Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton (31 December 1893, Handsworth – 24 November 1956, London) was a well-known British lyric tenor of the mid-twentieth century. He was noted for his musicianship.
Titterton's career was mainly in the concert hall. Like many British singers of his era he spent much time touring the United Kingdom, appearing in popular oratorios, rather than performing in operas or giving lieder recitals. A Birmingham City Choir website lists some typical dates and casts for performances of Handel's Messiah, for example:
- 12 December 1936: with Lilian Stiles-Allen, Gladys Ripley, Frank Titterton, Horace Stevens; and
- 26 December 1943: with Joan Cross, Muriel Brunskill, Frank Titterton, Norman Lumsden.
Along with fellow-tenors Heddle Nash, Walter Widdop and Parry Jones, Titterton was chosen as one of the sixteen soloists for the first performance, and subsequent recording, of Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music in 1938.
One of his pupils was John Fryatt.[1]
In addition Titterton undertook some film roles, including parts in Barnacle Bill (1935), Song at Eventide (1934) and Waltz Time (1933).
According to the baritone Roy Henderson (BBC Radio interview 1988), Titterton always travelled with ‘a sort of apothecary’s case’ and would produce medicines for anyone’s ailments.
Recordings
Titterton can be heard on record singing Michael Balfe's duet Excelsior (a setting of Longfellow's poem) with Malcolm McEachern (Pearl GEMM CD9455).