William Hayman Cummings
William Hayman Cummings (22 August 1831 – 5 June 1915) was an English musician, tenor and organist at Waltham Abbey. Cummings was born in Sidbury (near Sidmouth) in Devon. He was educated at St Paul's Cathedral Choir School and the City of London School, becoming a pupil of Dr E. J. Hopkins, J. W. Hobbs and Alberto Randegger, and was for many years a chorister in St Paul's Cathedral and the Temple Church. In 1847, as a teenager, he was one of the choristers when Felix Mendelssohn conducted the first London performance of his Elijah at Exeter Hall. Cummings also sang at numerous festivals and concerts throughout Great Britain and twice toured in the United States. His performance at the Triennial Festival of the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston was noticed as follows by the Chicago Tribune of 15 May 1871:
He is credited in 1855 with linking music adapted from Mendelssohn's Festgesang to Charles Wesley's words "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", which are now universally inextricably linked. At the Birmingham Festival he was the last-minute tenor soloist at the premiere of The Masque at Kenilworth (1866) by Arthur Sullivan, taking Mario's place (with only half-an-hour's notice to prepare). He was also the tenor soloist there for the premiere of the sacred cantata The Woman of Samaria by William Sterndale Bennett in 1867. Cummings founded the Purcell Society in 1876. He served as singing professor at the Royal Academy of Music for 15 years beginning in 1879. He held strong views on singing and delivered the occasional stern tirade attacking the "pernicious vibrato". As late as 1907 he gave an address on "The Culture of the Voice" in which he praised the messa di voce (which was obsolete by then) and, according to the Derby Daily Telegraph of 4 January 1907, administered:
He later became a professor and later the principal of the Guildhall School of Music. One of his notable pupils at the school was conductor Bruce Carey. He received an honorary Doctorate in Music from Dublin University in 1900 and was made a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In 1902, he published a book on the origins of "God Save the King". Cummings' other appointments included:
Cummings married Clara Anne Hobbs, a daughter of his teacher, the well-known singer John William Hobbs (1799–1877). He died in London and is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, South London. |
= 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Columbia (U.K.) | A553 | 10-in. | between May 1923 and September 1925 | Nymphs and shepherds | Dora Labbette | Female vocal solo, with piano | author |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Cummings, William Hayman," accessed April 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/359554.
Cummings, William Hayman. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/359554.
"Cummings, William Hayman." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 April 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: William H. Cummings
Discogs: William Hayman Cummings
Allmusic: William Hayman Cummings
Grove: William Hayman Cummings
IMSLP: William Hayman Cummings
RISM: William Hayman Cummings
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Cummings, William Hayman, 1831-1915 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no89004294
Wikidata: William H. Cummings - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q3827349
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/5197981
MusicBrainz: William H. Cummings - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5d11c888-132a-4943-ab8b-21a9d649b572
ISNI: 0000 0001 2275 985X - http://www.isni.org/isni/000000012275985X
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