Ben Davies

Ben Davies (6 January 1858 – 28 March 1943) was a Welsh tenor singer, who appeared in opera with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, in operetta and light opera, and on the concert and oratorio platform. He was spoken of as a successor of Edward Lloyd, as a leading British tenor, and retained something of his style and repertoire in concert performance. He died on 29 March 1943 at his home at Ashwick, near Bath, and was eulogized as "'The last of the white-gloved tenors', and "one of the most versatile soloists of his day." His obituary noted that "He had the unusual experience of singing in Westminster Abbey at three coronations, those of Edward VII, Geroge V and the present king [George V]"

Training and operatic career, 1881–1891

Ben Davies was born in Pontardawe in Wales. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Alberto Randegger and Signor Fiori. He made his debut in 1881 in Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl, and in the following ten years devoted himself principally to the operatic stage. In 1883 he created the role of Gringoire in Arthur Thomas's Esmeralda, in the first Carl Rosa season at Drury Lane Theatre: his future wife Clara Perry was in the cast as Fleur-de-lys. In that time he began to assume the mantle of Edward Lloyd, as the leading British operatic tenor.

In 1887 he played Geoffrey Wilder in Alfred Cellier's Dorothy, one of his most successful roles, in the re-casting opposite Marie Tempest ('Mr Davies also has a capital song, A Guinea here, a guinea there, which he sang with his eyes shut, but otherwise admirably.'); in 1889 he took the lead in the sequel, Doris, and later that year he starred as Ralph Rodney in The Red Hussar. He was chosen by Sir Arthur Sullivan to create the title role in the opera Ivanhoe in January 1891, at the opening of the Royal English Opera House (Palace Theatre) – Shaw called him 'a robust and eupeptic Ivanhoe', who 'gets beaten because he is obviously some three stone over his proper fighting weight': and 'his obstreperous self-satisfaction put everybody into good humour.'