| Ernest Pike | |
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This photograph was taken at one of the recording sessions for Pirates of Penzance in 1920. The conductor, George W. Byng, is standing. The singers, from left to right, were: Seated: Bessie Jones, Violet Essex, Sarah Jones, Harold Wilde, Robert Radford; Standing: Derek Oldham, Walter Glynne, Ernest Pike, Edna Thornton, Peter Dawson, Edward Halland, George Baker, Nellie Walker. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ernest George Pike |
| Born | 1871 Pimlico, London, England |
| Died | March 4, 1936 (aged 64) Streatham, South London, England |
| Genres | Opera, popular song |
| Occupations | Tenor singer |
| Years active | 1900 - mid 1920s |
| Labels | Gramophone & Typewriter Company, HMV, Zonophone, Regal |
Ernest Pike (1871–1936) was an English tenor of the early 20th century who recorded under his own name and variously as Herbert Payne, Arthur Brett, Eric Courtland, Arthur Gray, Bernard Moss, Dick Denton, Charles Nelson, Allan Dale and Richard Pembroke; - Herbert Payne being the one most commonly used. His recording repertoire was varied and included Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, ballads and popular songs of the Edwardian era and World War I.
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He was born in Pimlico, London, England in 1871[1][2] the son of Richard Pike - a builder. His first mention as a singer was as a chorister (Herbert Payne) who performed on stage for The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company “B” Company on tour in 1887 (at the age of 16) as one of the ghosts of the ancestors in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore.[3] He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music in London.[2] He married May Stevens in 1900[4] and they had a daughter Maud who was born in 1901.
His profession in 1900 was listed as being that of a commercial clerk, but it is not known for which organisation he was working in this capacity; however it is known that he recorded for HMV for 26 years[2] with his final recordings dating from the mid-1920s. By the 1911 census,[1] his profession was given as that of a professional singer and he was living in Balham, South London. He also held posts at two London churches[2] - Holy Trinity Sloane Street and The Spanish Church in Spanish Place, but the exact dates and durations for which these posts were held are not known. During the Edwardian era he toured the country singing in many leading towns including concerts at the Queen's Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London.[2] In January 1905 he performed for King Edward VII at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire for three nights in succession when the King was in residence for a visit to the Devonshire Hospital in Buxton.[2][5] The 1917 Zonophone record catalogue described him as being the "The late King Edward's favourite tenor".
His early career as a professional singer coincided with the first developments in sound recording technology. In December 1906, he was part of the cast (as Nanki-Poo) of the first recording of "The Mikado"; this was initially released on single-sided gramophone records for the "Gramophone & Typewriter Company" (G&T) which later became HMV and re-released the recordings on double-sided discs in 1912. He sang the Captain on the first ever recording of the G&S opera “HMS Pinafore” recorded on eleven Edison cylinders in 1907. In 1999 these early recordings were re-discovered after they been thought lost.
He continued to record light opera, singing Marco in "Gondoliers" (1907 for G&T), Colonel Fairfax in “Yeoman of the Guard” (1907 for G&T), in “Chu Chin Chow” (1916), in “The Mikado” (1918, HMV Black Label, under the direction of Rupert D'Oyly Carte), as Luiz and Marco in “The Gondoliers” (1919), as Leonard Meryll in “Yeoman of the Guard” (1920, HMV on Black Label) and as the Duke of Dunstable in “Patience” (1921, HMV, under the direction of Rupert D’oyly Carte). In these recordings, he sang alongside other well-known singers of the period: Peter Dawson, Derek Oldham, George Baker, Stanley Kirkby, Edna Thornton, Robert Radford and Violet Essex.
In the early recording era, it was accepted practise for recordings to be made by “studio singers” (in this case provided by HMV), i.e not by the singers who would have originally performed in the stage production. This would not have compromised the authenticity of the performances of G&S, as in most cases these were directly overseen by the D’oyly Carte. It has always been believed that Ernest Pike was just such a “studio singer”, but in view of his known stage performances on tour in 1887, it may be that he performed on stage for the D’oyly Carte on other occasions also.
By 1922, D’oyly Carte was insisting that their own singers be allowed to perform in the recordings, a move that prevented Ernest Pike and several others from singing solo parts. In “Iolanthe” (1922), he was relegated to the chorus. After this, he recorded no further G&S operas.
Ernest Pike is probably best remembered for his prolific output of the popular songs of his day. Between the early 1900s and the mid-1920s, he recorded more than 2,400 matrixes (takes) for HMV at Room 1, Hayes, Middlesex.[6] Assuming an average of three takes per song, this would equate to approximately 400 double-sided 78rpm records. He collaborated with other well-known artists of his day e.g with Peter Dawson in their recording of The Lost Chord made in 1909. He made one of the earliest recordings of the famous World War I ballad Roses of Picardy recorded just one year after it had been written - in 1917. A selection of some of his most well-known songs are given below:-
He recorded initially on Edison cylinders, then for G&T, then almost exclusively for the Zonophone label, both single-sided and from 1910 onwards, double-sided (Zonophone “The Twin”) produced by the British Zonophone Company which was effectively a branch of HMV. After he ceased to record operatic solos for HMV in 1922, he recorded his popular songs only for Columbia's budget Regal Records. (See also Regal Records (1914). His popular recordings were also released on the following labels: Ariel, Sterling and Twin.
He appears to have made no further recordings of any kind after the mid 1920s. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage on March 4, 1936[4] in Streatham, South London. His obituary in the Musical Times (of April 1936) consisted of just one line.[7]