The main British soprano Jennifer Vyvyan (1925-1974) is to be honoured with a plaque in her reminiscence, close to her North London dwelling.
Vyvyan was intently related to the composer Benjamin Britten – who wrote main roles for her in his operas The Flip of the Screw, A Midsummer Night time’s Dream, Gloriana and Owen Wingrave. She was additionally a charismatic champion of mid-Twentieth-century music, and an influential determine within the fashionable stage revival of baroque operas.
The plaque, at 59 Fitzjohn’s Avenue in Hampstead the place Vyvyan lived latterly, can be unveiled on Thursday 8 December by the countertenor James Bowman, who labored with the singer.
Although she died younger, aged simply 49, Vyvyan made a distinguished contribution to the world of English live performance and opera singing. For instance, she ranked among the many chief interpreters of the music of Benjamin Britten, who composed a few of his most outstanding feminine roles for her: the Governess in Flip of the Screw, Tytania in A Midsummer Night time’s Dream, Girl Wealthy in Gloriana and Mrs Julian in Owen Wingrave.
We have reviewed a disc of Jennifer Vyvyan singing choral works by Britten.
Elsewhere, Vyvyan performed a key half within the fashionable stage revival of baroque opera, starring in performances of works by Handel and Purcell for the Handel Opera Society, Covent Backyard, Sadler’s Wells and Aldeburgh Pageant.
She was additionally a lot beloved by basic audiences all through the Nineteen Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, due to tons of of radio and TV appearances, common invites to the Proms and a big catalogue of economic recordings.
Curiously, Vyvyan was chosen by Sir Arthur Bliss, Grasp of the Queen’s Music, to play a number one function in Anglo-Soviet cultural diplomacy. In 1956, on the top of the Chilly Conflict, with East/West relations at an all-time low, Bliss took a handful of outstanding musicians to Russia, aiming to carry British music to Soviet audiences. Vyvyan was amongst that choose band.
The music critic Michael White has compiled an internet site about Jennifer Vyvyan, her life and occasions: yow will discover it at www.jennifervyvyan.org
