Opera Scotland

Frank Mullings Suggest updates

Born Walsall, 10 March 1881.

Died Manchester, 19 May 1953.

English tenor.

Frank Mullings was one of the most notable heroic tenors singing in Britain between the wars, producing a level of dramatic tension in both singing and acting that was reckoned remarkable.

He was regarded as an excellent performer of the heavier roles by Wagner (Tannhäuser, Tristan, Siegfried, Parsifal);  Verdi (Radamès, Otello) and Leoncavallo (Canio), but was admired particularly for his highly histrionic performances of Otello.

Trained in Birmingham, his debut was at Coventry in 1907 in the role of Gounod's Faust. He worked with the Denhof company, then with Beecham 1916-21, and BNOC 1922-6.

He sang Hadyar in the British premiere of Isidore De Lara's Naïl (Covent Garden 1919) and created Apollo in Rutland Boughton's Alkestis (Glastonbury 1922).

As a concert artist he performed several dramatic works, including Elgar (Orbin Caractacus, Gerontius).

In 1927 two early complete opera recordings, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, were made by the Columbia company using BNOC forces.  Frank Mullings can be heard as Canio in Pagliacci.