John Braham - Legacy As A Singer

Legacy As A Singer

The tenor Michael Kelly, who had a long professional association with Braham, remarked in 1826 that 'he is, decidedly, the greatest vocalist of his day.' John Braham became seen (retrospectively) as the founder of a dynasty of leading British tenors of the concert and oratorio stage. His immediate successor was the Englishman John Sims Reeves who sang into the 1880s. Reeves was succeeded by Edward Lloyd, who between 1874 and his retirement in 1900 took part in every Handel Triennial Festival at the Crystal Palace. Braham's 'Death of Nelson' remained in Lloyd's repertoire during the 1900s: in Lloyd's declamatory style, ringing but without much vibrato, there may be an echo of the stentorian style of Braham himself. In the early twentieth century the declamatory delivery in Handel's music was maintained by Walter Widdop and Joseph Hislop among others.