Sussex, played village and club cricket, and reputedly never missed a Test match; his friends included the Australian cricketers Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
, Stan McCabe
Stan McCabe
Stanley Joseph McCabe was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938. A short, stocky right-hander,...
and Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1966 and retired from musical endeavours in 1972.
Survived by twin daughters, Williams died in 1976 at the age of 82 in the Sydney suburb of Gordon, and was cremated.