Look up contralto in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice,^[1] with the lowest tessitura,^[2] falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C (F₃ in scientific pitch notation) to the second G above middle C (G₅), although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C (E₃) or the second B♭ above middle C (B♭₅).^[1]

Terminology[link]

"Contralto" is meaningful only in reference to classical and operatic singing, as other genres lack a system of vocal categorization comparable to that generally accepted in the classical context. Even within current operatic practice, contraltos are often classed as mezzo-sopranos, because singers in each range can cover for those in the other. When appearing separately, the term "contralto" applies only to female singers; men whose voices fall in the same range or higher are known as "countertenors."^[2] The Italian terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, the latter technically denoting a specific vocal range in choral singing without regard to factors like tessitura, vocal timbre, vocal facility, and vocal weight.^[3]

Within the category of contraltos are three generally recognized subcategories—coloratura contralto, lyric contralto, and dramatic contralto—that usefully describe the voice type in general terms. Note, however, that they do not always apply with precision to individual singers; some exceptional dramatic contraltos, such as Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Sigrid Onégin, were technically equipped to perform not only heavy, dramatic music by the likes of Wagner but also florid compositions by Donizetti.

Coloratura contralto[link]

Coloratura contraltos—who have light, agile voices ranging very high for the classification and atypically extensive coloratura and high sustaining notes—specialize in florid passages and leaps. Given its deviations from the classification's norms, this voice type is quite rare.

Lyric contralto[link]

A lyric contralto voice is lighter than a dramatic contralto but not capable of the ornamentation and leaps of a coloratura contralto. This class of contralto, lighter in timbre than the others, is the most common today and usually ranges from the G below middle C (G₃) to the G two octaves above middle C (G₅).

Dramatic contralto[link]

The dramatic is the deepest, darkest, and heaviest contralto voice, usually having a heavier tone and more power than the others. Singers in this class, like the coloratura contraltos, are rare. They typically sing in a range from the G below middle C (G₃) to the A above middle C (A₄).^[4]

Contralto roles in opera[link]

True operatic contraltos are rare, and the operatic literature contains few roles written specifically for them. Contraltos sometimes are assigned feminine roles like Angelina in La Cenerentola, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and Olga in Eugene Onegin, but more frequently they play female villains or assume trouser roles originally written for castrati. A common saying among contraltos is that they may play only "witches, bitches, or britches."^[5]

Examples of contralto roles in the standard operatic repertoire include the following:.^[5]

^* indicates a role that may also be sung by a mezzo-soprano.

See also[link]

• Fach
• List of contraltos in non-classical music
• List of operatic contraltos

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} McKinney, James (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Genovex Music Group. ISBN 978-1-56593-940-0. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Appelman, D. Ralph (1986). The Science of Vocal Pedagogy: Theory and Application. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20378-6. 
3. ^ Stark, James (2003). Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8614-3. 
4. ^ The New York Times guide to essential knowledge ^{[Full citation needed]}
5. ^ ^{a b} Boldrey, Richard (1994). Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-877761-64-5. 

Further reading[link]

• Coffin, Berton (1960). Coloratura, Lyric and Dramatic Soprano, Vol. 1. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-8108-0188-2. 
• Peckham, Anne (2005). Vocal Workouts for the Contemporary Singer. Berklee Press Publications. ISBN 978-0-87639-047-4. 
• Smith, Brenda (2005). Choral Pedagogy. Plural Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59756-043-6. 

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Contralto.

Eula Beal (January 25, 1919 – July 29, 2008) was an American contralto. During her relatively short touring career, she performed with distinguished collaborators not only in concert on the US West Coast but also in Concert Magic, a 1947 film billed as "the first motion picture concert." ^[1]

Beal was born in Riverside, California. Touring the United States as a concert contralto in the 1940s, she appeared with orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony^[2] and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. With the latter ensemble, she performed in two works by Gustav Mahler: his Eighth Symphony, under Eugene Ormandy at the Hollywood Bowl,^[3] and Kindertotenlieder.^[4] Beal's operatic appearances included impersonations of Erda in Wagner's Siegfried and the innkeeper in Boris Godunov with the San Francisco Opera during the 1948 season. She also sang at Radio City Music Hall and the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Pops.^[5]

Beal's present fame rests on her participation in Concert Magic, an unscripted film presenting, as the title would suggest, a classical concert. Beal was the sole vocalist; instrumentalists included pianists Adolph Baller, Jakob Gimpel, and Marguerite Campbell; violinist Yehudi Menuhin; and an orchestra billed as "Symphony Orchestra of Hollywood" under the baton of Antal Dorati. Interspersed with purely instrumental selections, Beal performed the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria"; Franz Schubert's "Erlkönig" and "Ave Maria"; Tchaikovsky's "None but the lonely heart"; and "Lord, Have Mercy on Me" from the St. Matthew Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach.^[1]

Beal married well known-aerial photographer William Garnett in 1941 and remained his wife until his death in 2006, bearing him three sons. After but a decade on the concert circuit, she opted to abandon her full-time performing career to devoting her time to her family. Nonetheless, she remained sporadically active in northern California, where she and Garnett made their home; besides providing music at local funerals and churches, she performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Napa Symphony, and a local Napa, California choral group. She died in Napa in 2008.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Eula Beal on imdb
• Eula Beal sings None but the lonely heart by Tchaikovsky on YouTube
• Eula Beal sings Bach aria with Yehudi Menuhin on YouTube
• Eula Beal sings Ave Maria on YouTube
• Soundtracks for Concert Magic (1948)

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Karen J. Clark
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 61A district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 6, 1981
Preceded by	Linda Berglin
Personal details
Born	(1945-07-23) July 23, 1945 (age 66) Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Political party	DFL
Spouse(s)	Jacquelyn
Residence	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Profession	College instructor
Religion	Roman Catholic

Karen J. Clark (born July 23, 1945) is a Minnesota politician, and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A Democrat, Clark represents District 61A, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis in the Twin Cities metropolitan area including portions of the Phillips, Ventura Village, Seward, and Lyn-Lake neighborhoods.^[1] She is the longest serving openly lesbian member to serve in a state legislature in the United States.^[1]

Service in the Minnesota House[link]

First elected in November 1980, Clark is serving her sixteenth term in the Minnesota Legislature. She is currently a member of the Capital Investment, the Jobs and Economic Development Finance, and the Redistricting committees. Since first being elected, she has chaired the Governmental Operations Subcommittee for Jobs Creation and Unemployment Issues, the Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee for Job Development and Training, the Economic Development Subcommittee for the Community Stabilization and Development Division, the Housing Committee, the Economic Development and International Trade Subcommittee for the Housing and Housing Finance Division, and the Finance Subcommittee for the Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division.^[2]

Advocacy for LGBT rights[link]

Clark is a lesbian,^[3] and is one of three openly gay members of the Minnesota Legislature, along with Senator D. Scott Dibble and Rep. Susan Allen, both Minneapolis Democrats. After the Minnesota House voted on May 21, 2011, to place a gay marriage amendment referendum on the ballot in the 2012 general election, she and Dibble released a joint statement condemning the referendum. The referendum will have voters decide whether a legal marriage will be restricted to heterosexual couples.^[4]

Following the May 2011 House vote on the gay marriage amendment referendum, Clark stated: "It’s a sad day for the State of Minnesota. Tonight, we’ve moved one step closer to discriminating against Minnesotans simply based on who they love. This amendment won’t help a single family in Minnesota, and this vote is absolutely heartbreaking to thousands of people and families across our state. History will not look back kindly on this day or the people who voted for discrimination. The Minnesota I know is a place of inclusion, tolerance and love, and I truly believe the people of this great state will not vote to enshrine discrimination in our constitution..."^[5]

Background, education and career[link]

Raised on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, Clark attended public schools in Edgerton, graduating from Edgerton High School in 1963. She earned her B.S. in nursing at the College of Saint Teresa in Winona. She later attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, earning her Master of Public Administration degree in 1996.^[1]

Clark has been an instructor at the University of Minnesota since 1985. She previously worked as public health nurse, VISTA nurse-organizer and an OB-GYN Nurse Practitioner. She is a member of the adjunct Faculty of the Department of Human Relations at St. Cloud State University, of the University of Minnesota’s Women’s Studies Department, of the Macalester College Women’s Studies Department, and of the College of St. Catherine Graduate School of Holistic Health. She is a member of AFSCME. She is active in numerous South Minneapolis neighborhoods on issues relating to housing, health, human-rights, labor, women's rights, peace, and affordable high-quality child care for all.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Karen Clark at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
• Rep. Clark Web Page
• Rep. Clark Campaign Web Site

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Aline Barros
Background information
Birth name	Aline Barros Kistenmacker dos Santos
Born	(1976-10-07)October 7, 1976 Rio de Janeiro, RJ,  Brazil
Genres	pop, dance, gospel
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1992 – now
Labels	AB Records (1995 - 2003) MK Music (2004 - now)
Associated acts	Trazendo a Arca, Fernandinho, PG
Website	Pagina oficial

Aline Barros Kistenmacker dos Santos (Rio de Janeiro, October 7, 1976), better known as Aline Barros is a gospel music singer, songwriter, presenter and manager in Brazil, winning 11 Trofeu Talento, five Latin Grammy, a Dove Awards and a Brazilian International Press Award. It is also evangelical pastor the Comunidade Evangélica Internacional da Zona Sul, the Flamengo neighborhood, the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro.

Aline Barros is a reference name and expression in the gospel segment. The gospel singer was the first in Brazil to win the Latin Grammy in 2004 and has been nominated for five consecutive times was also winning in 2006, 2007 and 2011. At age 35, Aline has 20 years of career with 23 albums, including four in Spanish, in Portuguese five for children and one in Spanish, seven career and some collections as well as eleven DVDs. Mixing pop, and rock & Prase and Worship, the singer attracts children, youth and adults with modern rhythms and Christian messages in context.

Her career has been characterized by pioneering spirit in the secular media. Aline has been invited to participate in major television shows (Carla Perez, Eliana, Faustão, Gilberto Barros, Hebe Camargo, Luciana Gimenez, Netinho de Paula, Raul Gil, Xuxa, Sem Censura, Ritmo Brasil, Manhã Maior, Show da Virada, Programa do Jô,...) as well as interviews from reputable newspapers, magazines and also the first major gospel singer to attend the event Criança Esperança, Rede Globo and SBT Teleton. Her ministry has extended throughout Central and North America, with awards and recognition. Aline was also the second gospel singer to have a song on a novel. The music CD again O Poder do Teu Amor was chosen as the theme of the primetime soap opera Duas Caras of Rede Globo in 2007. Today she is regarded by the mainstream media one of the greatest Brazilian singers, with approximately six million records sold.

In 2010 released an autobiographical book entitled Fé e Paixão and DVD Aline Barros Na Estrada to back shows his last tour and album released in 2011 Aline Extraordinário Amor de Deus, Latin Grammy nominated in 2012, a CD of original songs focused for adult audiences, produced by Ricardo Feghali Grupo Roupa Nova after three years touting the award-winning CD Live Caminho de Milagres. Future projects Aline Barros are CD / DVD Infant Aline Barros & Cia vol. 3rd and 4th album in Spanish. In February 2011, Aline has announced a new pregnancy, the baby was born on October 12, the same month as Aline's birthday.

Biography[link]

Daughter of Sandra Barros Barros and Ronaldo, both evangelical pastors, Aline with only 2 years old already showing interest in music. At nine years has accompanied his father and the Ministry of Praise Community of Vila da Penha, in the north of Rio de Janeiro. Soon the singer became part of the worship team, participating in some recordings, the first of which was "Thy Word," when he was 14, and the music was forty-five days on the hit parade of evangelical radio stations in the city. At 16 years, "Consecration" was nine months on the charts. At 18 she recorded her debut album.

In 1995, Aline Barros launched Unlimited, their debut album for the label Grape Vine, and produced by Ricardo Feghali Cleberson Horsth LP format. The album brought compositions of several singers in the segment known as Marquinhos Gomes and brought some innovations to the construction segment of time. and the same year, made participation in a disk Xuxa on the track "Believe to see" .

In January 1998, recorded his second CD, Voice of the Heart and in December 1998 launched an EP called Christmas carols. In October 1999, was distributed is good to be a child, the first album dedicated to children Aline. In July 2000, the collection hit stores Millennium, produced by Indie Records and distributed by Universal Music with songs from artist. And in December 2000, launched the book The Power of Your Love, which sold more than three hundred thousand copies and is considered by critics as the best album ever recorded by Aline.

In November 2001, launched a romantic collection, titled Eternal Love. In December of that year, launches Message of Peace, with the participation of Cid Moreira. In May 2002 a child is to be launched Good vol. 2.

In December 2002, Aline Barros recorded her first video album, Life in Jesus summer event, held every year at Praia da Costa, in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo to an audience of fifty thousand people. With 14 tracks, we selected the best songs from all their previous albums.

In 2003, the singer had her first son, Nicolas, and also had problems in their vocal cords. However managed to record fruit of Love, which won the Latin Grammy that year for Best Christian Music Album. Furthermore, sold more than three hundred thousand copies and was the last album of the singer in AB Records. On it is a participation of PG at the time lead singer of G3 in the song "I will sing this Love".

In 2004, Aline Barros signed a recording contract with MK Music and released his first career live album, Sound of Worship. The work produced by Roger Vieira and Kleber Lucas brought compositions Alda Celia, Emerson Pinheiro, Eyshila, among others. It was the best selling album of the singer, receiving a diamond certification from ABPD in 2007 and a Latin Grammy nomination. The following year, Aline made the recording on DVD disc in the Via Show, which is also a diamond. Between 2005 and 2008 released several albums, including Path of Miracles, Latin Grammy winner in his years.

On June 7, 2008, with an audience of ten thousand people Maracanãzinho recorded in the DVD with the songs of Path of Miracles, directed by Marina de Oliveira. The album was nominated for Talent Trophy 2009, but surprisingly lost to Live in the Maracanãzinho Bringing the Ark, recorded in the same location weeks earlier in the month of May. The following year, Aline Barros Aline Barros launched the DVD Road, which brought the scenes of his tour Path of Miracles and a little of his twenty year career.

After a long career recording their albums live, in January 2011 was released Extraordinary Love of God, recorded in studio. The book sold fifty thousand copies in one day, being considered an extraordinary event. Today, that number is greater than three hundred thousand copies, making it was the second disc with Aline to be certified by a diamond disk ABPD. The album featured several compositions of Jamba, and especially David Anderson Fernandes Freire, including "Arise I", chosen as the single from the album, nominated for Best Music Award at Promises in 2011.

Furthermore, in Aline had the same year his first daughter, named Mary Catherine, the disc Aline Barros & Cia vol. 3 and another win at the Grammy Latino. Despite the great promises of favoritism in Aline Trophy lost in the categories Best song with "I'm Human" Bruna Karla and Best CD for Diamond Damares, won only for Best Singer.

In 2012, with production and distribution of AB Records of Sony Music was recorded in the DVD Paulínia Aline Barros 20 Years. Directed by Bruno Murtinho recording brought guest appearances by Michael W. Smith, Tom Brooks and Abraham Laboriel. People from all over Brazil attended the event, which brought together about two thousand people.

External links[link]

• Official website

Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE (22 April 1912 – 8 October 1953) was an English contralto who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar. Her death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world and particularly to the general public, which was kept in ignorance of the nature of her illness until after her death. She was especially known in Britain for her unaccompanied recording of the Northumbrian folk tune "Blow the Wind Southerly", which was played regularly on BBC Radio for many years after her death.

The daughter of a Lancashire village schoolmaster, Ferrier showed early talent as a pianist, and won numerous amateur piano competitions while working as a telephonist with the General Post Office. She did not take up singing seriously until 1937, when after winning a prestigious singing competition at the Carlisle Festival she began to receive offers of professional engagements as a vocalist. Thereafter she took singing lessons, first with J.E. Hutchinson and later with Roy Henderson. After the outbreak of the Second World War Ferrier was recruited by the Council for the Encouragement of [Music and] the Arts (CEMA), and in the following years sang at concerts and recitals throughout England. In 1942 her career was boosted when she met the conductor Malcolm Sargent, who recommended her to the influential Ibbs and Tillett concert management agency. She became a regular performer at leading London and provincial venues, and made numerous BBC radio broadcasts.

In 1946, Ferrier made her stage debut, in the Glyndebourne Festival premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia. A year later she made her first appearance as Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, a work with which she became particularly associated. By her own choice, these were her only two operatic roles. As her reputation grew, Ferrier formed close working relationships with major musical figures, including Britten, Sir John Barbirolli, Bruno Walter and the accompanist Gerald Moore. She became known internationally through her three tours to the United States between 1948 and 1950 and her many visits to continental Europe.

Ferrier was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 1951. In between periods of hospitalisation and convalescence she continued to perform and record; her final public appearance was as Orfeo, at the Royal Opera House in February 1953, eight months before her death. Among her many memorials, the Kathleen Ferrier Cancer Research Fund was launched in May 1954; the Kathleen Ferrier Scholarship Fund, administered by the Royal Philharmonic Society, has since 1956 made annual awards to aspiring young professional singers.

Early life[link]

Childhood[link]

Kathleen Ferrier's birthplace in Higher Walton

The Ferrier family came from Pembrokeshire in South Wales. The Lancashire branch originated in the 19th century, when Private Thomas Ferrier of the Pembrokeshire Regiment settled in the area after being stationed near Blackburn during a period of industrial unrest.^[1] Kathleen Ferrier was born on 22 April 1912, in the Lancashire village of Higher Walton where her father William Ferrier was the head of the village school. Although untrained musically, William was an enthusiastic member of the local operatic society and of several choirs, and his wife Alice (née Murray), whom he married in 1900, was a competent singer with a strong contralto voice.^[2] Kathleen was the third and youngest of the couple's children, following a sister and a brother; when she was two the family moved to Blackburn, after William was appointed headmaster of St Paul's School in the town. From an early age Kathleen showed promise as a pianist, and had lessons with Frances Walker, a noted North of England piano teacher who had been a pupil of Tobias Matthay. Kathleen's talent developed quickly; in 1924 she came fourth out of 43 entrants at the Lytham St Annes Festival piano competition, and in the following year at Lytham she achieved second place.^[3]

Telephonist and pianist[link]

King George's Hall, Blackburn, the venue in which Ferrier made several youthful appearances as an accompanist at "celebrity" concerts

Because of William's impending retirement and the consequent fall in the family's income, Ferrier's hopes of attending a music college could not be realised. In August 1926 she left school to start work as a trainee at the GPO telephone exchange in Blackburn.^[4] She continued her piano studies under Frances Walker, and in November 1928 was the regional winner in a national contest for young pianists, organised by the Daily Express. Although unsuccessful in the London finals which followed, Ferrier won a Cramer upright piano.^[5] On 10 March 1929 she made a well-received appearance as an accompanist in a concert at Blackburn's King George's Hall.^[6] After further piano competition successes she was invited to perform a short radio recital at the Manchester studios of the BBC, and on 3 July 1930 made her first broadcast, playing works by Brahms and Percy Grainger.^[7] Around this time her training period at the telephone exchange ended, and she became a full-fledged telephonist.^[8]

In 1931, aged 19, Ferrier passed her Licentiate examinations at the Royal Academy of Music. In that year she started occasional singing lessons, and in December sang a small mezzo-soprano role in a church performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. However, her voice was not thought to be exceptional; her musical life centred on the piano and on local concerts, at King George's Hall and elsewhere.^[7] Early in 1934 she transferred to the Blackpool telephone exchange and took lodgings nearby, to be close to her new boyfriend, a bank clerk named Albert Wilson.^[9] While at Blackpool she auditioned for the new "speaking clock" service which the GPO was preparing to introduce. In her excitement, Ferrier inserted an extra aspirate into her audition, and was not chosen for the final selection in London.^[10][11] Her decision in 1935 to marry Wilson meant the end of her employment with the telephone exchange, since at that time the GPO did not employ married women.^[12] Of Ferrier's career to this point, the music biographer Humphrey Burton wrote:

For more than a decade, when she should have been studying music with the best teachers, learning English literature and foreign languages, acquiring stage craft and movement skills, and travelling to London regularly to see opera, Miss Ferrier was actually answering the telephone, getting married to a bank manager and winning tinpot competitions for her piano-playing.^[13]

Marriage[link]

Ferrier met Albert Wilson in 1933, probably through dancing, which they both loved. When she announced that they were to marry, her family and friends had strong reservations, on the grounds that she was young and inexperienced, and that she and Wilson shared few serious interests.^[8] Nevertheless, the marriage took place on 19 November 1935. Shortly afterwards the couple moved to Silloth, a small port town in Cumbria, where Wilson had been appointed as manager of his bank's branch. The marriage was not successful; the honeymoon had revealed problems of physical incompatibility, and the union remained unconsummated.^[14] In a tribute article written for the 50th anniversary of Ferrier's death, the journalist Rupert Christiansen wrote of Ferrier's sexuality that "there is absolutely no justification for the idea that she was a lesbian, but she may have been sexually frigid".^[15] Outward appearances were maintained for a few years, until Wilson's departure for military service in 1940 effectively ended the marriage. The couple divorced in 1947, though they remained on good terms. Wilson subsequently married a friend of Ferrier's, Wyn Hetherington; he died in 1969.^[16]

Early singing career[link]

The parish church at Aspatria, Cumbria, the scene of Ferrier's first professional singing engagement in 1937

In 1937 Ferrier entered the Carlisle Festival open piano competition and, as a result of a small bet with her husband, also signed up for the singing contest. She easily won the piano trophy; in the singing finals she sang Roger Quilter's "To Daisies", a performance which earned her the festival's top vocal award. To mark her double triumph in piano and voice, Ferrier was awarded a special rose bowl as champion of the festival.^[17]

After her Carlisle victories, Ferrier began to receive offers of singing engagements. Her first appearance as a professional vocalist, in autumn 1937, was at a Harvest Festival celebration in the village church at Aspatria.^[18] She was paid one guinea.^{[n 1]} After winning the Gold Cup at the 1938 Workington Festival, Ferrier sang "Curly Headed Babby" in a concert at Workington Opera House. Cecil McGivern, producer of a BBC Northern radio variety show, was in the audience and was sufficiently impressed to book her for the next edition of his programme, which was broadcast from Newcastle on 23 February 1939. This broadcast—her first as a vocalist—attracted wide attention, and led to more radio work, though for Ferrier the event was overshadowed by the death of her mother at the beginning of February.^[20][21] At the 1939 Carlisle Festival, Ferrier sang Richard Strauss's song "All Soul's Day", a performance which particularly impressed one of the adjudicators, J.E. Hutchinson, a music teacher with a considerable reputation. Ferrier became his pupil, and under his guidance began to extend her repertoire to include works by Bach, Handel, Brahms and Elgar.^[21][22]

When Albert Wilson joined the Army in 1940, Ferrier reverted to her maiden name, having until then sung as 'Kathleen Wilson'. In December 1940 she appeared for the first time professionally as 'Kathleen Ferrier' in a performance of Handel's Messiah, under Hutchinson's direction.^[23] In early 1941 she successfully auditioned as a singer with the Council for the Encouragement of the Arts (CEMA), which provided concerts and other entertainments to military camps, factories and other workplaces. Within this organisation Ferrier began working with artists with international reputations; in December 1941 she sang with the Hallé Orchestra in a performance of Messiah together with Isobel Baillie, the distinguished soprano.^[24] However, her application to the BBC's Head of Music in Manchester for an audition was turned down.^[23][25] Ferrier had better fortune when she was introduced to Malcolm Sargent after a Hallé concert in Blackpool. Sargent agreed to hear her sing, and afterwards recommended her to Ibbs and Tillett, the London-based concert management agency.^[26] John Tillett accepted her as a client without hesitation after which, on Sargent's advice, Ferrier decided to base herself in London. On 24 December 1942 she moved with her sister Winifred into an apartment in Frognal Mansions, Hampstead.^[27][28]

Stardom[link]

Growing reputation[link]

Ferrier gave her first London recital on 28 December 1942 at the National Gallery, in a lunch-time concert organised by Dame Myra Hess.^[29] Although she wrote "went off very well" in her diary,^[30] Ferrier was disappointed with her performance, and concluded that she needed further voice training. She approached the distinguished baritone Roy Henderson with whom, a week previously, she had sung in Mendelssohn's Elijah.^[29] Henderson agreed to teach her, and was her regular voice coach for the remainder of her life. He later explained that her "warm and spacious tone" was in part due to the size of the cavity at the back of her throat: "one could have shot a fair-sized apple right to the back of the throat without obstruction".^[31] However, this natural physical advantage was not in itself enough to ensure the quality of her voice; this was due, Henderson says, to "her hard work, artistry, sincerity, personality and above all her character".^[32]

On 17 May 1943 Ferrier sang in Handel's Messiah at Westminster Abbey, alongside Isobel Baillie and Peter Pears, with Reginald Jacques conducting.^[33][34] According to the critic Neville Cardus, it was through the quality of her singing here that Ferrier "made her first serious appeal to musicians".^[35] Her assured performance led to other important engagements, and to broadcasting work; her increasingly frequent appearances on popular programmes such as Forces Favourites and Housewives' Choice soon gave her national recognition.^[15] In May 1944, at EMI's Abbey Road Studios with Gerald Moore as her accompanist, she made test recordings of music by Brahms, Gluck and Elgar.^{[n 2]} Her first published record, made in September 1944, was issued under the Columbia label; it consisted of two songs by Maurice Greene, again with Moore accompanying.^[37] Her time as a Columbia recording artist was brief and unhappy; she had poor relations with her producer, Walter Legge, and after a few months she transferred to Decca.^[38]

In the remaining wartime months Ferrier continued to travel throughout the country, to fulfil the growing demands for her services from concert promoters. At Leeds in November 1944 she sang the part of the Angel in Elgar's choral work The Dream of Gerontius, her first performance in what became one of her best-known roles.^[39] In December she met Sir John Barbirolli while working on another Elgar piece, Sea Pictures; the conductor later became one of her closest friends and strongest advocates.^[40] On 15 September 1945 Ferrier made her debut at the London Proms, when she sang "L'Air des Adieux" from Tchaikovsky's opera The Maid of Orleans.^[41][42] Although she often sang individual arias, opera was not Ferrier's natural forte; she had not enjoyed singing the title role in a concert version of Bizet's Carmen at Stourbridge in March 1944, and generally avoided similar engagements.^[43] Nevertheless Benjamin Britten, who had heard her Westminster Abbey Messiah performance, persuaded her to create the role of Lucretia in his new opera The Rape of Lucretia, which was to open the first postwar Glyndebourne Festival in 1946. She would share the part with Nancy Evans.^[44] Despite her initial misgivings, by early July Ferrier was writing to her agent that she was "enjoying [the rehearsals] tremendously and I should think it's the best part one could possibly have".^[45]

Ferrier's performances in the Glyndebourne run, which began on 12 July 1946, earned her favourable reviews, although the opera itself was less well received.^[46] On the provincial tour which followed the festival it failed to attract the public and incurred heavy financial losses.^[47] By contrast, when the opera reached Amsterdam it was greeted warmly by the Dutch audiences who showed particular enthusiasm for Ferrier's performance.^[48] This was Ferrier's first trip abroad, and she wrote an excited letter to her family: "The cleanest houses and windows you ever did see, and flowers in the fields all the way!"^[49] Following her success as Lucretia she agreed to return to Glyndebourne in 1947, to sing Orfeo in Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice. She had often sung Orfeo's aria "Che farò" ("What is life") as a concert piece, and had recently recorded it with Decca. At Glyndebourne, Ferrier's limited acting abilities caused some difficulties in her relationship with the conductor, Fritz Stiedry; nevertheless her performance on the first night, 19 June 1947, attracted warm critical praise.^[50]

Ferrier's association with Glyndebourne bore further fruit when Rudolf Bing, the festival's general manager, recommended her to Bruno Walter as the contralto soloist in a performance of Mahler's symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde. This was planned for the 1947 Edinburgh International Festival. Walter was initially wary of working with a relatively new singer, but after her audition his fears were allayed; "I recognised with delight that here potentially was one of the greatest singers of our time", he later wrote.^[51] Das Lied von der Erde was at that time largely unknown in Britain, and some critics found it unappealing; nevertheless, the Edinburgh Evening News thought it "simply superb".^[52] In a later biographical sketch of Ferrier, Lord Harewood described the partnership between Walter and her, which endured until the singer's final illness, as "a rare match of music, voice, and temperament."^[53]

Career apex, 1948–51[link]

On 1 January 1948 Ferrier left for a four-week tour of North America, the first of three transatlantic trips she would make during the next three years. In New York she sang two performances of Das Lied von der Erde, with Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic. Alma Mahler, the composer's widow, was present at the first of these, on 15 January.^{[n 3]} In a letter written the following day, Ferrier told her sister: "Some of the critics are enthusiastic, others unimpressed".^[56] After the second performance, which was broadcast from coast to coast, Ferrier gave recitals in Ottawa and Chicago before returning to New York and embarking for home on 4 February.^[57]

During 1948, amid many engagements, Ferrier performed Brahms's Alto Rhapsody at the Proms in August, and sang in Bach's Mass in B minor at that year's Edinburgh Festival. On 13 October she joined Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra in a broadcast performance of Mahler's song cycle Kindertotenlieder. She returned to the Netherlands in January 1949 for a series of recitals, then left Southampton on 18 February to begin her second American tour.^[58] This opened in New York with a concert performance of Orfeo ed Euridice that won uniform critical praise from the New York critics.^[59] On the tour which followed, her accompanist was Arpád Sándor (1896–1972), who was suffering from a depressive illness that badly affected his playing. Unaware of his problem, in letters home Ferrier berated "this abominable accompanist" who deserved "a kick in the pants".^[60] When she found out that he had been ill for months, she turned her fury on the tour's promoters: "What a blinking nerve to palm him on to me".^[61] Eventually, when Sándor was too ill to appear, Ferrier was able to recruit a Canadian pianist, John Newmark, with whom she formed a warm and lasting working relationship.^[62]

Marian Anderson, who said of Ferrier: "What a voice—and what a face!"

Shortly after her return to England early in June 1949, Ferrier left for Amsterdam where, on 14 July, she sang in the world premiere of Britten's Spring Symphony, with Eduard van Beinum and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.^[63] Britten had written this work specifically for her.^[64] At the Edinburgh Festival in September she gave two recitals in which Bruno Walter acted as her piano accompanist. Ferrier felt that these recitals represented "a peak to which I had been groping for the last three years".^[65] A broadcast of one of the recitals was issued on record many years later; of this, the critic Alan Blyth wrote: "Walter's very personal and positive support obviously pushes Ferrier to give of her very best".^[66]

The following 18 months saw almost uninterrupted activity, encompassing a number of visits to continental Europe and a third American tour between December 1949 and April 1950. This American trip broke new ground for Ferrier—the West Coast—and included three performances in San Francisco of Orfeo ed Euridice, with Pierre Monteux conducting. At the rehearsals Ferrier met the renowned American contralto Marian Anderson, who reportedly said of her English counterpart: "My God, what a voice—and what a face!"^[67] On Ferrier's return home the hectic pace continued, with a rapid succession of concerts in Amsterdam, London and Edinburgh followed by a tour of Austria, Switzerland and Italy.^[68] In Vienna, the soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was Ferrier's co-soloist in a recorded performance of Bach's Mass in B minor, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan. Schwarzkopf later recalled Ferrier's singing of the Agnus Dei from the Mass as her highlight of the year.^[69]

Early in 1951, while on tour in Rome, Ferrier learned of her father's death at the age of 83.^[70] Although she was upset by this news, she decided to continue with the tour; her diary entry for 30 January reads: "My Pappy died peacefully after flu and a slight stroke".^[71] She returned to London on 19 February, and was immediately busy rehearsing with Barbirolli and the Hallé a work that was new to her: Ernest Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer. This was performed at Manchester on 28 February, to critical acclaim.^[72] Two weeks later Ferrier discovered a lump on her breast. She nevertheless fulfilled several engagements in Germany, the Netherlands and at Glyndebourne before seeing her doctor on 24 March. After tests at University College Hospital, cancer of the breast was diagnosed, and a mastectomy was performed on 10 April.^[73] All immediate engagements were cancelled; among these was a planned series of performances of The Rape of Lucretia by the English Opera Group, scheduled as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain.^[74]

Later career[link]

Failing health[link]

Manchester's Free Trade Hall, where Ferrier sang "Land of Hope and Glory" at its reopening after war damage, on 16 November 1951.

Ferrier resumed her career on 19 June 1951, in the Mass in B minor at the Royal Albert Hall. She then made her usual visit to the Holland Festival, where she gave four performances of Orfeo, and sang in Mahler's Second Symphony with Otto Klemperer and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.^[75] Through the summer her concert schedule was interspersed with hospital visits; however, she was well enough to sing at the Edinburgh Festival in September, where she performed two recitals with Walter and sang Chausson's Poème with Barbirolli and the Hallé.^[76] In November she sang "Land of Hope and Glory" at the reopening of Manchester's Free Trade Hall, a climax to the evening which, wrote Barbirolli, "moved everyone, not least the conductor, to tears".^[77] After this, Ferrier rested for two months while she underwent radiation therapy; her only work engagement during December was a three-day recording session of folksongs at the Decca studios.^[78]

In January 1952 Ferrier joined Britten and Pears in a short series of concerts to raise funds for Britten's English Opera Group. Writing later, Britten recalled this tour as "perhaps the loveliest of all" of his artistic associations with Ferrier.^[79] Despite continuing health problems she sang in the St Matthew Passion at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March, Messiah at the Free Trade Hall on 13 April, and Das Lied von der Erde with Barbirolli and the Hallé on 23 and 24 April.^[80] On 30 April Ferrier attended a private party at which the new Queen, Elizabeth II, and her sister, Princess Margaret, were present.^{[n 4]} In her diary, Ferrier notes: "Princess M sang—very good!".^[80] Her health continued to deteriorate; she refused to consider a course of androgen injections, believing that this treatment would destroy the quality of her voice.^[82] In May she travelled to Vienna to record Das Lied and Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic; singer and conductor had long sought to preserve their partnership on disc. Despite considerable suffering, Ferrier completed the recording sessions between 15 and 20 May.^[83][84]

During the remainder of 1952 Ferrier attended her seventh successive Edinburgh Festival, singing in performances of Das Lied, The Dream of Gerontius, Messiah and some Brahms songs.^[85] She undertook several studio recording sessions, including a series of Bach and Handel arias with Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in October.^[86] In November, after a Royal Festival Hall recital, she was distressed by a review in which Neville Cardus criticised her performance for introducing "distracting extra vocal appeals" designed to please the audience at the expense of the songs.^[87] However, she accepted his comments with good grace, remarking that "... it's hard to please everybody—for years I've been criticised for being a colourless, monotonous singer".^[88] In December she sang in the BBC's Christmas Messiah, the last time she would perform this work. On New Year's Day 1953 she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's New Year Honours List.^[89]

Final performances, illness and death[link]

Orpheus leading Euridice from the underworld
Illustration from the 1764 original edition of the score of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice

As 1953 began, Ferrier was busy rehearsing for Orpheus, an English-language version of Orfeo ed Euridice to be staged in four performances at the Royal Opera House in February. Barbirolli had instigated this project, with Ferrier's enthusiastic approval, some months previously.^[90] Her only other engagement in January was a BBC recital recording, in which she sang works by three living English composers: Howard Ferguson, William Wordsworth and Edmund Rubbra.^[91] During her regular hospital treatment she discussed with doctors the advisability of an oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries), but on learning that the impact on her cancer would probably be insignificant and that her voice might be badly affected, she chose not to have the operation.^[92][93]

The first Orpheus performance, on 3 February, was greeted with unanimous critical approval. According to Barbirolli, Ferrier was particularly pleased with one critic's comment that her movements were as graceful as any of those of the dancers on stage.^[94] However, she was physically weakened from her prolonged radiation treatment; during the second performance, three days later, her left femur partially disintegrated. Quick action by other cast members, who moved to support her, kept the audience in ignorance. Although virtually immobilised, Ferrier sang her remaining arias and took her curtain calls before being transferred to hospital.^[95] This proved to be her final public appearance; the two remaining performances, at first rescheduled for April, were eventually cancelled.^[96] Still the general public remained unaware of the nature of Ferrier's incapacity; an announcement in The Guardian stated: "Miss Ferrier is suffering from a strain resulting from arthritis which requires immediate further treatment. It has been caused by the physical stress involved in rehearsal and performance of her role in Orpheus".^[97]

Ferrier spent two months in University College Hospital. As a result she missed her CBE investiture; the ribbon was brought to her at the hospital by a friend.^[98] Meanwhile her sister found her a ground floor apartment in St John's Wood, since she would no longer be able to negotiate the many stairs at Frognal Mansions.^[99] She moved to her new home in early April, but after only seven weeks was forced to return to hospital where, despite two further operations, her condition continued to deteriorate.^[100] Early in June she heard that she had been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the first female vocalist to receive this honour since Muriel Foster in 1914.^[101] In a letter to the secretary of the Society she wrote of this "unbelievable, wondrous news [which] has done more than anything to make me feel so much better".^[102] This letter, dated 9 June, is probably the last that Ferrier signed herself. ^{[n 5]} As she weakened she saw only her sister and a few very close friends, and, although there were short periods of respite, her decline was unremitting.

Kathleen Ferrier died at University College Hospital on 8 October 1953, aged 41; the date for which, while still hopeful of recovery, she had undertaken to sing Frederick Delius's A Mass of Life at the 1953 Leeds Festival.^[105] She was cremated a few days later, at Golders Green Crematorium, after a short private service.^[106] She left an estate worth £15,134, which her biographer Maurice Leonard observes was "not a fortune for a world-famous singer, even by the standards of the day".^{[107][n 6]}

Assessment and legacy[link]

Southwark Cathedral, where Ferrier's memorial service was held on 14 November 1953

The news of Ferrier's death came as a considerable shock to the public. Although some in musical circles knew or suspected the truth, the myth had been preserved that her absence from the concert scene was temporary.^{[106][n 7]} The journalist Rupert Christiansen, writing as the 50th anniversary of Ferrier's death approached, maintained that "no singer in this country has ever been more deeply loved, as much for the person she was as for the voice she uttered". Her death, he continued, "quite literally shattered the euphoria of the Coronation" (which had taken place on 2 June 1953).^[15] Ian Jack, editor of Granta, believed that she "may well have been the most celebrated woman in Britain after the Queen."^[110] Among the many tributes from her colleagues, that of Bruno Walter has been highlighted by biographers: "The greatest thing in music in my life has been to have known Kathleen Ferrier and Gustav Mahler—in that order".^[53][111] Very few singers, Lord Harewood writes, "have earned so powerful a valedictory from so senior a colleague".^[53] At a memorial service at Southwark Cathedral on 14 November 1953 the Bishop of Croydon, in his eulogy, said of Ferrier's voice: "She seemed to bring into this world a radiance from another world".^[106]

From time to time commentators have speculated on the directions Ferrier's career might have taken had she lived. In 1951, while recovering from her mastectomy, she received an offer to sing the part of Brangäne in Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde at the 1952 Bayreuth Festival. According to Christiansen she would have been "glorious" in the role, and was being equally sought by the Bayreuth management to sing Erda in the Ring cycle.^[15][112] Christiansen further suggests that, given the changes of style over the past 50 years, Ferrier might have been less successful in the 21st century world: "We dislike low-lying voices, for one thing—contraltos now sound freakish and headmistressy, and even the majority of mezzo-sopranos should more accurately be categorised as almost-sopranos".^[15] However, she was "a singer of, and for, her time—a time of grief and weariness, national self-respect and a belief in human nobility". In this context "her artistry stands upright, austere, unfussy, fundamental and sincere".^[15]

Shortly after Ferrier's death an appeal was launched by Barbirolli, Walter, Myra Hess and others, to establish a cancer research fund in Ferrier's name. Donations were received from all over the world. To publicise the fund a special concert was given at the Royal Festival Hall on 7 May 1954, at which Barbirolli and Walter shared the conducting duties without payment. Among the items was a rendition of Purcell's "When I am laid in earth", which Ferrier had often sung; on this occasion the vocal part was played by a solo cor anglais. The Kathleen Ferrier Cancer Research Fund remains in existence as of 2011; in 1987 it helped establish the Kathleen Ferrier Chair of Clinical Oncology at University College Hospital.^[106]

As the result of a separate appeal, augmented by the sales proceeds of a memoir edited by Cardus, the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship Fund was created to encourage young British and Commonwealth singers of either sex. The Fund, which has operated from 1956 under the auspices of the Royal Philharmonic Society, initially provided an annual award covering the cost of a year's study to a single prizewinner.^[113][114] With the advent of additional sponsors, the number and scope of awards has expanded considerably since that time; the list of winners of Ferrier Awards includes many singers of international repute, among them Felicity Palmer, Yvonne Kenny, Lesley Garrett and Bryn Terfel.^[115] The Kathleen Ferrier Society, founded in 1993 to promote interest in all aspects of the singer's life and work, has since 1996 awarded annual bursaries to students at Britain's major music colleges.^[116] The Society is organising a series of events to commemorate the centenary of Ferrier's birth in 2012.^[117] In February 2012 Ferrier was one of ten prominent Britons honoured by the Royal Mail in the "Britons of Distinction" stamps set. Another was Frederick Delius.^[118]

Recordings[link]

Ferrier's discography consists of studio recordings originally made on the Columbia and Decca labels, and recordings taken from live performances which were later issued as discs. In the years since her death, many of her recordings have received multiple reissues on modern media; between 1992 and 1996 Decca issued the Kathleen Ferrier Edition, incorporating much of Ferrier's recorded repertoire, on 10 compact discs.^[119] The discographer Paul Campion has drawn attention to numerous works which she performed but did not record, or for which no complete recording has yet surfaced. For example, only one aria from Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, and none of her renderings of 20th-century songs by Holst, Bax, Delius and others were recorded. Only a small part of her St John Passion was captured on disc.^[120]

Two recordings were especially popular, being bought as records and played regularly as favourites on BBC Radio in shows such as Desert Island Discs, Housewives' Choice and Your Hundred Best Tunes. These were her unaccompanied rendition of the Northumbrian folk tune, "Blow the Wind Southerly", and the aria Che farò ("What is life?") from the opera Orfeo ed Euridice. These were the A-sides of the records and the corresponding B-sides, which also became familiar, were "The Keel Row" and "Art thou troubled?" from Handel's Rodelinda. These records sold in large numbers which rivalled other stars of the time such as Frank Sinatra and Vera Lynn. Today her recordings still sell hundreds of thousands of copies each year.^{[121][122][123][124]}

Notes and references[link]

Notes

References

Sources[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kathleen Ferrier

Biography portal

• The Kathleen Ferrier Society (KFS) (formed to celebrate the life and music of Kathleen Ferrier)
• "Proper Introduction To Kathleen Ferrier: Blow The Wind Southerly CD". CD Universe. http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6885923/a/Proper+Introduction+To+Kathleen+Ferrier%3A+Blow+The+Wind+Southerly.htm.  (brief samples of Ferrier's voice, from a recent CD issue)
• "Kathleen Ferrier (contralto)". BBC (h2g2). 30 July 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A25068918.  (biographical summary.)
• Bruil, Rudolf A. (August 2009). "Klaas A. Posthuma – 1935–2001 – Journalist – Producer – Opnametechnicus". Audio & Music Bulletin. http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/klaasposthuma.html#ferrier.  (in Dutch, with a synopsis in English. It includes an account of the preparation of the 1951 Holland Festival recording of Orfeo ed Euridice for release on record.)