Heather Harper
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Heather Mary Harper
Early life and education
Heather Harper was born on 8 May 1930 in
She initially sang as a
Career
Her professional debut came in 1954, singing Lady Macbeth in Verdi's
At the Bayreuth Festival, Harper appeared as Elsa in Lohengrin in 1967 and 1968, conducted by Rudolf Kempe.[3] She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Contessa Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1977.[7] She also sang Charlotte in Massenet's Werther for the San Francisco Opera. She appeared as a regular guest at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, including roles such as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust and Vitellia in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.[7] In 1982, the soprano debuted with the New York City Opera in the name part of Gluck's Alceste.
Harper also had an extensive concert career.[3] She sang in the premiere of Britten's War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Peter Pears in 1962, substituting for Galina Vishnevskaya at ten days' notice.[3][9] In 1965, she was the soprano soloist in the second UK performance of Delius's Requiem in Liverpool, conducted by Charles Groves. She sang in it again in 1968 in London, conducted by Meredith Davies, and appeared in the first recording with the same participants.[7] In 1975, she was the soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem at London's Kingsway Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlos Païta. At the Belfast Last Night of the Proms in 1985, she gave the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson's song cycle Next Year in Jerusalem to international critical acclaim. She sang the soprano solo in the world premiere of Tippett's Third Symphony in 1972.[3]
She retired from her singing career in 1994. Her final performance was at the BBC Proms, singing Alban Berg's Altenberg Lieder and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music.[10][11]
Recordings
Her recordings include Peter Grimes in both audio and video
She recorded Britten's War Requiem in 1991 in an award-winning CD conducted by Richard Hickox. Alan Blyth wrote, comparing the recording to earlier ones:
Heather Harper has at last recorded the "role" she created – indeed it is her farewell to her many admirers as she has now retired. I heard her sing it in St Paul's not long ago and thought then that her peculiar accents, her inevitable shaping of so much of the part simply had to be preserved for posterity. Her perceptions are superior to those of both Haywood (Shaw) and Söderström (Rattle) by virtue of her longer association with the piece, and her tone shows very few signs of the advancing years. Of course, Vishnevskaya's hieratical utterance (Decca) is something unique and inimitable, but for a comprehensive understanding of what Britten wanted, Harper is hard to equal.[5]
In 2005, a live concert performance of Britten's Our Hunting Fathers was issued on the London Philharmonic Orchestra's own label.[14]
Personal life
Harper married twice. Her first marriage to Leonard Buck ended in divorce in 1972. She married Argentinian scientist Eduardo E. Benarroch in 1973.[3]
Harper's sister was a cellist in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and her brother was a hornist with the ROH, the Royal Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra.[3]
Heather Harper received the CBE in 1965. She died on 22 April 2019, aged 88.[3]
References
- ^ GRO Register: Leonard H F Buck married Heather M Harper, April/May/June Quarter, Hampstead, Vol 5c, Page 1523
- ISBN 978-1-85743-122-3– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Millington, Barry (22 April 2019). "Heather Harper obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ a b c "Heather Harper". Bayreuth Festival (in German). Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d "The soprano Heather Harper has died". Gramophone. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Jean Allister: Versatile contralto and Proms veteran". The Independent. 7 September 2012. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hopkins, Kate (22 April 2019). "Remembering Heather Harper (1930–2019) / The British soprano had particular associations with operas by Britten, Tippett and Strauss among others". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Professor Frederick Husler was a leading vocal pedagogue in Germany, and later in Switzerland, from about 1910 until his death in 1969". www.cursa-ur.com. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
- ^ "News". 15 March 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Prom 05". BBC Music Events. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
- ^ "Prom 42 – A tribute to Henry Wood (died 19 August 1944)". BBC Music Events. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
- ^ Clements, Andrew (3 October 2003). "Britten: Peter Grimes, Royal Opera". Retrieved 22 April 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Heather Harper". grammy.com. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ Clements, Andrew (29 April 2005). "CD: Wagner: Orchestral Excerpts from Die Meistersinger, etc: London Philharmonic/ Tennstedt". Retrieved 22 April 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.