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Kathleen Mary Ferrier (22 April 19128 October 1953) was an English contralto singer 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.
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. Following 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 the UK. 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.
On 10 March 1929, she made a well-received appearance as an accompanist in a concert at Blackburn's King George's Hall.Cardus, pp. 15–16 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. Around this time she completed her training and she became a fully fledged telephonist.Ferrier, p. 30
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 alto 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.Leonard, pp. 19–20 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.Leonard, p. 22 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.Leonard, p. 23Ferrier, p. 33 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.Leonard, p. 26 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."Burton, 1988
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.Leonard, p. 33 She was paid one guinea. After winning the gold cup at the 1938 Workington Festival, Ferrier sang "Ma 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.Leonard, pp. 33–35Ferrier, pp. 39–40 At the 1939 Carlisle Festival, Ferrier sang Richard Strauss's song All Souls' 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.Leonard, pp. 36–38
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. 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.Leonard, pp. 40–41 However, her application to the BBC's head of music in Manchester for an audition was turned down.Fifield (ed.), p. 17Ferrier, p. 45 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.Leonard, pp. 42–43 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 a flat in Frognal Mansions, Hampstead.Leonard, pp. 45–47Ferrier, pp. 46–48
On 17 May 1943, Ferrier sang in Handel's Messiah at Westminster Abbey, alongside Isobel Baillie and Peter Pears, with Reginald Jacques conducting.Leonard, p. 57Ferrier, p. 53 According to the critic Neville Cardus, it was through the quality of her singing here that Ferrier "made her first serious appeal to musicians".Cardus, p. 28 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.Christiansen (2003) 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. 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.Campion, pp. 5–6 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 Records.Campion, pp. 8–11
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.Leonard, p. 73 In December she met John Barbirolli while working on another Elgar piece, Sea Pictures; the conductor later became one of her closest friends and strongest advocates.Leonard, pp. 74–75, 86 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.Leonard, p. 80Ferrier, p. 70 Although she often sang individual , 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.Leonard, p. 67; Fifield (ed.), p. 234 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.Britten, pp. 83–85 Despite her initial misgivings, by early July Ferrier was writing to her agent that she was "enjoying the tremendously and I should think it's the best part one could possibly have".Fifield (ed.), p. 31
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.Leonard, pp. 89–90 On the provincial tour which followed the festival it failed to attract the public and incurred heavy financial losses.
By contrast, when the opera reached Amsterdam it was greeted warmly by the Dutch audiences who showed particular enthusiasm for Ferrier's performance.Leonard, p. 91 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!"Fifield (ed.), p. 33 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.Leonard, pp. 94–96
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.Walter, pp. 110–111 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".Leonard, p. 100 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."Harewood (2004)
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 1948, 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 1949 to begin her second American tour.Leonard, pp. 115–120 This opened in New York with a concert performance of Orfeo ed Euridice that won uniform critical praise from the New York critics.Leonard, p. 121 On the tour which followed, her accompanist was (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".Fifield (ed.), pp. 60–61 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".Fifield (ed.), p. 64 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.Leonard, pp. 127–128
Shortly after her return to Britain 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.Leonard, p. 142 Britten had written this work specifically for her. 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".Fifield (ed.), p. 93 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".
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!"Leonard, pp. 153–155 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.Leonard, pp. 160–164 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 under Herbert von Karajan. Schwarzkopf later recalled Ferrier's singing of the Agnus Dei from the Mass as her highlight of the year.Leonard, p. 165
Early in 1951, while on tour in Rome, Ferrier learned of her father's death at the age of 83.Ferrier, p. 147 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".Fifield (ed.), p. 287 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.Leonard, p. 177 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.Ferrier, p. 155; Leonard, pp. 179–181 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.Britten, p. 86
In January 1952, Ferrier joined Britten and Pears in a short series of concerts to raise funds for Britten's English Opera Group, including the premiere of Britten's . Writing later, Britten recalled this tour as "perhaps the loveliest of all" of his artistic associations with Ferrier.Britten, p. 87 Despite continuing health problems, she sang in Bach's 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.Fifield (ed.), p. 296 On 30 April Ferrier attended a private party at which the new Queen, Elizabeth II, and her sister, Princess Margaret, were present. In her diary, Ferrier notes: "Princess M sang— very good!". 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.Leonard, p. 207 In May 1952, 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.Campion, pp. 87–90Leonard, pp. 208–211
During the remainder of 1952, Ferrier attended her seventh successive Edinburgh Festival, singing in performances of Mahler's Das Lied, The Dream of Gerontius, Messiah and some Brahms songs.Leonard, pp. 217–219 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.Campion, pp. 97–98 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. 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".Fifield (ed.), p. 181 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.Leonard, p. 226
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.Barbirolli, p. 107 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.Fifield (ed.), pp. 183–184 This proved to be her final public appearance; the two remaining performances, at first rescheduled for April, were eventually cancelled.Leonard, pp. 231–234 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".
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.Leonard, p. 234 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.Leonard, pp. 235–236 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.Leonard, pp. 241–245 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.Fifield (ed.), p. 185 In a letter to the secretary of the Society she wrote that this "unbelievable, wondrous news has done more than anything to make me feel so much better".Fifield (ed.), p. 192 This letter, dated 9 June, is probably the last that Ferrier signed herself. 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. She 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.Fifield (ed.), p. 305 Ferrier was cremated a few days later, at Golders Green Crematorium, after a short private service.Leonard, pp. 246–251 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".Leonard, p. 248
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.Leonard, pp. 197–198 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". 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".
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 helped establish the Kathleen Ferrier Chair of Clinical Oncology at University College Hospital, in 1984. , it was continuing to fund oncology research.Leonard, pp. 246–249
As the result of a separate appeal, augmented by the sales proceeds of a memoir edited by Neville 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.Leonard, p. 250 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. 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. In 2012, the Society organised a series of events to commemorate the centenary of Ferrier's birth and 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.
A biographic documentary film, Kathleen Ferrier, also known as La vie et l'art de Kathleen Ferrier – Le chant de la terre was directed by Diane Perelsztejn and produced by ARTE France in 2012. It featured interviews with her near relatives, friends and colleagues to produce a fresh view of her life and contributions to the arts. Kathleen Ferrier Crescent, in Basildon, Essex, is named in her honour.
The recording of the unaccompanied Northumbrian folk song "Blow the Wind Southerly", initially made by Decca in 1949, has been reissued many times and frequently played on radio in shows such as Desert Island Discs, Housewives' Choice and Your Hundred Best Tunes.Campion, pp. 43–44Fifield (ed.), p. 3 Another signature aria, first recorded in 1944 and on numerous subsequent occasions, is "What is Life?" ( Che farò) from Orfeo ed Euridice. These records sold in large numbers rivalling those of other stars of the time, such as Frank Sinatra and Dame Vera Lynn. In the early 21st century, Ferrier's recordings were still selling hundreds of thousands of copies each year.
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