Chapter 32 - Britten’s Singers

Summary

Britten’s diaries and letters between the wars reveal a profound irritation with what he saw as the parochialism and amateurishness of British music making, especially in comparison with the standards he admired in Europe. So it is perhaps not surprising that the first singer with whom he worked closely was not British, but the Swiss-born Sophie Wyss. It is clear that by 1942, on his return from America, and with Peter Pears installed as his permanent partner, Britten’s expectations had developed radically. Unique to this volume and building on Roger Vignoles’s career as an internationally recognised collaborative pianist, this chapter continues with discussions of Joan Cross (after her departure from Sadler’s Wells Opera), as well as Jennifer Vyvyan, Arda Mandikian, Heather Harper, Alfred Deller, David Hemmings, Galina Vishnevskaya, Janet Baker, Kathleen Ferrier, Nancy Evans, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Owen Brannigan, Robert Tear, Theodore Uppman, and John Shirley-Quirk.