Talk:Leonard Osborn

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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090329084553/https://www.gsarchive.net/iolanthe/doc_prod/doc_iol.html to https://www.gsarchive.net/iolanthe/doc_prod/doc_iol.html

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External links modified
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I have just modified one external link on Leonard Osborn. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061025195238/http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/rud1950.htm to http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/rud1950.htm

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Current inaccuracies in the article

 * The article claims Pirates of Penzance was recorded in 1950. This is incorrect; it was recorded in 1949. ( http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nxs10196a.php )
 * The article claims Iolanthe and Patience were recorded in 1952. This is incorrect; they were recorded in 1951. ( http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/sept03/Sullivan_Iolanthe.htm )
 * The article says Osborn's recorded roles included "the Duke in Patience (role sung briefly by Osborn and taken over by Neville Griffiths)". This is sloppily written and is unhelpfully ambiguous for anyone reading the article cold- the likely reading would be that Osborn was recording in full a role usually sung by Griffiths. I doubt anyone would take away from the article as currently written that the record comprises a twelve bar contribution from Osborn with the remainder of the role sung by Griffiths. ( http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/oct03/Sullivan_Patience.htm )

With that in mind, I would remind you of Verifiability, specifically, "Once an editor has provided any source they believe, in good faith, to be sufficient, then any editor who later removes the material must articulate specific problems that would justify its exclusion from Wikipedia." I am therefore restoring my sourced corrections to this article, but am happy to discuss if you feel this fails verification. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.209.6.10 (talk) 23:31, 25 March 2022 (UTC)


 * I agree that the Pirates recording was in 1949, but you have shoved in a bare ref. Why don't you add the basic ref details (author name, title of the article, publisher name, date of publication)?
 * I agree that Iolanthe and Patience were recorded in 1951, but again, you have just shoved a bare ref into the article. You should add the basic bibliographic details, as above.
 * Talk about sloppy. What you wrote is not a fact. Raymond Walker and some others have speculated that Osborn fell ill, but this is not known for certain.  All we know for sure is that Griffiths took over the role, and that Osborn's only contribution was the first solo "Of rite sacrificial...."  Walker's review should not be relied on.  We could cite this instead: http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/pat1951.htm  I agree that what was said in the article could be clarified, but it should be stated as concisely as possible and should not include the speculation as to why Osborn was replaced.  Plus, you have made a mess of the punctuation around the cites.  -- Ssilvers (talk) 00:59, 26 March 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you for acknowledging the correction of the recording dates of Pirates/Iolanthe/Patience is accurate. I trust you will now stop reverting back to the incorrect dates.


 * "What you wrote is not a fact." We can only work on the basis of reliable sources, I have provided a source which asserts Osborn was taken ill, and you have provided no reliable source that contradicts it. Thank for constructively supplying the G&S discography source; however, as that says "Osborn allegedly fell ill during the sessions", I don't believe it substantially conflicts with Walker, and I believe you are engaging in Original research by speculating that he left the session for reasons other than those suggested in these two sources. However, in the interests of compromise, and to reflect the source you have provided, I would be content to amend "but became ill midway through the recording session" to read "but allegedly became ill midway through the recording session". Does that work for you?

90.209.6.10 (talk) 01:28, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

You're wrong. This is a reliable source: http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/pat1951.htm  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Gilbert_and_Sullivan/Marc_Shepherd%27s_Gilbert_and_Sullivan_Discography -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:04, 26 March 2022 (UTC)


 * I'm not disputing http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/pat1951.htm is a reliable source. To repeat myself, http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/pat1951.htm says "Osborn allegedly fell ill during the sessions". Other than the inclusion of 'allegedly', it entirely agrees with Walker. 90.196.41.131 (talk) 02:09, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

To answer your question, no, it doesn't work for me. It should read as follows: He also took part in Patience (1951), singing part of the role of the Duke, but most of the role was recorded by Neville Griffiths.[Citing Shepherd] -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:11, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Shepherd says "Osborn allegedly fell ill during the sessions". 90.196.41.131 (talk) 02:12, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The problem with your proposed alternative is that it only tells the cold reader half the story- it doesn't make it clear that both Osborn and Griffiths are on the final record, it doesn't convey that this was a highly unusual situation (other than one or two minor exceptions, no other D'Oyly Carte recording of the Decca mono series double cast roles), and it doesn't convey the explanation the two sources (Walker and Shepherd) are giving for that unusual situation arising. And that takes us back to your earlier assertion, that "Walker and others have speculated that Osborn fell ill, but this is not known for certain": this is WP:OR, it contradicts Walker and Shepherd, and it does not justify the article being coy about Osborn and the Patience recording. 90.196.41.131 (talk) 02:36, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Comment
We can give either the dates of recordings or the dates of first issue − one sees both in Wikipedia articles − but we should be consistent within any article and be careful to stick to one or the other. These, from Decca's published records, are the dates of recordings on which Osborn sings:

The recording sessions for Patience were at Decca's studios in West Hampstead on 26 July–3 August, during the D'Oyly Carte company's Festival of Britain season at the Savoy, in which Osborn played the Duke onstage. Griffiths's roles that season were Ralph Rackstraw, Frederic, Nanki Poo and Marco, and I find it perfectly plausible, and indeed probable, that he was an emergency replacement for an ailing Osborn in the Decca studios during the Patience sessions. (It is not in doubt, of course, that Osborn sings the Duke's first solo and is then succeeded by Griffiths, but we do not know in what order the numbers were recorded.) But this is speculative, as is the comment in the G&S Discography that Osborn was "allegedly" taken ill, and unless we can say confidently that this was actually rather than allegedly so, we should not mention it, and should leave the text strictly factual.  Tim riley  talk   10:11, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Later: I have looked out the CD liner notes for the Naxos reissue of the 1952 Decca release of Patience, and it is there unequivocally stated that "Leonard Osborn sings the first solo of Lt Duke in the Finale to Act I (track 12). He became ill during the recording sessions and Neville Griffiths completed the recording, although not credited on the early issues". (Though by the time of the Ace of Clubs LP reissue, still on my shelves after fifty-something years, Decca had written Osborn out of the cast list and credited the Duke to Griffiths alone). Naxos's words could be regarded as a clear statement from a WP:RS, but Naxos's liner notes for its G&S reissues are not really that: see the list of Naxos howlers in Chris Webster's comments here. So I'm not sure we yet have adequate reason to mention Osborn's reported illness.  Tim riley  talk   11:01, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Later still: I think I've found a WP:RS we can happily use. This is from Tony Joseph's 2007 monograph Leonard Osborn: Dauntless he (Bristol, Bunthorne Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9507992-8-5, page 50):
 * It must also be noted that when it came to the recording of Patience, in which he should have sung all the music given to the Duke of Dunstable, he didn't because during the recording period he became unwell. In fact he managed only the four-line verse "Of rite sacrificial" at the beginning of the Act One finale, and the rest of the part was sung at short notice by Neville Griffiths, who by then had stepped into Thomas Round's shoes as the Company's other principal tenor.
 * I think this will do. What do others think?  Tim riley  talk   11:43, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for clearing that up, Tim. Rollins & Witts is a much better source to cite regarding the recordings than the Raymond Walker reviews. I agree that Tony Joseph is the best source to cite for the trivia regarding the Patience recording, and I would urge that we keep the note as concise as possible. I also urge the IP to refrain from edit warring in the future, which caused the administrator to protect this page from them and could result their loss of editing privileges in the future. The IP should also learn to add basic reference information, including author name, title of the article, publisher/work name and date of publication. -- Ssilvers (talk) 12:05, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Done. Can you take a look when you have a moment at the second external link? It is broken and I can't find the right page in the G&S Archive to re-link to.  Tim riley  talk   12:26, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Fixed! -- Ssilvers (talk) 00:52, 27 March 2022 (UTC)