Peter Dawson

Peter Dawson, (31 January 1882 – 27 September 1961), Australian Baritone.

Australia produces fine singers. Today’s blog post features the singing of, Australian Baritone, Peter Dawson. It is obvious, by listening, that Peter Dawson, born in Adelaide in 1882, was trained in the Old Italian Method of Singing to produce Bel Canto. Dawson’s sound quality is dark. His attack is clean, intonation secure, legato pure, agility without fault and diction faultless.

We are so lucky to have access to Dawson’s singing which could be used by teachers of singing as the ‘goal post’ for singing in general, and, specifically, singing in English. In this respect, I am very glad to have discovered Dawson’s recordings for both my students and improvement of myself.

Here is a playlist of Peter Dawson’s singing and, below, an example of his teacher’s singing.

Peter Dawson studied with, Englishman, Sir Charles Santley. Sir Charles recorded only a few songs and arias at the end of his career. However, his voice remained fresh – one of the tell-tale signs of good technique! Here is an example of his singing. Examples such as this could be used by teachers of singing as a ‘reminder’ of the Old Italian School of Singing. The power of this example may be enhanced by reading Sir Charles Santley’s books on singing and his memoirs.