Horace Ernest Stevens (26 October 187618 November 1950) was an Australian

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three ...

opera singer, army officer during the First World War, singing teacher, and sculler.

Early life and career

Stevens was born on 26 October 1876 in

Prahran Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...

, Melbourne, Australia to Horace Stevens, a dentist and Fanny Stevens (née Gittins), a homemaker. In 1884, at the age of 8, he joined the All Saints Grammar School and Anglican Church in St Kilda, where he sang in the choir. The choir was being trained in singing for the 1891 opening of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

. Climbing up the ranks, Stevens became a

lay clerk A lay clerk, also known as a lay vicar, song man or a vicar choral, is a professional adult singer in an Anglican cathedral and often Roman Catholic cathedral in the UK, or (occasionally) college choir in Britain and Ireland. The vicars choral w ...

in 1898 and a few years later, as a temporary choirmaster. He resigned from the choir in 1949. An apprentice to his father, the younger Stevens was also a dentist for twenty years. He worked as his father's dental clinic, which was situated in

Collins Street, Melbourne Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne central business district, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most ...

. Stevens served as an army officer during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, during which he attained the title of Honorary Lieutenant. He served on HMAT ''Medic'', A7. In 1918, Stevens was invalided to England. After performing impromptu at a café in London, he was persuaded by Sir Henry Wood to give up dentistry and take up singing as a career. In 1919, Stevens made his debut as an opera singer in ''

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

'' with the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

Orchestra, in which he sang the title role. His performance received positive comment, with Sir

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

dubbing him as the "best Elijah" of the period. Stevens went on to perform at many major music festivals in the UK and the United States. He returned to Australia in 1934. He also appeared with the British National Opera Company as

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compos ...

and other

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most ...

roles. In his later years, Stevens gave music lessons at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

from 1938 until his death in 1950.

Personal life

An undefeated champion sculler until his retirement at 35, Stevens was also an active marksman and tennis player. A member of the London and Melbourne

Savage Club The Savage Club, founded in 1857, is a gentlemen's club in London, named after the poet, Richard Savage. The club's logo is of an indigenous North American in a feathered headdress. Members are drawn from the fields of art, drama, law, literat ...

s, he was said to be a

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

. On 26 August 1905, Stevens married Nellie Chapman, who died in 1931. On 5 December 1934, Stevens married Australian builder and constructor Ella Elizabeth Hallam (née Davis) at

Scots' Church, Melbourne The Scots' Church is a Presbyterian church in Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Services are held at 11 am (traditional) and 5pm (contemporary). It is a reformed protestant church. It was the first Presbyterian church to be built ...

. They had three sons.

Death and legacy

On 18 November 1950, Stevens died of an unanticipated

coronary occlusion A coronary occlusion, or coronary artery disease, is the partial or complete Coronary artery disease, obstruction of blood flow in a coronary artery. This condition was first discussed in 1910 by William Osler, Sir William Osler. This condition s ...

-caused heart attack at his house in

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populati ...

, Melbourne. His death was said to have been "sudden". His funeral service was at

in Melbourne, and he was cremated.'' The Herald'', Melbourne, 21 November 1950 One of the houses in the ensemble Choir Victoria, ''Stevens'', is named after him.

Early life and career

Personal life

Death and legacy

References

Further reading