Got a lovely email from Les in Florida with some thoughts on my post on Jerry Hadley.

The two roles I immediately associate with him are those of “Candide” and “Jimmy Mahoney”, the latter from the 1998 Salzburg Festival production conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. The one tenor whose English pronunciation was as clear is as Jerry Hadley’s  was, to my thinking, Nicolai Gedda.

Having read your essay about Mr. Hadley’s master class, it reminds me that Toscanini said much the same thing as regards having the right facial expression while singing whatever’s at hand. He even told the NBC Symphony to smile  while he was playing the Trio in the Scherzo of the Beethoven Ninth!  I can’t imagine Blonde singing “Welche wonne, welche lust!” without smiling, or King Philip singing “Ella giamai m’amo’ ” without a frown.

It’s a blessing that you not only knew him but allowed others to benefit from his experience. It’s such a loss to comtemplate, along with that of Troyanos, Poleri, Treigle, Ferrier, Björling and Warren.