Richard Temple (opera singer)

Richard Barker Cobb Temple (2 March 1846 – 19 October 1912) was an English opera singer, actor and stage director, best known for his performances in the famous series of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas.

After an opera career beginning in 1869, Temple joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1877. There, he created most of the bass-baritone roles in the Savoy Operas, as follows: Sir Marmaduke in The Sorcerer (1877), Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), the Pirate King in the London production of The Pirates of Penzance (1880), Colonel Calverley in Patience (1881), Arac in Princess Ida (1884), the title character in The Mikado, Sir Roderic in Ruddigore and Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard (1888). He also played the baritone roles of Strephon in the original production of Iolanthe (1882), and Giuseppe in the New York production of The Gondoliers (1890).

During the next two decades, Temple played in, or directed, a variety of comic operas, musical comedies and plays, and sang in concerts, both in London and on tour. He also taught acting and directed productions at music schools, primarily at the Royal College of Music.

Born in London, the son of a stockbroker, Temple performed as a singer and amateur actor before making his professional stage debut at the Crystal Palace in May 1869 as Count Rodolfo in La sonnambula. He subsequently toured the provinces with opera and Opera Bouffe companies, playing the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto, among others. Of one of his early performances in opera, in a supporting role in Michael Balfe's The Rose of Castille in 1871, The Observer commented, "Possibly, the less said about Mr Richard Temple... the better." Also in 1871, Temple toured with Fred Sullivan's Operetta Company, appearing as Sergeant Bouncer in Arthur Sullivan's Cox and Box.

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