Edward Matthews (baritone)

Edward Matthews (1904 or 1905 – 20 February 1954)^[1] was a pioneering African-American baritone opera singer.

Matthews was born in Ossining, New York.^[2] In 1934, he created the role of Ignatius of Loyola in Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts, which he reprised in the 1952 revival of the opera – his last appearance on Broadway. In 1935, he created his most famous role, Jake the fisherman, in the original 1935 production of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Here, Matthews introduced the song "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing". He recreated the role in the 1942 revival of the opera, and in the 1951 three-LP album set – the most complete recording of Porgy and Bess made up to that time.

Matthews died in a car crash on 20 February 1954, aged 49, near Woodbridge, Virginia.^[3]

References[edit]

^ The Durbeck Archive – Black Classically Trained Singers
^ Edward Matthews at the Internet Broadway Database
^ "Baritone Dies in Crash; Edward Matthews Sang Role in Original Porgy and Bess", The New York Times, 21 February 1954

Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History. W. W. Norton & Company; 3rd edition. ISBN 0-393-97141-4

External links[edit]

"A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" on YouTube, studio rehearsal recording, 1935

This article about an American opera singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] The Durbeck Archive – Black Classically Trained Singers

[2] Edward Matthews at the Internet Broadway Database

[3] "Baritone Dies in Crash; Edward Matthews Sang Role in Original Porgy and Bess", The New York Times, 21 February 1954

[1]

[2]

[3]

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	Germany United States Poland
Artists	MusicBrainz