"Blow The Wind Southerly" | Kathleen Ferrier

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• published: 30 Dec 2013
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'Blow the Wind Southerly', arr. W. G. Whittaker English Traditional, Northumbrian Folk Song. Kathleen Ferrier (22.III.1912 Higher Walton, Lancashire - 8.X.1953 London, England) was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works. 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. I remember my mother saying when Kathleen Ferrier died that we had lost a voice that could never be replaced. Sixty years later one has only to hear a few notes to know that it is her, and what a wonderful sound it is! 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. Other Recordings: Ombra mai fù http://youtu.be/Z4wTylAZhxw The text to Blow the Wind Southerly was first published in England in an 1834 collection of songs, ballads, and various other writings called The Bishoprick Garland and was edited by J. Ritson. Actually, only a small part of that poem was used for this traditional song. The melody probably predates the early nineteenth century origins of the text. The authors of both the words and music are anonymous, but the song can be traced to Northumbrian County in northern England. The leisurely paced melody is lovely in its sentimental charm and carefree, folk-ish manner. Oddly, its closing phrase bears a striking resemblance to the last notes in the famous melody to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." The two themes are otherwise of a different emotional cast, Blow the Wind Southerly is hardly jovial in its sense of longing, but it is gentle and light in its melancholy. The text speaks of a young woman beseeching the wind to blow southerly to bring her lover's ship to shore. This delightful song will appeal to most listeners with an interest in traditional song. KATHLEEN FERRIER. Althought her career was tragically short, Ferrier was among the most famous English singers of the twentieth century. Her contralto voice - a rarity in itself - was characterized by a firm, warm tone that found its expressive niche in the great works of oratorio and art song, as well as in her two operatic roles (only two!): Lucretia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. During the years of WWII Ferrier toured widely in England, gaining a reputation as an especially fine concert artist. She joined the Bach Choir in London, and was alto soloist for a 1943 performance of Handel's Messiah at Westminster Abbey. Benjamin Britten first put her on the operatic stage at Glyndebourne on July 12, 1946, in the premiere of his chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia. She then toured with the work throughout England and appeared on an historic recording of major extracts from the work conducted by the composer. Britten would later compose the alto part in his Canticle No. 2 for her. She appeared in the United States for the first time in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the New York Philharmonic and Bruno Walter; her subsequent recording of the work - also under Walter's direction - remains a classic. Walter also appeared as her accompanist in lieder recitals in Edinburgh and London. Another of Ferrier's notable successes was the part of the Angel in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius. In February 1953, Covent Garden staged Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice specifically for Ferrier, who was deemed ideal for the part of Orpheus. However, she was able to appear in only two of the scheduled four performances because of weakness caused by her already advanced cancer. These were her last appearances; she died in London on October 8, 1953. Before she died she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The opera critic 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) Ian Jack, editor of Granta, believed that she "may well have been the most celebrated woman in Britain after the Queen." 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". Very few singers, Lord Harewood writes, "have earned so powerful a valedictory from so senior a colleague". 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"