Denis Dowling (24 June 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a New Zealand-born operatic

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

who made his career in London with Sadler's Wells Opera and its successor, the English National Opera (ENO).

Life and career

Dowling was born in Ranfurly, New Zealand, and brought up on his father's sheep farm, where he worked on leaving school."Denis Dowling: Obituary", ''The Times'', 25 September 1996, p. 19 As a youth he played in a local brass band, and from 1929 he studied singing with a local voice teacher. After success in competitions, and concert and broadcast appearances in New Zealand he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London. He was spotted by Lilian Baylis, proprietor of Sadler's Wells Opera and made his debut with that company while still a student, playing Faninal in '' Der Rosenkavalier'' in 1939.Forbes, Elizabeth
"Obituary: Denis Dowling"
''The Independent'', 25 September 1996. At the RCM Dowling was the first singer to be awarded the Tagore Gold Medal for the best all-round student of the year, hitherto won exclusively by instrumental players. His career had to be put on hold while he served in the Second World War as an officer in the Royal Artillery. In 1943 he married Phyllis Clutterbuck. After demobilisation, in 1947 Dowling joined the new English Opera Group, singing Junius in Britten's '' The Rape of Lucretia'' and Sid in the same composer's '' Albert Herring'' at Glyndebourne, Covent Garden and on a European tour. In 1948 he returned to Sadler's Wells, playing Silvio in ''

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who m ...

''. His career with Sadler's Wells lasted until his retirement, at the end of an American tour, in 1984, when he was seventy-four. Among his many roles were Escamillo and Dancairo in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', Dr Falke in '' Die Fledermaus'', Angelotti in '' Tosca'', Sharpless in '' Madam Butterfly'', Baron Douphol and Germont in ''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'', and Marcello in '' La Boheme''. He became noted for his versatility, but was particularly well known for his performances in comic roles. In the words of '' The Times'': :He excelled in the title role of a famous production of '' The Barber of Seville'', directed by Tyrone Guthrie. Taddeo in '' The Italian Girl in Algiers'' followed, as did Dandini in '' Cenerentola'' . The latter performance was among his finest, matched perhaps by a suave Malatesta in '' Don Pasquale'' and the monocled peer, Earl Mountararat, in

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

's ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

''. In an obituary in '' The Independent, Elizabeth Forbes wrote: :Dowling clocked up a vast number of performances of more than 100 different roles. A skilful comedian, with a flexible lyric baritone voice, he excelled in Mozart and Rossini, but he was equally convincing as the sadistic Prison Camp Commandant in Janáček's '' From the House of the Dead'' or the Secret Police Agent in

Menotti Menotti may refer to the following people: ;Given name *Menotti Aristone (c.1942–2013), American jockey *Menotti de Tomazzo Sobrinho (born 1943), Brazilian football player *Menotti Del Picchia (1892–1988), Brazilian poet, journalist and painte ...

's '' The Consul'' and as Baron Mirko Zeta in '' The Merry Widow'' or Pooh Bah in '' The Mikado''. From 1974 until his retirement, Dowling added the position of vocal consultant to the ENO to his singing roles. He died in London on 23 September 1996 at the age of eighty-six.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Denis 1910 births 1996 deaths 20th-century New Zealand male opera singers New Zealand expatriates in the United Kingdom British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers