The 1921 HMV Patience

Cast Colonel Calverley Peter Dawson Major Murgatroyd George Baker Duke of Dunstable Ernest Pike Reginald Bunthorne George Baker Archibald Grosvenor Frederick Ranalow Lady Angela Nellie Walker Lady Saphir Bessie Jones Lady Ella Pamela Baselow Lady Jane Edna Thornton Patience Violet Essex Chorus: Walter Glynne, Edward Halland, Harold Wilde and Ruby Heyl Conductor: George. W. Byng Recorded in London January 26-June 10, 1921

Sounds on CD VGS 201 (Cover art by Matt Bland)

HMV Album Cover

Rupert D'Oyly Carte's involvement was not purely nominal. He had veto authority over individual "takes," and even singers. ter most of the opera was recorded, in January of 1921, Carte found many of the sides objectionable, leading to two more extensive recording sessions in June. Among Carte's objections was Robert Radford's Grosvenor, so he was replaced with Frederick Ranalow, and all sides that included Radford were re-done. Ranalow is a rather poor Grosvenor, so one scarcely imagines what Radford's must have been like.

"78s 2 CD" GS04

Carte evidently did not care for Peter Dawson's Colonel either, but HMV was able to persuate him to allow Dawson's performance to stand. To be sure, his Colonel lacks the patina of traditional D'Oyly Carte basses, but Dawson was one of the more popular recording artists of the day, and there is much virtuosity to admire in his reading of the part.

Edna Thornton is a sumptuous Lady Jane, arguably the best on record (despite never having played the role on stage). The other ladies are less appealing. Violet Essex has something of a cult following, but I find her Patience a bit forced, particularly in Act I. Nellie Walker's Angela is undistinguished.

Two D'Oyly Carte tenors, Harold Wilde and Walter Glynne, sang in the chorus. However, Francis does not mention these, saying only that, on side 14, the chorus was Essex, Jones, Baselow, Walker, Thornton, and Heyl. On the flyle of Peter Parker's set, Wilde, Glynne, Ruby Heyl and Edward Halland are credited with "short solos." But, on the record labels, the only side crediting Heyl is s. 14, which has no female solos. Wilde and Glynne are not credited on any side. Halland is credited on s. 17 ("If Saphir I choose to marry"). This side was likely a re-do. Presumably, Peter Dawson was unavailable, and Halland sang the Colonel's one line in that song.

In summary, this recording will not be anyone's first-choice Patience. There are a number of appealing sides, but the quality of the performances varies widely. It is of considerable historical interest, but most listeners will look elsewhere for a performance of more uniform delight.

The Text
Chris Webster listened through the entire recording with a modern Chappell vocal score in hand and reports that the cuts are as follows:

Act One

• Overture — There is a cut in the middle section from 16 ter B to 14 ter D inclusive. This makes an easy join from bars B15 to D15.
• No 2a (reprise of "Twenty love-sick maidens we") — omitted
• No 4 ("In a doleful train") — First 8 bars omitted
• No 4a (reprise of "Twenty love-sick maidens we") — omitted
• No 7 ("Long years ago") — First (or second, take your pick) bar omitted; orchestral play off omitted
• No 8a (reprise of Patience/Grosvenor duet) — omitted
• Finale — Bar D1 (or D2) omitted; orchestral play off omitted

Act Two

• No 1 ("Turn, oh turn in this direction") — omitted
• No 5 ("Love is a plaintive song") — Orchestral link between verses omitted; same bars used as play off are also omitted
• No 6 ("So go to him and say to him") — As with previous item the orchestral link between verses is omitted, and the same bars used as a play off are also omitted
• Nos 9 and 10 ("When I go out of door" and "I'm a Waterloo House young man") are made into one item by joining the penultimate bar of the duet to bar 20 of the reprise, thus omitting the final chords of the duet and the opening 19 bars of the reprise.
• Fanfare — omitted.

The CD Re-Issue
Recently, Chris Webster has prepared a digital transfer to CD, using modern technlology to eliminate much of the background crackle and hiss present on even the best surviving copies of the original discs.

This recording was never before issued on LP or CD, so there are no other efforts to compare it with. However, Chris's transfer certainly improves on the 1970s Pearl LP re-issues of several other acoustical recordings. The voices have an immediacy that one would search for in vain in the original pressings.

Just to bring that point home, Chris includes a brief bonus track at the end, with a bit of the original recording unenhanced. The CD also comes with Michael Walters's encyclopedic liner notes. Anyone interested in historical recordings will find Chris's transfer indispensable.

Issue History

Recording Details

The table below provides details of the sides in continuity order. The information is derived from the researches of Michael Walters, Chris Webster, Peter Parker, Brian Rust, and John Francis, for which I am most grateful.

Notes:

1. Names of artists singing on each side were provided by Peter Parker from the record labels, supplemented by Brian Rust's research in the HMV archives. Not all sides list Byng as conductor, but it is assumed that he in fact conducted all of them.

2. The recitative "Am I alone and unobserved" is presented on side 6, but the song "If you're anxious for to shine" is on side 7. The orchestra tops off the recitative with two chords that Sullivan never wrote, so that side 6 will end in a cadence. The song itself begins in the usual manner.

3. On sides 12, 13 and 15, the Francis Discography lists only one published take, but Michael Walters, Chris Webster, and Peter Parker have between them verified all of those listed.

4. Sides 4, 8, and 14 were included on Arabesque's LP reissue of the 1931 Ruddigore.

Recording Sessions

The following table lists the order in which the sides were recorded. Where there were multiple attempts at a side on the same day, none of which are known to have been issued, the entire row is shown in italics, and the word "Rejected" appears in the "Result" column.

Where there were multiple attempts at a side on the same day, at least one of which was issued, the word "Issued" and the side number appear in the "Result" column. For takes not known to have been issued, the matrix number is shown in italics.

Notes:

1. This table shows the order in which the selections were recorded. "Unknown" takes highlight gaps in matrix numbers (which were normally assigned sequentially).

2. Rust's notes, although ambiguous at times, imply that Ho4710-1 and Ho4710-2 ("I hear the soft note") were issued. My colleagues and I consider this highly unlikely, so we list them here as rejected takes.

3. Francis says that the overture was recorded on 28 January. Since the matrix number is sequential, we are required to believe that HMV made no recordings on 27 January, and that the orchestra was re-assembled on the 28th to record just one side. This is certainly possible, but Francis could also be mistaken.

4. Robert Radford was originally cast as Grosvenor, but Rupert D'Oyly Carte was dissatisfied with him. He was replaced with Frederic Ranalow, and some sides were redone. Brian Rust's Violet Essex discography credits Ranalow on rejected matrix Ho4723, but clearly Ranalow hadn't been engaged yet: Radford must have sung on that side. Matrix Ho4724 was also likely a Radford side.

5. Some or all of the matrices from Ho4715-Ho4721 could have been Patience items that were redone on 9/10 June. Indeed, all of the items recorded on 9/10 June could have been re-takes.