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Baritone John Brownlee is perhaps best known for his participation in the Glyndebourne Festival Mozart productions which began in 1935. Gifted with a sturdy, if not altogether pliant voice, Brownlee proved himself immensely useful at Covent Garden (where he was introduced by fellow Australian Dame Nellie Melba), Glyndebourne, and, subsequently, at the Metropolitan Opera where he sang 348 performances over a period of 21 seasons. At the Metropolitan alone, he performed 33 roles, a testament to the versatility that made him a welcome member of the company even if not a definitive one in any specific part.

Prompted by Melba, Brownlee left Australia to study with French baritone Dinh Gilly in Paris. He made his 1926 stage debut at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris as Nilakantha in Les pêcheurs de perles, actually a bass role. That same year, he was invited to Covent Garden to take part in Melba's farewell to the stage, singing Marcello to her Mimì in the third and fourth acts of La bohème. Despite the attention focused on the leading lady, Brownlee's performance was heard with pleasure. In subsequent years, he won praise from London critics for his Mercutio, Golaud, Amonasro, Jochanaan, Rigoletto, and Iago. Several comments were made regarding the "Italian manner" Brownlee was able to emulate. The very particular Ernest Newman described his Golaud by deeming it "as great a piece of work as we have seen at Covent Garden this season. His voice is as musical an organ as could be wished; and he seems to have in addition an instinctive sense of dramatic psychology and an extraordinary taste and restraint."

The fall of 1926 saw Brownlee's engagement at the Paris Opéra where he made his debut as Athanaël in Thaïs during February of the following year, beginning an association that lasted until 1936. During this period, Brownlee began widening his performing territory, ultimately singing in theaters in Antwerp, Brussels, Monte Carlo, and, in South America, at Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Rio de Janeiro.

Brownlee's Glyndebourne years began in 1935 when he appeared as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte. In 1936, he returned to portray his manly Don Giovanni and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro. The recordings which were made of these landmark Mozart productions added to Brownlee's international reputation and they have seldom been out of the catalog since their initial release. Brownlee's Don was described at the time as handsome and swashbuckling but a little short of the evil undercurrent which should inform the role.

On February 17, 1937, Brownlee made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Rigoletto, where his tone quality was found dry and undersized for the requirements of the role. He was preferred not in the big roles, but rather in more lyric ones where his trim physique and ease in stage movement created a far more positive effect. Once Brownlee moved into some of his Mozart roles, his true worth as an artist was more generously noted.

Although he sang at Chicago and San Francisco and returned to London for the 1949 - 1950 season, Brownlee based his activity primarily around the Metropolitan for the duration of his singing career. His intelligence and broad knowledge of the classical music industry led to his serving the American Guild of Musical Artists as president from 1953 to 1967 and the Manhattan School of Music first as a director and, later, as president.

This Western gal may have become a certified opera success on the sophisticated continent of Europe, establishing herself as one of the leading sopranos at Britain's Glyndebourne Festival during the second half of the 1930s. She had a particular talent for memorization and subsequently was able to learn a new part in less than two months, making her in demand among many different opera houses. Yet her most well-known singing part among the general public consisted of making fun of herself and opera in general as a featured artist with Spike Jones & His City Slickers, including a stint as the singer of the popular number "Glow Worm." She replaced Aileen Carlyle, who like others before her had grown weary of some of the on-stage antics, in this case having flocks of doves shot out of her hat. The most famous of the Souez recordings with Jones is the hilarious operatic satire "Il Barkio" in which she joins forces with the demented vocalist and comic Doc Birdbath. Perhaps the Jones experience was more than her delicate psyche could handle; following her collaboration with the Slickers' crazy stage show she basically retired from performing and pursued a teaching career. She was replaced by Eileen Gallagher. ~ Eugene Chadbourne

Regarded as the finest basso buffo of the 1930s through the early 1960s, Salvatore Baccaloni wielded a far more substantial voice than most practitioners of Italian comic roles. Indeed, in the earliest stages of his career, he essayed straight bass roles such as Sparafucile before being guided into his ultimate repertory by his girth, his gift for comedic timing and a richly plastic countenance. While his facility for mugging often led him over the top, his endearing persona usually deflected criticism. Appearances outside the confines of the opera house made Baccaloni something of a popular figure.

Baccaloni received his first musical training at the San Salvatore School from the age of five. At seven, he joined the choir school at the Sistine Chapel. After his voice broke, he turned from music and earned a degree in architecture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Heard at a private musicale by baritone Giuseppe Kashmann, Baccaloni was invited to study with the noted singer and, after two years, made his debut at the Teatro Adriano Rome as Bartolo in Barbiere di Siviglia. Over the ensuing four years, Baccaloni appeared in numerous smaller Italian houses. A performance of Louise in Bologna was heard by Toscanini who facilitated his engagement by La Scala where the bass was heard as a leading artist until 1940.

Toscanini urged Baccaloni to consider concentrating on comic roles, noting that these were usually performed by older singers who had lost their voices, whereas Baccaloni had a splendid voice and an undeniable gift for comedy. Thus, the bass entered a new phase of his still-young career, performing such roles as Dulcamara, Leporello, Don Pasquale, and Falstaff. So thorough was Baccaloni's conquest of this repertory that in 1934 he was made a Knight of the Crown of Italy.

During Baccaloni's years with La Scala, he was a welcome guest elsewhere. In 1928, he made his Covent Garden debut as Varlaam in a Boris Godunov featuring Chaliapin in Russian while the rest of the cast sang in Italian. He also sang a mellifluous Timur in Turandot. The following year, Baccaloni repeated his Varlaam and was mentioned as having provided "one of the best pieces of singing" all evening. His appearance in Manon Lescaut was also cited as exemplary.

Baccaloni's American debut took place with the Chicago Opera on October 29, 1930 when his Melitone in La Forza del Destino was heard with Muzio as Leonora. He later appeared with the San Francisco Opera beginning in 1938 as Melitone, Leporello, and Pasquale and continued to be a presence there into the 1960s. While Covent Garden saw too little of him in the 1930s, Baccaloni established a positive relationship with the budding Glyndebourne Festival south of London. There, from 1936 through 1939, he sang Leporello, Don Pasquale, Bartolo, Don Alfonso, and even Osmin and set standards for the combining of comic realization with smooth vocalization.

Baccaloni's Metropolitan Opera debut took place on December 7, 1940, as Mozart's Bartolo and began an association that lasted until 1962, one in which he sang 297 performances embracing 15 different roles. Virgil Thomson wrote of his Don Pasquale in 1941 as "the finest piece of lyric acting in the comic vein I have ever seen, not excepting Chaliapin."

In 1957, Baccaloni made his film debut in Full of Life featuring Judy Holliday.