John Charles Thomas (Great Historical Singers)

John Charles Thomas was part of the phenomenon called the Verdi baritone which has nearly become extinct these days. The way I define a Verdi baritone is the respective singer can sing in the upper part of his range for long periods of time with great strength or drive. John Charles Thomas had a voice that fit that description during the first half of the twentieth century. He was one of many successful singers who attended the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. There is a picture of Thomas in the George Peabody Library. I remember passing through the library with the late Wayne Conner once, and him saying "not a successful baritone" in a dry and sarcastic type of way.

      I bought a cd of Thomas a number of years a go at a book store in Princeton, New Jersey. It was a singer performing a bunch of popular English songs. I took a chance on it having no clue who this guy was, and it was well worth it. Thomas was trained on Broadway, so he had incredibly clear English diction for an American singer, which is actually a rarity for the most part. Needless to say the cd I bought of Thomas singing American songs blew me away. His rendition or Malotte's song "The Lord's Prayer" is the best version I have ever heard. Thomas's voice was a Verdi baritone with primary strength in the upper range. He sings up to a high A flat at the end of "The Lord's Prayer." Thomas's recordings of "Trees" and the Green Eyed Dragon" have never been topped either in my opinion. My point of all this is Thomas had such a Romantic voice that he could cross over into Musical Theater and popular songs extremely effectively. He had great personality and diction in his singing, not to mention this absolutely extraordinary beauty to his voice. His voice had a very forward Italianate sound which was completely different than his contemporary Lawrence Tibbet's very dark timbre. Thomas sounded like Italian singers such as Titta Ruffo and Apollo Granforte, who were Italian baritones who were trained in the upper range. Thomas was unique because he could sell a song like "Home On The Range" with his voice and personality.

      Thomas led a very adventurous life. He loved golf, yachting, speed boat racing, pig farming and chicken racing. He had a very gentle and generous side, but also a very dark side to his nature. He had strong convictions in his political views, and drank heavily and womanizer. His political convictions were so strong that he parted with an accompanist he had been working with for twelve years. His iron will also paid dividends in that he kept his music in alphabetical order, and studied French very thoroughly. He was a very competitive man, and even took his hobbies extremely seriously. Thomas's unique ability to excell in opera and broadway music was matched by few others. However, his pop singing takes away from his being recognized more as an opera star. He lost out on some opera parts at the Metropolitan Opera to his contemporary Lawrence Tibbett. They were direct contemporaries in that they were born in the same year and died in the same year. Thomas left very few operatic excerpts on record unfortunately. The first time I heard him was on the Prima Voce series of historical singers. There is a cd entitled "Great Baritones" in which he sings "Nemico della Patria" from "Andrea Chenier." This recording represents Thomas at his best. It shows that he was a force to be reckoned with in opera. To find recordings of John Charles Thomas, look him up on YouTube.