1. David Scull Bispham was an American operatic baritone.
18 Facts About David Bispham
1. 2.
In 1872, David Bispham entered Haverford College, from which he was graduated in 1876.
3.
David Bispham appeared in numerous musical performances in his childhood despite having no formal musical training.
4.
In 1885, David Bispham married Caroline Russell, the daughter of General Charles Sawyer Russell.
5.
David Bispham was engaged by the Royal Opera at Covent Garden to sing the part of Beckmesser in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg in June 1892.
6.
David Bispham made his American debut, in Wagner, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on November 18,1896; that night he sang the role of Sixtus Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
7.
David Bispham remained with the company until 1903, singing mainly Wagnerian roles; he appeared in the American premieres of Ignace Paderewski's Manru and Ethel Smyth's Der Wald.
8.
David Bispham was influential in establishing the career of Carrie Jacobs-Bond as in 1901 he gave a recital exclusively featuring her songs in Chicago's Studebaker Theatre.
9.
David Bispham made a point of singing English versions of songs by such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann.
10.
The performance was such a success that it led to the formation of the Society of American Singers; the company, with David Bispham's inspiration, gave three seasons of light operas in English.
11.
David Bispham was a 'strong' advocate for performing vocal music in the audience's language.
12.
David Bispham was a close personal friend of American soprano Lillian Nordica, with whom he travelled to Australia on her last tour before her death.
13.
David Bispham was a frequent professional colleague of both De Reszke brothers, Olive Fremstad, Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Dame Clara Butt, among singers, and Hans Richter, Arthur Nikisch, Felix Mottl, Anton Seidl and Walter Damrosch, among conductors.
14.
Damrosch's setting of Rudyard Kipling's "Danny Deever", as sung by David Bispham, became a favorite of President Theodore Roosevelt.
15.
David Bispham sang Horatio Parker's oratorio, Hora Novissima, in 1897.
16.
David Bispham died in Manhattan, New York City on October 2,1921.
17.
David Bispham wrote a memoir of his professional career called A Quaker Singer's Recollections, published by Macmillan in January 1920.
18.
David Bispham paved the way for such outstanding American baritones of later generations as Clarence Whitehill, Richard Bonelli, Arthur Endreze, John Charles Thomas, Lawrence Tibbett, Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill.