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紐約時報:音樂
英國好聲音
報道 2012年07月27日
Gerti Deutsch/Getty Images
在愛丁堡音樂節上，凱瑟琳·費麗爾與男高音彼得·皮爾斯(Peter Pears)在一起，費麗爾是英國的女低音歌唱家，因為特別低沉、深厚的嗓音、也因為在41歲那年突然去世而聞名。
指揮家布魯諾·沃爾特(Bruno
Walter)曾經說，在他生命中有兩個特別重大的音樂體驗：一是認識了女低音凱瑟琳·費麗爾(Kathleen
Ferrier)，二是認識了馬勒(Mahler)，次序按此排列。費麗爾出身低微，起初只是英國布萊克本附近的電話接線員，她最終成為英國最受人熱愛的
歌手之一，她的聲音渾厚而纏綿，為一個飽經戰爭創傷的國家帶來慰藉。
為了紀念費麗爾的百年冥誕，EMI近日發行了她在該廠牌錄製的完整錄音。共為三張唱片套裝，錄音中她演繹巴赫(Bach)、格魯克(Gluck)、 亨德爾(Handel)和馬勒的標誌性曲目，令人難忘。迪卡(Decca)也發行了她的百年紀念專輯，共14張唱片，此外包含了一部新紀錄片，由黛安·普 雷爾斯坦恩(Diane Perelsztejn)執導，英國女演員夏洛特·蘭普林(Charlotte Rampling)作旁白，影片探尋了41歲死於癌症的費麗爾的一生與她留下的寶貴遺產。該片還包含了一張費麗爾未曾發行的現場錄音唱片，當中包括了勃拉 姆斯(Brahms)的藝術歌曲。
費麗爾的嗓音令人一聽難忘，不僅因為她罕見的低聲和出眾的音色，也因為她的歌唱充滿表現力與感情，往往會讓她的聽眾和同行們聞後落淚。
在影片中，女低音歌唱家娜塔莉·斯圖茨曼(Nathalie Stutzmann)形容費麗爾“擁有一把對女人而言所能想見的最低沉的聲音”，她的嗓音結合了“胸聲的色彩，這通常只能在男聲中聽得到，但同時又有女聲特有的清澈。”
在費麗爾演唱的大量曲目中，包括她常常唱的英國民謠，都能傳遞出她音色中固有的憂鬱。她對一些詠嘆調，比如亨德爾的《綠樹成蔭》(Ombra mai Fu)的詮釋，至今仍是所有錄音中最令人動容的。
在普雷爾斯坦恩的紀錄片中播放了一段錄像腳本，沃爾特在裡面談到了他第一次聽費麗爾歌唱時的情形：“她走進來，為我唱了一段勃拉姆斯，我當下決定要請她。她的歌喉美得超凡脫俗：表達之美、音色與純粹之美、個性之美。這是我這一輩子最美好的經歷之一。”
1943年，本傑明·布里頓(Benjamin Britten)在威斯敏斯特教堂聽到費麗爾唱亨德爾的《彌賽亞》(Messiah)，同樣也是頓時被她俘獲了，這是費麗爾在倫敦首演中的一場演出。和沃 爾特一樣，他也成為費麗爾的一位重要的合作者。“在演唱的音域中，凱瑟琳最柔弱的嗓音，往往也正是最有力量的，”在紀錄片的訪談中他說：“她的歌唱帶着自 信與美，徜徉在浩瀚的天際，在這之前，我聞所未聞。”
1946年在格萊德堡歌劇節上，費麗爾參演布里頓擔任指揮的《盧克萊修受辱記》(Rape of Lucretia)，出演劇名角色，1947年去荷蘭再次表演該劇，這是她首次出國演出。和許多歌唱家不同的是，她更喜歡在演出時進行獨唱，因為在歌劇的 舞台上，她一直都不是特別自如。她曾寫道，連她自己都不敢相信，活動一下胳膊而“不至於看起來跟個斷了臂的風車”那樣，竟然就那麼困難。她怯生生的舞台表 演，有時會讓指揮都灰了心。
她演出的歌劇角色不多，格魯克《奧菲歐與尤麗迪西》(Orfeo ed Euridice)中的奧菲歐是其中一個。1945年她在劇中演唱的《什麼是生活》(What Is Life)，令全英國的聽眾心痛欲絕。
1955年，樂評家霍華德·陶布曼(Howard Taubman)在《紐約時報》撰寫文章說，他曾在市政廳看了一場《奧菲歐》的歌劇演唱，費麗爾“通過她的歌喉與演繹的力量，成功地走入了克魯克的內心與奧菲歐的情感深處，觀眾根本不需要布景、服裝或燈光。”
在二戰中，費麗爾參加了由“音樂與藝術促進委員會”(Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts)這個戰時組織主辦的各種活動，在工廠、醫院、防空洞和學校為軍民提供娛樂，在戰爭結束時，她已經成為了英國一顆璀璨的明星。她不僅用歌聲，也用 她開朗、坦誠的個性，向觀眾施展魔法，得到了人們的深愛。
音樂的神聖之處就在於類似這樣的場景
費麗爾出身平民，是蘭開夏郡一個鄉村校長的女兒。在迪加拍攝的這部影片中，她的妹妹威妮弗蕾德·費麗爾(Winifred Ferrier)回憶說，姐姐的歌唱天賦起初並未被人發現，也未受到開發。“我記得凱瑟琳上學那會兒，她想加入合唱團，老師讓她試唱了幾段，然後說， ‘行，你能加入我們這兒，但你的嗓子太沙啞了，所以千萬別唱太大聲。’”
年少時，凱瑟琳·費麗爾在幾個鋼琴比賽中獲勝，她的理想是去音樂學院繼續深造。但因為家裡的經濟狀況，她被迫在14歲那年輟學，在布萊克本的一家電話局當學徒。在郵政總局作接線員時，她仍在繼續不斷參加鋼琴大賽，並開始接受聲樂訓練。
23歲那年，她嫁給了銀行經理艾爾伯特·威爾遜(Albert Wilson)，後來不再上班，因為在當時電話局不會聘請已婚女性。這段婚姻並不如人意，1940年丈夫參軍，婚姻事實上就已告破裂，他們在1947年正 式離婚，但關係仍然處得不錯。費麗爾——她平時喝啤酒、抽香煙，據認識她的人說，她為人熱情、帶着粗俗的幽默感，並且富於急智——此後沒有再婚，不過有很 長一段時間，陪伴着她的是一個利物浦的古董商人，叫里克·戴維斯(Rick Davies)。
1937年，她在卡萊爾音樂節的聲樂比賽中獲勝（在音樂節的鋼琴比賽中她同樣取得第一名），得以在BBC電台一展歌喉，並取得了首個專業演唱邀請。一家業內有名的藝人經紀公司聘請了她，於是她帶着妹妹一起搬到了倫敦住，1942年，她在國家美術館舉行了首場倫敦獨唱會。
演唱會頗受歡迎，但費麗爾本人對演出並不滿意，開始跟男中音歌唱家羅伊·亨德遜(Roy Henderson)學習，他在影片中說：“她不缺音樂才能，但在音樂的表現力這方面，她並沒有真正起步。她害怕做任何面部表情，或者流露任何個人情緒。 直到有一天，我跟她和威妮弗蕾德一起吃了餐飯，這才了解了她真正的個性。錄音室的禁錮被丟到了一旁，她一下子就生動有趣了起來。我當時就想，一定要把她的 個性帶到演唱中去。”
她還開始與合作鋼琴家傑拉爾德·摩爾(Gerald Moore)共事，後者曾與包括迪特里希·費舍爾-迪斯考(Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau)在內的多位傳奇歌唱家合作。1944年，她在哥倫比亞(Columbia)唱片，與摩爾合作錄了一張唱片，接着跳槽到了 迪卡。
費麗爾的國際演唱生涯一共只有短短八年，從1946年到1953年，就是在這一年她因病去世。1948年她在紐約首演，當時是在卡內基音樂廳與沃爾 特合作，唱的是馬勒的《大地之歌》(Das Lied von der Erde)選段，在不久前，1947年的愛丁堡國際音樂節上，兩人初次合作，不過在當時在英國，這並不為太多人所知。
費麗爾在1949年和1950年，去了美國和加拿大，在幾十個城市進行巡演。如果她的壽命能再長一點，一定會開始演唱瓦格納的曲目。拜羅伊特音樂節 的管理層曾希望請她在《特里斯坦和伊索爾德》(Tristan and Isolde)中出演布藍甘妮(Brangäne)，在《指環》(Ring Cycle)中出演艾爾達(Erda)。但在1951年費麗爾得知自己患上了乳腺癌，接受了乳房根治術。帶着病軀，她仍在繼續歌唱。
她做的最後一個重要演出，是與沃爾特和維也納愛樂樂團合作錄製馬勒的《呂克特之歌》(Rückert Lieder)，她的演繹極其動人，被EMI發行的這套唱片中收錄了進去。這套唱片還包含了她演唱的巴赫的B小調彌撒曲，亨德爾和普賽爾 (Purcell)的選段，以及《奧菲歐》的全本。費麗爾與指揮家約翰·巴比羅利(John Barbirolli)合作，在皇家歌劇院演繹了奧菲歐這個角色，用英語演唱。在排練階段，她需要每天去醫院接受治療。首演在1953年2月舉行，大獲成 功，但癌症已經擴散到她的骨頭。在第二場演出進行中，她的左腿大腿骨突然骨折。她仍然站在台上，紋絲不動，完成了整場演出，觀眾們完全不知情。當晚費麗爾 就住進醫院，此後再也無法行走。幾個月後她去世了。
她的樂迷們以為她患的只是關節炎，並不知道她已經受癌症數年折磨，在得知她過早逝世的消息後極度震驚。費麗爾曾經用歌聲感染了英國各個階層的聽眾，但對於病情諱莫如深，她讓大多數人別去理會自己身患重病的謠言，只對幾位好友道出真相。
費麗爾的核心曲目中，傳遞出的感情既細緻又強烈，沒有幾位演唱家能達到如此的高度，唯一的例外是次女高音洛林·亨特·李伯森(Lorraine Hunt Lieberson)，後者同樣是相對較晚才開始從事歌唱生涯，因為癌症在2006年英年早逝。
英國作家艾倫·貝內特(Alan Bennett)在回憶錄《未說出的故事》(Untold Stories)中，回憶起費麗爾的藝術天賦如何讓他的父母在剎那間傾倒，雖然“他們對唱歌這件事並不熱衷。”
他寫道：“對我來說，音樂的神聖之處就在於類似這樣的場景——1947年的一個冬夜，利茲貧民區的一間衛理公會小教堂里燈火通明，人頭攢動，凱瑟琳·費麗爾的歌聲突然飄揚起來，骯髒的積雪頓時被聖輝覆蓋。”
為了紀念費麗爾的百年冥誕，EMI近日發行了她在該廠牌錄製的完整錄音。共為三張唱片套裝，錄音中她演繹巴赫(Bach)、格魯克(Gluck)、 亨德爾(Handel)和馬勒的標誌性曲目，令人難忘。迪卡(Decca)也發行了她的百年紀念專輯，共14張唱片，此外包含了一部新紀錄片，由黛安·普 雷爾斯坦恩(Diane Perelsztejn)執導，英國女演員夏洛特·蘭普林(Charlotte Rampling)作旁白，影片探尋了41歲死於癌症的費麗爾的一生與她留下的寶貴遺產。該片還包含了一張費麗爾未曾發行的現場錄音唱片，當中包括了勃拉 姆斯(Brahms)的藝術歌曲。
在影片中，女低音歌唱家娜塔莉·斯圖茨曼(Nathalie Stutzmann)形容費麗爾“擁有一把對女人而言所能想見的最低沉的聲音”，她的嗓音結合了“胸聲的色彩，這通常只能在男聲中聽得到，但同時又有女聲特有的清澈。”
在費麗爾演唱的大量曲目中，包括她常常唱的英國民謠，都能傳遞出她音色中固有的憂鬱。她對一些詠嘆調，比如亨德爾的《綠樹成蔭》(Ombra mai Fu)的詮釋，至今仍是所有錄音中最令人動容的。
在普雷爾斯坦恩的紀錄片中播放了一段錄像腳本，沃爾特在裡面談到了他第一次聽費麗爾歌唱時的情形：“她走進來，為我唱了一段勃拉姆斯，我當下決定要請她。她的歌喉美得超凡脫俗：表達之美、音色與純粹之美、個性之美。這是我這一輩子最美好的經歷之一。”
1943年，本傑明·布里頓(Benjamin Britten)在威斯敏斯特教堂聽到費麗爾唱亨德爾的《彌賽亞》(Messiah)，同樣也是頓時被她俘獲了，這是費麗爾在倫敦首演中的一場演出。和沃 爾特一樣，他也成為費麗爾的一位重要的合作者。“在演唱的音域中，凱瑟琳最柔弱的嗓音，往往也正是最有力量的，”在紀錄片的訪談中他說：“她的歌唱帶着自 信與美，徜徉在浩瀚的天際，在這之前，我聞所未聞。”
1946年在格萊德堡歌劇節上，費麗爾參演布里頓擔任指揮的《盧克萊修受辱記》(Rape of Lucretia)，出演劇名角色，1947年去荷蘭再次表演該劇，這是她首次出國演出。和許多歌唱家不同的是，她更喜歡在演出時進行獨唱，因為在歌劇的 舞台上，她一直都不是特別自如。她曾寫道，連她自己都不敢相信，活動一下胳膊而“不至於看起來跟個斷了臂的風車”那樣，竟然就那麼困難。她怯生生的舞台表 演，有時會讓指揮都灰了心。
她演出的歌劇角色不多，格魯克《奧菲歐與尤麗迪西》(Orfeo ed Euridice)中的奧菲歐是其中一個。1945年她在劇中演唱的《什麼是生活》(What Is Life)，令全英國的聽眾心痛欲絕。
1955年，樂評家霍華德·陶布曼(Howard Taubman)在《紐約時報》撰寫文章說，他曾在市政廳看了一場《奧菲歐》的歌劇演唱，費麗爾“通過她的歌喉與演繹的力量，成功地走入了克魯克的內心與奧菲歐的情感深處，觀眾根本不需要布景、服裝或燈光。”
在二戰中，費麗爾參加了由“音樂與藝術促進委員會”(Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts)這個戰時組織主辦的各種活動，在工廠、醫院、防空洞和學校為軍民提供娛樂，在戰爭結束時，她已經成為了英國一顆璀璨的明星。她不僅用歌聲，也用 她開朗、坦誠的個性，向觀眾施展魔法，得到了人們的深愛。
音樂的神聖之處就在於類似這樣的場景
費麗爾出身平民，是蘭開夏郡一個鄉村校長的女兒。在迪加拍攝的這部影片中，她的妹妹威妮弗蕾德·費麗爾(Winifred Ferrier)回憶說，姐姐的歌唱天賦起初並未被人發現，也未受到開發。“我記得凱瑟琳上學那會兒，她想加入合唱團，老師讓她試唱了幾段，然後說， ‘行，你能加入我們這兒，但你的嗓子太沙啞了，所以千萬別唱太大聲。’”
年少時，凱瑟琳·費麗爾在幾個鋼琴比賽中獲勝，她的理想是去音樂學院繼續深造。但因為家裡的經濟狀況，她被迫在14歲那年輟學，在布萊克本的一家電話局當學徒。在郵政總局作接線員時，她仍在繼續不斷參加鋼琴大賽，並開始接受聲樂訓練。
23歲那年，她嫁給了銀行經理艾爾伯特·威爾遜(Albert Wilson)，後來不再上班，因為在當時電話局不會聘請已婚女性。這段婚姻並不如人意，1940年丈夫參軍，婚姻事實上就已告破裂，他們在1947年正 式離婚，但關係仍然處得不錯。費麗爾——她平時喝啤酒、抽香煙，據認識她的人說，她為人熱情、帶着粗俗的幽默感，並且富於急智——此後沒有再婚，不過有很 長一段時間，陪伴着她的是一個利物浦的古董商人，叫里克·戴維斯(Rick Davies)。
1937年，她在卡萊爾音樂節的聲樂比賽中獲勝（在音樂節的鋼琴比賽中她同樣取得第一名），得以在BBC電台一展歌喉，並取得了首個專業演唱邀請。一家業內有名的藝人經紀公司聘請了她，於是她帶着妹妹一起搬到了倫敦住，1942年，她在國家美術館舉行了首場倫敦獨唱會。
演唱會頗受歡迎，但費麗爾本人對演出並不滿意，開始跟男中音歌唱家羅伊·亨德遜(Roy Henderson)學習，他在影片中說：“她不缺音樂才能，但在音樂的表現力這方面，她並沒有真正起步。她害怕做任何面部表情，或者流露任何個人情緒。 直到有一天，我跟她和威妮弗蕾德一起吃了餐飯，這才了解了她真正的個性。錄音室的禁錮被丟到了一旁，她一下子就生動有趣了起來。我當時就想，一定要把她的 個性帶到演唱中去。”
她還開始與合作鋼琴家傑拉爾德·摩爾(Gerald Moore)共事，後者曾與包括迪特里希·費舍爾-迪斯考(Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau)在內的多位傳奇歌唱家合作。1944年，她在哥倫比亞(Columbia)唱片，與摩爾合作錄了一張唱片，接着跳槽到了 迪卡。
費麗爾的國際演唱生涯一共只有短短八年，從1946年到1953年，就是在這一年她因病去世。1948年她在紐約首演，當時是在卡內基音樂廳與沃爾 特合作，唱的是馬勒的《大地之歌》(Das Lied von der Erde)選段，在不久前，1947年的愛丁堡國際音樂節上，兩人初次合作，不過在當時在英國，這並不為太多人所知。
費麗爾在1949年和1950年，去了美國和加拿大，在幾十個城市進行巡演。如果她的壽命能再長一點，一定會開始演唱瓦格納的曲目。拜羅伊特音樂節 的管理層曾希望請她在《特里斯坦和伊索爾德》(Tristan and Isolde)中出演布藍甘妮(Brangäne)，在《指環》(Ring Cycle)中出演艾爾達(Erda)。但在1951年費麗爾得知自己患上了乳腺癌，接受了乳房根治術。帶着病軀，她仍在繼續歌唱。
她做的最後一個重要演出，是與沃爾特和維也納愛樂樂團合作錄製馬勒的《呂克特之歌》(Rückert Lieder)，她的演繹極其動人，被EMI發行的這套唱片中收錄了進去。這套唱片還包含了她演唱的巴赫的B小調彌撒曲，亨德爾和普賽爾 (Purcell)的選段，以及《奧菲歐》的全本。費麗爾與指揮家約翰·巴比羅利(John Barbirolli)合作，在皇家歌劇院演繹了奧菲歐這個角色，用英語演唱。在排練階段，她需要每天去醫院接受治療。首演在1953年2月舉行，大獲成 功，但癌症已經擴散到她的骨頭。在第二場演出進行中，她的左腿大腿骨突然骨折。她仍然站在台上，紋絲不動，完成了整場演出，觀眾們完全不知情。當晚費麗爾 就住進醫院，此後再也無法行走。幾個月後她去世了。
她的樂迷們以為她患的只是關節炎，並不知道她已經受癌症數年折磨，在得知她過早逝世的消息後極度震驚。費麗爾曾經用歌聲感染了英國各個階層的聽眾，但對於病情諱莫如深，她讓大多數人別去理會自己身患重病的謠言，只對幾位好友道出真相。
費麗爾的核心曲目中，傳遞出的感情既細緻又強烈，沒有幾位演唱家能達到如此的高度，唯一的例外是次女高音洛林·亨特·李伯森(Lorraine Hunt Lieberson)，後者同樣是相對較晚才開始從事歌唱生涯，因為癌症在2006年英年早逝。
英國作家艾倫·貝內特(Alan Bennett)在回憶錄《未說出的故事》(Untold Stories)中，回憶起費麗爾的藝術天賦如何讓他的父母在剎那間傾倒，雖然“他們對唱歌這件事並不熱衷。”
他寫道：“對我來說，音樂的神聖之處就在於類似這樣的場景——1947年的一個冬夜，利茲貧民區的一間衛理公會小教堂里燈火通明，人頭攢動，凱瑟琳·費麗爾的歌聲突然飄揚起來，骯髒的積雪頓時被聖輝覆蓋。”
A Voice That Embraced a Nation
2012年07月27日
Gerti Deutsch/Getty Images
Kathleen Ferrier with the tenor Peter
Pears at the Edinburgh festival, was an English contralto known for her
exceptionally low, rich voice and her surprising death at 41.
THE conductor Bruno Walter once said that
the two greatest musical experiences of his life were knowing the
contralto Kathleen Ferrier and Mahler — in that order. From humble
beginnings as a telephone operator near Blackburn, England, Ferrier
became one of Britain’s most beloved singers, her rich and haunting
voice providing solace to a war-torn nation.
In honor of the centennial of her birth, EMI has released her complete recordings on the label in a three-disc set, an impressive showcase of her artistry in trademark works of Bach, Gluck, Handel and Mahler. Decca has released a centenary edition with 14 CDs, as well as a new film, directed by Diane Perelsztejn and narrated by the English actress Charlotte Rampling, that explores the life and legacy of Ferrier, who died at 41 from cancer. The film includes a companion CD of unreleased live recordings, including Brahms lieder.
Ferrier’s voice was remarkable not only for its unusually low range
and striking timbre, but also for the expressive, yearning qualities
that often reduced audiences and colleagues to tears.
In the film the contralto Nathalie Stutzmann says that Ferrier “had the deepest voice imaginable for a woman,” combining “the color of a chest voice, usually found in male voices, with the clarity of a female voice.”
The melancholic quality of Ferrier’s singing penetrates her performances of a wide range of repertory, including the English folk songs she often performed. Her interpretations of arias like Handel’s “Ombra mai Fu” remain among the most moving ever recorded.
In archival footage featured in Ms. Perelsztejn’s film Walter describes the first time he heard Ferrier: “She came and sang Brahms for me, and I engaged her. Her singing was of such rare beauty: beauty of expression, beauty of voice, purity, and beauty of personality. It was one of my greatest impressions in my life.”
Benjamin Britten was similarly smitten when he heard Ferrier sing Handel’s “Messiah” at Westminster Abbey in 1943, one of her first London engagements. Like Walter he became an important collaborator. “In the part of the voice that is usually the weakest Kathleen’s voice was the strongest,” he says during an interview in the film. “The music sailed across vast spaces with a confidence and beauty that I think I’d never heard before.”
Ferrier originated the title role of Britten’s “Rape of Lucretia” at Glyndebourne in 1946 and sang it in the Netherlands in 1947, her first trip abroad. Unlike many singers, she preferred recitals to the opera stage, where she never felt fully comfortable. She wrote that she couldn’t believe how difficult it was to make simple arm movements “without looking like a broken windmill.” Her tentative acting abilities occasionally frustrated conductors.
Orfeo, in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” was one of the few other roles in her repertory. Her heart-rending recording of “What Is Life” was a hit in Britain in 1945.
Writing in The New York Times in 1955, the music critic Howard Taubman wrote after a concert performance of “Orfeo” at Town Hall that Ferrier “managed, through the power of her voice and art, to probe so deeply into the heart of Gluck’s and Orfeo’s emotion that one did not need sets, costumes or lightings.”
By the end of World War II Ferrier — who had participated in many events organized by the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, established during the war to provide entertainment in factories, hospitals, bomb shelters and schools — had earned a stellar reputation in Britain. She had become a much-loved performer who charmed audiences with her singing and her gregarious, down-to-earth personality.
Ferrier rose to fame from modest roots, the daughter of a Lancashire village schoolmaster. In the Decca film her sister, Winifred Ferrier, recalled that her sibling’s vocal talent was initially unrecognized and undeveloped. “I remember when Kathleen was at school, she wanted to join the choir, and the teacher tested her and said, ‘Yes, you can come in if you don’t sing too loudly because your voice is very husky.’ ”
Kathleen Ferrier enjoyed success in several piano competitions as a young girl and hoped to attend a music college. But because of her family’s financial situation, she instead left school at 14 to begin training at a telephone exchange in Blackburn. She continued to compete in piano competitions while working as a telephone operator with the General Post Office. She also began singing lessons.
At 23 she married Albert Wilson, a bank manager, and left her job, since married women were not then employed by the telephone exchange. The marriage was unsuccessful and effectively ended when her husband joined the Army in 1940; they divorced in 1947 but remained on good terms. Ferrier — who drank beer and smoked cigarettes and was said to have an ebullient personality, rowdy sense of humor and quick wit — never remarried, although she had a long-term companion in Rick Davies, a Liverpool antiques dealer.
Her first professional singing engagements and BBC radio appearances came after her victory in her vocal division of the Carlisle Festival in 1937. (She also placed first in the piano division.) She moved to London with her sister after being accepted onto the roster of a prominent artist agency and made her London debut recital in 1942 at the National Gallery.
The concert went well, but Ferrier was disappointed by her performance and began studying with the baritone Roy Henderson, who in the film says: “The musicianship was all there, but from an interpretive point of view, she hadn’t really started. She was terrified of doing anything with face or feeling. When I had dinner with her and Winifred, I realized what sort of a person she was. The restrictions of the studio fell away, and she became full of fun and life. I felt I must harness this to her singing.”
She also began working with the collaborative pianist Gerald Moore, well known for his performances with legendary singers including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She made one recording on Columbia in 1944, with Moore, then switched to Decca.
Ferrier’s international career spanned just eight years, between 1946 and 1953, the year she died. She made her New York debut in 1948 singing Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” at Carnegie Hall with Walter, soon after their performance of the work — which was then largely unknown in Britain — at the 1947 Edinburgh International Festival.
Ferrier toured America and Canada in 1949 and 1950, performing in dozens of cities. She probably would have entered Wagnerian terrain had she lived longer. Bayreuth management had hoped to engage her to sing Brangäne in “Tristan and Isolde” and Erda in the Ring Cycle. But Ferrier learned she had breast cancer in 1951 and underwent a mastectomy. She continued singing despite ill health.
One of her last major projects was a recording of Mahler’s “Rückert Lieder” with Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic, an intensely affecting interpretation that is included on the EMI release. The discs also feature her performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor, selections by Handel and Purcell and the complete “Orfeo.”
Ferrier took on the role of Orfeo with the conductor John Barbirolli at the Royal Opera House, in English. During the rehearsal period she had daily treatments in the hospital. The premiere, in February 1953, was a success, but the cancer had spread to her bones. During the second performance the femur in her left leg fractured while she was onstage. She remained standing, immobilized, and finished the performance, her audience unaware. Ferrier, who would never walk again, was hospitalized that night. She died a few months later.
Her fans, who had been told she had arthritis but were not informed about the cancer that had plagued her for years, were shocked by what seemed to be an unexpected early death. Ferrier, who had charmed listeners in all echelons of British society, had even told all but her closest friends to ignore any rumors of serious illness.
With the exception of the marvelous mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson — who also began a singing career relatively late in life and died young of cancer, in 2006 — few have rivaled Ferrier’s emotional vulnerability and intensity in her core repertory.
In his memoir “Untold Stories” the English writer Alan Bennett recalls how Ferrier’s artistry mesmerized his parents, even though “they weren’t big ones for singing.”
“What makes music inviolable still for me,” he writes, “are scenes like that, a Methodist chapel in the slums of Leeds lit up and packed with people on a winter night in 1947 and the voice of Kathleen Ferrier drifting out over the grimy snow.”
In honor of the centennial of her birth, EMI has released her complete recordings on the label in a three-disc set, an impressive showcase of her artistry in trademark works of Bach, Gluck, Handel and Mahler. Decca has released a centenary edition with 14 CDs, as well as a new film, directed by Diane Perelsztejn and narrated by the English actress Charlotte Rampling, that explores the life and legacy of Ferrier, who died at 41 from cancer. The film includes a companion CD of unreleased live recordings, including Brahms lieder.
按图放大
Gerti Deutsch/Getty Images
Kathleen Ferrier at right, with Anna Pollak, center, and Margaret Ritchie, right, in “The Rape of Lucretia.”
In the film the contralto Nathalie Stutzmann says that Ferrier “had the deepest voice imaginable for a woman,” combining “the color of a chest voice, usually found in male voices, with the clarity of a female voice.”
The melancholic quality of Ferrier’s singing penetrates her performances of a wide range of repertory, including the English folk songs she often performed. Her interpretations of arias like Handel’s “Ombra mai Fu” remain among the most moving ever recorded.
In archival footage featured in Ms. Perelsztejn’s film Walter describes the first time he heard Ferrier: “She came and sang Brahms for me, and I engaged her. Her singing was of such rare beauty: beauty of expression, beauty of voice, purity, and beauty of personality. It was one of my greatest impressions in my life.”
Benjamin Britten was similarly smitten when he heard Ferrier sing Handel’s “Messiah” at Westminster Abbey in 1943, one of her first London engagements. Like Walter he became an important collaborator. “In the part of the voice that is usually the weakest Kathleen’s voice was the strongest,” he says during an interview in the film. “The music sailed across vast spaces with a confidence and beauty that I think I’d never heard before.”
Ferrier originated the title role of Britten’s “Rape of Lucretia” at Glyndebourne in 1946 and sang it in the Netherlands in 1947, her first trip abroad. Unlike many singers, she preferred recitals to the opera stage, where she never felt fully comfortable. She wrote that she couldn’t believe how difficult it was to make simple arm movements “without looking like a broken windmill.” Her tentative acting abilities occasionally frustrated conductors.
Orfeo, in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” was one of the few other roles in her repertory. Her heart-rending recording of “What Is Life” was a hit in Britain in 1945.
Writing in The New York Times in 1955, the music critic Howard Taubman wrote after a concert performance of “Orfeo” at Town Hall that Ferrier “managed, through the power of her voice and art, to probe so deeply into the heart of Gluck’s and Orfeo’s emotion that one did not need sets, costumes or lightings.”
By the end of World War II Ferrier — who had participated in many events organized by the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, established during the war to provide entertainment in factories, hospitals, bomb shelters and schools — had earned a stellar reputation in Britain. She had become a much-loved performer who charmed audiences with her singing and her gregarious, down-to-earth personality.
Ferrier rose to fame from modest roots, the daughter of a Lancashire village schoolmaster. In the Decca film her sister, Winifred Ferrier, recalled that her sibling’s vocal talent was initially unrecognized and undeveloped. “I remember when Kathleen was at school, she wanted to join the choir, and the teacher tested her and said, ‘Yes, you can come in if you don’t sing too loudly because your voice is very husky.’ ”
Kathleen Ferrier enjoyed success in several piano competitions as a young girl and hoped to attend a music college. But because of her family’s financial situation, she instead left school at 14 to begin training at a telephone exchange in Blackburn. She continued to compete in piano competitions while working as a telephone operator with the General Post Office. She also began singing lessons.
At 23 she married Albert Wilson, a bank manager, and left her job, since married women were not then employed by the telephone exchange. The marriage was unsuccessful and effectively ended when her husband joined the Army in 1940; they divorced in 1947 but remained on good terms. Ferrier — who drank beer and smoked cigarettes and was said to have an ebullient personality, rowdy sense of humor and quick wit — never remarried, although she had a long-term companion in Rick Davies, a Liverpool antiques dealer.
Her first professional singing engagements and BBC radio appearances came after her victory in her vocal division of the Carlisle Festival in 1937. (She also placed first in the piano division.) She moved to London with her sister after being accepted onto the roster of a prominent artist agency and made her London debut recital in 1942 at the National Gallery.
The concert went well, but Ferrier was disappointed by her performance and began studying with the baritone Roy Henderson, who in the film says: “The musicianship was all there, but from an interpretive point of view, she hadn’t really started. She was terrified of doing anything with face or feeling. When I had dinner with her and Winifred, I realized what sort of a person she was. The restrictions of the studio fell away, and she became full of fun and life. I felt I must harness this to her singing.”
She also began working with the collaborative pianist Gerald Moore, well known for his performances with legendary singers including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She made one recording on Columbia in 1944, with Moore, then switched to Decca.
Ferrier’s international career spanned just eight years, between 1946 and 1953, the year she died. She made her New York debut in 1948 singing Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” at Carnegie Hall with Walter, soon after their performance of the work — which was then largely unknown in Britain — at the 1947 Edinburgh International Festival.
Ferrier toured America and Canada in 1949 and 1950, performing in dozens of cities. She probably would have entered Wagnerian terrain had she lived longer. Bayreuth management had hoped to engage her to sing Brangäne in “Tristan and Isolde” and Erda in the Ring Cycle. But Ferrier learned she had breast cancer in 1951 and underwent a mastectomy. She continued singing despite ill health.
One of her last major projects was a recording of Mahler’s “Rückert Lieder” with Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic, an intensely affecting interpretation that is included on the EMI release. The discs also feature her performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor, selections by Handel and Purcell and the complete “Orfeo.”
Ferrier took on the role of Orfeo with the conductor John Barbirolli at the Royal Opera House, in English. During the rehearsal period she had daily treatments in the hospital. The premiere, in February 1953, was a success, but the cancer had spread to her bones. During the second performance the femur in her left leg fractured while she was onstage. She remained standing, immobilized, and finished the performance, her audience unaware. Ferrier, who would never walk again, was hospitalized that night. She died a few months later.
Her fans, who had been told she had arthritis but were not informed about the cancer that had plagued her for years, were shocked by what seemed to be an unexpected early death. Ferrier, who had charmed listeners in all echelons of British society, had even told all but her closest friends to ignore any rumors of serious illness.
With the exception of the marvelous mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson — who also began a singing career relatively late in life and died young of cancer, in 2006 — few have rivaled Ferrier’s emotional vulnerability and intensity in her core repertory.
In his memoir “Untold Stories” the English writer Alan Bennett recalls how Ferrier’s artistry mesmerized his parents, even though “they weren’t big ones for singing.”
“What makes music inviolable still for me,” he writes, “are scenes like that, a Methodist chapel in the slums of Leeds lit up and packed with people on a winter night in 1947 and the voice of Kathleen Ferrier drifting out over the grimy snow.”
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