LAWRENCE TIBBETT

Ballads and Songs from Films and Operettas, Vo l.1

Original Recordings 1926–1931

"Finally, Tibbett came through the curtain to a delirious reception and he, who only minutes before had been a virtual unknown was instantly proclaimed America’s Number One Baritone…"

– Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Voci Parallele

Tibbett’s star finally shone when, one January night in 1925, as Ford in Falstaff, he stole the limelight from the ageing Antonio Scotti. But there was a good deal more to this singer who, virtually overnight, was hailed the ‘Voice of America’. Quite apart from a powerful lyric-dramatic baritone voice, he was a singer of such marked individuality, charisma and outgoing nature that his operatic "discovery" was really only a matter of time. His ingratiating stage-presence and personality might also have made him a major movie star, had opera not been his first calling.

Tibbett was