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JOHN SIMS REEVES (1818-1900)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 976 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:SIMS See also:REEVES (1818-1900)  , See also:English vocalist, was See also:born at See also:Woolwich on the 26th of See also:September 1818, and received his musical See also:education from his See also:father, a musician in the Royal See also:Artillery . At the See also:age of fourteen he had progressed so far as to be appointed organist of See also:North Cray See also:church, and could See also:play the See also:oboe, See also:bassoon, See also:violin, and See also:violoncello . Heseems to have studied See also:medicine for a See also:year, but changed his mind when he gained his adult See also:voice: it was at first a baritone, and he made his earliest See also:appearance at See also:Newcastle in 1839 in various baritone parts . He studied with Hobbs and T . See also:Cooke, and, his voice having become a See also:tenor, he appeared under See also:Macready's management at See also:Drury See also:Lane (1841—43) in sub-See also:ordinate tenor parts in See also:Purcell's See also:King See also:Arthur, Der Freischiitz, and See also:Acis and Galatea, when See also:Handel's See also:pastoral was mounted on the See also:stage with See also:Stanfield's scenery . Four years were spent in study on the See also:Continent, under Bordogni in See also:Paris and Mazzucato in See also:Milan, and his debut in See also:Italian See also:opera was made at the Scala as Edgardo in See also:Lucia . He reappeared in See also:London in May 1847 at a benefit See also:concert for See also:Vincent See also:Wallace, and at one of the See also:Ancient Concerts in the following See also:month, his career on the English operatic stage beginning at Drury Lane in See also:December 1847 in Lucia, under the conductorship of See also:Hector See also:Berlioz . In See also:Balfe's Maid of See also:Honour he created the See also:part of Lyonnel in the same See also:season . In 1848 he went to Her See also:Majesty's See also:Theatre, singing in Linda di Chamounix; and in the autumn of that year, at the See also:Norwich Festival, made a See also:great sensation in " The enemy said," from See also:Israel in See also:Egypt, a See also:song in which the finest qualities of his ringing voice could be appreciated . From his first appearance at the Sacred See also:Harmonic Society in the following See also:November he was recognized as the leading English tenor; and in See also:Costa's See also:Eli and Naaman the tenor parts were written for him . His first Handel Festival was that of 1857, and the effect of his wonderful declamation in the Crystal See also:Palace was a See also:main attraction of this and of many subsequent festivals . His retirement from public See also:life, at first announced as to take See also:place in 1882, did not actually occur till 1891, when a farewell concert for his benefit was given at the See also:Albert See also:Hall .

His savings were invested in an unfortunate See also:

speculation, and be was compelled to reappear in public for a number of years . He died at See also:Worthing on the 25th of See also:October 1900 .

End of Article: JOHN SIMS REEVES (1818-1900)
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