Lansing Hatfield

Lansing Hatfield (February 4, 1910 – August 22, 1954) was an American bass-baritone born in Franklin, Virginia, whose career encompassed opera, operetta, musical theater, and radio broadcasting from the mid-1930s through the late 1940s. He is particularly remembered for creating two roles on Broadway and for his tenure as a resident artist at the Metropolitan Opera from 1941 to 1944.

Hatfield attended Lenoir-Rhyne University, where he sang in the glee club, and subsequently worked as a public school teacher before pursuing a professional singing career. A full scholarship brought him to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he received his operatic training. While still a graduate student at Peabody, he won a national singing contest sponsored by Texaco, with pianist Eddy Duchin serving as host and head judge. That victory secured him a contract as a regular Saturday-night performer on WMAL-FM in 1935. The following year he co-hosted the educational radio program Treasure Trails on NBC Radio for the National Park Service, appeared in concerts broadcast nationally on CBS Radio for the Columbia Concerts Corporation, and performed in vaudeville entertainments at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore. He continued to appear on radio throughout his career, with credits including The Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1940, The Andre Kostelanetz Show in 1941, and Texaco's Dollars for Defense in 1941, the last of which was a fundraising program for the United States military during World War II.

Hatfield made his Broadway debut in 1937 as Captain Boyd in the premiere of Arthur Schwartz's operetta Virginia at the Center Theatre. He returned to Broadway in 1939 to originate the role of Daniel Webster in the world premiere of Douglas Moore's opera The Devil and Daniel Webster at the Martin Beck Theatre, a production presented on a double bill with Susanna, Don't You Cry, a musical built around the music of Stephen Foster in which Hatfield portrayed Brian Tolliver. Also in March 1939, he served as bass soloist in Bach's Mass in B minor at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York.

During the summer of 1939, Hatfield appeared in three productions with the Municipal Opera of Saint Louis: George M. Cohan's Rose Marie, in which he played Jack Keene; Paul Abraham's Victoria and Her Hussar, in which he portrayed Stefan Koltay; and George Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein II's Song of the Flame. He returned to the company in 1940 as Captain Jim Stewart in Harry Tierney's Rio Rita. In 1941 he toured the United States as a recitalist for the Columbia Concerts Corporation and was listed among their top-grossing artists that year.

That same year Hatfield won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, leading to a contract as a resident artist with the company. His first appearance with the Met came on tour in Montreal in September 1941, when he portrayed the King of Egypt in Verdi's Aida at the Théâtre Saint-Denis. His debut at the Metropolitan Opera House followed on December 29, 1941, as Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto, with Robert Weede in the title role and Ettore Panizza conducting. In January 1942 he participated in a gala concert at the Met, performing the aria Il lacerato spirito from Verdi's Simon Boccanegra alongside singers including Licia Albanese, Nadine Conner, Frederick Jagel, Stella Roman, and Frank Valentino. Among the other roles he sang at the Met through 1944 were Abimélech in Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah, the Armoured Man in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Lavitsky in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, a Nobleman of Brabant in Wagner's Lohengrin, Pinellino in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, and Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen. His final Met performance took place on February 26, 1944, as Schlemil in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, a production featuring Raoul Jobin in the title role, Patrice Munsel as Olympia, Mack Harrell as Lindorff, and Thomas Beecham conducting.

In 1942 Hatfield performed the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Worcester Music Festival in Massachusetts with the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Eugene Ormandy, and that same year he participated in USO camp shows for United States Armed Forces personnel during World War II. In 1943 he toured Australia in concerts benefiting the Australian Comforts Fund, a charity supporting active Australian military families, and also performed for American troops on the Pacific front with the USO, accompanied by Edwin McArthur on accordion.

Hatfield's final Broadway credit came in 1944 when he originated the role of Reverend Alfred Davidson in the musical Sadie Thompson at the Alvin Theatre, starring opposite June Havoc. In January 1945 he performed at the inaugural dinner celebrating President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth term at the Mayflower Hotel, appearing at the invitation of Eleanor Roosevelt. Later that year he was the bass soloist in Haydn's The Creation at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. In 1946 he appeared in the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's inaugural season as Villon in Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King, and in 1947 he again portrayed Captain Jim Stewart in Rio Rita at the Iroquois Amphitheatre.

In 1950 Hatfield and his wife, Irene Sticht, relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, where he worked for local radio stations and served as music director of the Grove Park Inn. He died in a hospital in Asheville in 1954 at the age of 44.