Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Candidus, William

CANDIDUS, William, opera-singer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 23 July, 1840. In 1861 he sang first bass in several musical societies in his native city. In the civil war he served three years in the national artillery, being advanced to the grade of major. During his military service his voice gradually changed from first bass to tenor. After his return from the war he accepted the place of tone-regulator in the piano-forte factory of Steinway & Sons, in New York. He became a member of the Arion and Liederkranz societies, but soon went abroad and studied for the operatic stage under Konapazeck, of Berlin, making his début in Weimar as Stradella. Subsequently he studied under Rouchetti, of Milan, and in 1880 became a member of the opera at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he remained until the autumn of 1885, when he joined the American opera company.