Calvin Marsh, a lyric baritone who has sung over 900 performances with the Metropolitan Opera before leaving the stage for a life of religious music, died on June 18 in Dallas. He was 91 years.
The cause was a stroke, his son-in-law, Karl Steinberger said.
Mr. Marsh made his Met debut in 1954 as in Wagner Nachtigall "Meistersinger von Nürnberg," and remained a supporter of the company for over a decade, especially in secondary zones, until 1967.
His over 50 features, including the jailer of Puccini "Tosca", the Marquis of Obigny Verdi "La Traviata" and Masetto in Mozart's "Don Giovanni".
Wertz Calvin Marsh was born 11 February 1921, was renewed, Pennsylvania, while in high school, he responded to a need to hire singers for advertising a church choir in Trenton.
He attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and later studied music at North Texas State University.
After serving in Guam with the Army Air Forces in World War II, he ended his speech on education in New York in the Music Division of the American Theatre Wing.
In 1953, a concert singer in annual sailing competition Theatre, Mr. Marsh was so impressed the judges who declared the winner after the semifinals, eliminating the final stage of all.
His prize was a debut recital at Town Hall this year in New York in a program with Bach, Handel, Mozart and Fauré.
Review of concert at The New York Times, Noel Straus wrote the song that Mr. Marsh was "intelligent and has an unusual amount of charm," and added that it was "certainly a vocalist on the way the real distinction. "
Mr. Marsh was soloist with the Robert Shaw Chorale, before joining the Met in 1954-55 season, part of a class of freshmen that included Renata Tebaldi soprano, mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato and the bass Giorgio Tozzi.
In 1957, after attending one of the Reverend Billy Graham crusade at Madison Square Garden, Mr. Marsh has decided to dedicate his career in Christian music, a decision that would culminate in his decision to leave the Met, a decade later.
From mid-1960 and for decades, Mr. Marsh toured the country as a member of the Messengers of Messiah, a duo for voice and piano, the programs include religious testimony interspersed with hymns, spiritual and liturgical music of Bach , Handel and other composers.
The duo has been touring under the auspices of the Board of Missions to the Jews, of which Mr. Marsh was a missionary team. The organization, now known as elected People Ministries, evangelize among Jews of America.
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