Constance Willis, mezzo-soprano, is perhaps best remembered (if at all) for her impressive performance as Katisha in the 1939 film of The Mikado. She was an experienced singer both in concert and in opera by this time, and was known for her Carmen. Surprisingly she appeared only once at the Proms, in 1930, singing “Amour! viens aider ma faiblesse!” from Samson and Delilah, and two Rachmaninov songs.

Bizet - Gems from "Carmen"
Soloists, full chorus and orchestra
with Constance Willis, mezzo-soprano

Bizet - Carmen - gems - Willis

(mp3 files – click to play, or right click the link, then select “Save as”)

Saint-Saëns - Samson and Delilah - Softly awakes my heart
Bizet - Carmen - Habanera
Orchestra
Constance Willis, mezzo-soprano

Saint-Saëns - Samson and Delilah - Softly awakes my heart - Willis
Bizet - Carmen - Habanera - Willis

(mp3 files – click to play, or right click the link, then select “Save as”)

Broadcast Twelve 5018
Matrices L070X, L071X
Recorded c1929
Plays at about 76.0rpm

Broadcast Twelve 5114
Matrices L 0208X, L 0247X
Recorded 1929
Plays at about 77.5rpm

The second of her records listed here prompted the following from Herman Klein in the December 1929 issue of The Gramophone:

Constance Willis’s experience with the B.N.O.C. has made a dramatic singer of this artist and taught her to bring some of her stage instincts with her into the recording studio. In such cases let me assure the Broadcast Twelve operator that there is no need for indiscriminate over-amplifying; the voice and the style are quite big enough without his artful aid. The only other criticism I would make concerns the descending chromatic phrases of the Habanera; and there Miss Willis is too inclined to "slither" down from note to note when a clean scale is absolutely essential.

Earlier recordings for Vocalion were warmly received.