Kathleen Ferrier

Although her professional life proved tragically brief, Kathleen Ferrier ranked among the foremost English vocalists of the twentieth century. A contralto of uncommon rarity, she possessed a firm, warm timbre that excelled in oratorio and art song while also defining her only two operatic portrayals: Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia and Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

Ferrier entered the world in Lancashire on April 22, 1912. As a child she trained successfully on the piano with the intention of building a concert career, treating her simultaneous vocal lessons as mere pastime. In her mid-twenties, however, victory in both the piano and singing categories at the 1937 Carlisle Festival prompted her to commit fully to singing. She worked first with J.E. Hutchinson in Newcastle upon Tyne and later with Roy Henderson in London.

Throughout the Second World War she traveled extensively across England, quickly establishing herself as a distinguished recitalist. She became a member of London’s Bach Choir and served as alto soloist in a 1943 presentation of Handel’s Messiah at Westminster Abbey. On July 12, 1946, Benjamin Britten introduced her to the operatic stage at Glyndebourne in the world premiere of his chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia; she subsequently toured the production throughout England and participated in a landmark recording of its principal excerpts under the composer’s direction. Britten later wrote the alto line of his Canticle No. 2 expressly for her.

Her initial American engagement came with Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, performed with the New York Philharmonic under Bruno Walter; the recording they subsequently made together remains a benchmark interpretation. Walter also partnered her at the piano for lieder recitals in Edinburgh and London. Another landmark achievement was her portrayal of the Angel in Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.

In February 1953 Covent Garden mounted Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice expressly for Ferrier, who was regarded as the perfect interpreter of Orpheus. Illness caused by advanced cancer limited her to just two of the four scheduled performances, which proved to be her final appearances. She died in London on October 8, 1953, having been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire shortly before her death.