William Horne (tenor)

• On June 30, 1937, Horne, accompanied by the Meyer Davis (1893–1976) Orchestra, sang "You Are the Reason for My Love Song"[2] at the wedding of Ethel du Pont and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., a selection especially composed for the couple by Hilda Emery Davis (née Hodgkins; 1895–1995), wife of the band leader. The lyrics were by Sally Gibbs (1911–2006), daughter of author George Fort Gibbs.[3]
• In 1939, Horne was one of four winners of the International Naumburg Competition. In 1942, he appeared on Broadway in Irving Berlin's revue This Is the Army.
• November 11, 1940, on the NBC Blue Network, Horne was one of four soloists – with Anne Brown (soprano), Winifred Heidt (1920–1995) (contralto), and Lawrence Whisonant (baritone) — in a live performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; Leopold Stokowski conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra with the Westminster Choir.[4]

In 1942, Horne was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private and assigned to Company C at Camp Upton near Yaphank in Long Island.

Horne made his operatic debut with the New York City Opera in 1944, singing the role of Chevalier des Grieux in Puccini's Manon Lescaut. He sang the title role of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes in its first United States performance in 1946, conducted by Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood. Horne also sang the leading role in the 1947 world premiere of Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All in May 1947 at Columbia University's Brander Matthews Hall.[1][5] In 1948, Horne recorded an album of Kurt Weill's songs under the composer's supervision. Horne later went into private teaching and vocal coaching and worked with Zero Mostel for Fiddler on the Roof.[6]

In 1946, Horne won an ovation singing the role of Lenski in a performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Town Hall in New York City. Cleveland-born soprano Brenda Miller and Chicago-born contralto Margery Mayer Voutsas (1918–2014) were the sisters, Tatiana and Olga; Bulgarian-born baritone Ivan Petroff (1899–1963) sang the title role; Laszlo Halasz conducted.[7]