Heddle Nash

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Heddle Nash (1894 – 1961) had a reputation as one of England’s finest ever tenors.

Nash was born in the South London suburb of Deptford on 14 June 1894. His musical studies were interrupted by the First World War, during which he fought in Palestine, Gallipoli and France, and was wounded. He later married the girl who nursed him.

After the war he studied with Marie Brema at the Blackheath Conservatory and then with the famous Italian dramatic tenor Giuseppe Borgatti in Italy. He made his debut at the Teatro Carcano in Milan when Nash replaced an indisposed tenor in the role of Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. It was a great success.

He returned to London in 1925 and was engaged by the Old Vic Company under Lilian Baylis to sing lyric tenor roles in English. Nash was what the Italians call a "tenore di grazia"; with a light, lyrical voice, flexible, stylish and graceful, with good breath control and excellent diction. In 1929, he made his first appearance at Covent Garden as Don Ottavio in the company’s International Season. He sang to great acclaim and he became a favourite artist there, much admired as Don Ottavio, Tamino, Rodolfo, David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the Duke in Rigoletto, Almaviva, Roméo and in other roles.

He made the first of many records in the 1920s, mostly for the (British) Columbia label and later for HMV. In general they were well received, though there were those that preferred the full-throated, vigorous Italian tenor voice, and considered Nash’s voice too bland, his style too refined and well-mannered — a criticism often levelled at English singers, particularly tenors. The practice at the time of singing opera in English did not help; the English language versions of well-known Italian or French arias often verging on the ludicrous. In the United States the Metropolitan Opera had a policy of singing opera in the original language and the record companies followed suit. Many British record collectors preferred American originated recordings with international opera stars, to what they considered second-rate, home-grown versions.

In 1934, Nash was engaged to sing the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte in the opening season at the new Glyndebourne opera house, singing in Italian with an international cast conducted by Fritz Busch. Later that year Columbia recorded the opera with the same cast. These records showed Nash to be an excellent singer in Italian, with superb diction. A view supported by Sir Thomas Beecham who chose Nash to sing Rodolfo in a complete recording of La Boheme, also in Italian, made in 1935.

Nash’s career was not restricted to opera; he gave many song recitals and radio broadcasts and he sang in concerts and oratorios all over Britain. In 1931, Nash was chosen by Sir Edward Elgar to sing the title role in his oratorio, The Dream of Gerontius, conducted by the composer and he became particularly associated with this role. The recording he made of Gerontius in 1951 under Malcolm Sargent is still regarded by many critics as unsurpassed.

In 1938, he was one of the sixteen singers chosen by Ralph Vaughan-Williams to perform his Serenade to Music.

He sang regularly in Handel’s Messiah, as well as other Handel oratorios. (It was said that no Christmas went by without Nash singing the Messiah somewhere or other).

In his later years he was appointed Professor of Singing at The Royal College of Music. Nash gave his last operatic performance on his silver wedding anniversary on April 7, 1957 and sang his last Messiah a few months before his death from lung cancer on August 14, 1961.