Alfred Piccaver [SEP] voice type
Alfred Piccaver
Alfred Piccaver (5 February 1884 – 23 September 1958) was a British-American operatic tenor. He was particularly noted for his performances as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's "La bohème" and other popular mainstream operatic roles.
Early years.
Piccaver was born on 5 February 1884 in the Lincolnshire town of Long Sutton to chemist Frederick Herman Piccaver (born 1864, died 17 February 1916) and his wife Sarah Ann Sissons. The Piccavers had been farm laborers, but there were also claims of Spanish
ancestry dating back to the Spanish Armada. At a young age, Alfred emigrated with his family to the United States of America. The family resettled in Albany, NY and took American citizenship. Frederick Piccaver worked as head brewer of the Beverwyck Brewery. Alfred joined the choir of Albany's St. Peter's Episcopal Church as a boy soprano. He also became a soloist at the North Reformed Church in Watervliet. The young Piccaver went on to study voice with S. Graham Nobbes, who had been chief instructor of the Emma Willard