Peter Dawson
Peter Smith Dawson (31 January 1882 – 27 September 1961) was an Australian bass-baritone and songwriter in the 1920s and 1930s, when he was possibly the most popular singer of that era. He said that at the time the gramophone was "an instrument of torture", excruciating for the recording artist, who needed "lungs of leather" to make an impression on the wax cylinders, which captured nothing but the very loudest noises. However, Dawson made his first recording in 1904, and continued to release songs for EMI and His Master's Voice (HMV) until 1958. In this time he performed classical tunes such as Tchaikovsky's "Don Juan Serenade" and popular songs like "Waltzing Matilda". He was the subject of a biography, Peter Dawson: The World's Most Popular Baritone written by Peter Burgis and Russell Smith. That biography estimates Dawson had in excess of 1500 recordings issued during his career. In 1984, he was chosen by the Guinness Book of Recorded Sound as one of the top ten singers of all time, alongside Elvis Presley and Enrico Caruso. |
Birth and Death Data: Born Adelaide (capital city of South Australia), Died September 27, 1961 (Sydney (capital city of New South Wales, Australia) )
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1905 - 1936
Roles Represented in DAHR: bass-baritone, speaker
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
| Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gramophone | 0B2663 | 10-in. | 2/9/1932 | Back your fancy (A race game for parties) | Peter Dawson | Talk, with orchestra | speaker | |
| Gramophone | Cc3197 | 12-in. | 7/2/1923 | Death of Boris | Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ; Nellie Walker | Bass vocal solo, with male vocal chorus and orchestra | vocalist, bass-baritone | |
| Gramophone | Bb3198 | 10-in. | 7/2/1923 | Veau d'or | Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin | Bass vocal solo, with male vocal chorus and orchestra | vocalist, bass-baritone | |
| Gramophone | 7203b | 10-in. | 9/4/1905 | Old folks at home | Nellie Melba | Soprano vocal solo, with vocal trio and piano | vocalist, bass-baritone | |
| Gramophone | 7204b | 10-in. | 9/4/1905 | Good night | Nellie Melba | Soprano vocal solo, with vocal trio and piano | vocalist, bass-baritone | |
| Gramophone | 10418e | 10-in. | 7/2/1909 | Onward Christian soldiers | Westminster Cathedral Choir | Mixed vocal chorus, with band | vocalist, bass-baritone | |
| Gramophone | 2EA4079 | 12-in. | 10/13/1936 | Britain's heritage : Patriotic songs, part 1 | Peter Dawson ; Clifford Greenwood | Bass-baritone vocal solo, with vocal chorus and orchestra | vocalist, bass-baritone | |
| Gramophone | 2EA4080 | 12-in. | 10/13/1936 | Britain's heritage : Patriotic songs, part 2 | Peter Dawson ; Clifford Greenwood | Bass-baritone vocal solo, with vocal chorus and orchestra | vocalist, bass-baritone |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Dawson, Peter," accessed December 26, 2025, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103444.
Dawson, Peter. (2025). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved December 26, 2025, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103444.
"Dawson, Peter." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2025. Web. 26 December 2025.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Peter Dawson
Discogs: Peter Dawson
Allmusic: Peter Dawson
Grove: Peter Dawson
IMDb: Peter Dawson
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Dawson, Peter, 1882-1961 - https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82006513
Wikidata: Peter Dawson - https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1699181
VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/12503579
MusicBrainz: Peter Dawson - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5aa05945-14f6-43ec-b583-ee93a1cd93bc
Fast: https://id.worldcat.org/fast/85560 - https://id.worldcat.org/fast/85560
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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