Muriel Foster was an English contralto

Contralto

Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...

, excelling in oratorio. Grove's Dictionary

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...

 describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time".

Muriel Foster was born in Sunderland in 1877. She was one of twin daughters; her sister was Hilda Foster. Muriel and Hilda studied at the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

 in London. Muriel's oratorio debut was in Hubert Parry

Hubert Parry

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...

's King Saul in 1896. The Foster sisters performed at the Popular Concerts in 1899 in duets, Hilda retiring in 1900 upon marriage. Muriel Foster performed in Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...

's The Dream of Gerontius

The Dream of Gerontius

The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...

under Julius Buths

Julius Buths

Julius Buths was a German pianist, conductor and minor composer. He was particularly notable in his early championing of the works of Edward Elgar in Germany. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the Enigma Variations and The Dream of Gerontius...

 in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 in May 1902, of which the Manchester Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 wrote: "The part of the Angel was given by Miss Muriel Foster with the wonderfully beautiful and genuine voice ..." She had previously sung in Elgar's Sea Pictures

Sea Pictures

Sea Pictures, Op. 37 is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar...

. She was also memorable in Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

' Alto Rhapsody

Alto Rhapsody

The Alto Rhapsody, Op 53, is a work for contralto, male chorus, and orchestra by Johannes Brahms. It was written as a wedding gift for Robert and Clara Schumann's daughter, Julie. Brahms scholars have long speculated that the composer may have had romantic feelings for Julie, which he may have...

.

She was a personal friend of Elgar and sang in the first performance of his Coronation Ode of 1902; The Apostles

The Apostles (Elgar)

The Apostles, Op. 49, is an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was first performed on 14 October 1903.-Overview:...

(1903); The Kingdom

The Kingdom (Elgar)

The Kingdom, Op. 51, is an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar.It was first performed at the Birmingham Music Festival on 3 October 1906, with the orchestra conducted by the composer, and soloists Agnes Nicholls, Muriel Foster, John Coates and William Higley. The...

(1906); "The River

The River (Elgar)

"The River" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1909 as his Op.60, No.2.On the title-page it is described as a "Folk-Song , paraphrased by Pietro d’Alba and Edward Elgar"....

" (1910) and The Music Makers (1912), which was co-dedicated to Nicholas Kilburn. Elgar dedicated his song "A Child Asleep

A Child Asleep

"A Child Asleep" is a song, with lyrics from a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It was set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in December 1909 and published in 1910 by Novello...

" to Anthony Goetz (Muriel Foster's son) 'for his mother's singing'. In January 1914 she sang at a Royal Philharmonic concert the aria 'Aus der Tiefe des Grames' from Achilleus by Max Bruch

Max Bruch

Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...

, under the baton of Willem Mengelberg

Willem Mengelberg

Joseph Willem Mengelberg was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.- Biography :...

, and achieved the distinction of the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society

Royal Philharmonic Society

The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...

.

She also performed in lieder recitals, her regular accompanist being Anthony Bernard

Anthony Bernard

Anthony Bernard was an English conductor, organist, pianist and composer.-Early life:He was born Alan Charles Butler, the son of a Thames lighterman and changed his name by deed poll in 1919 according to the National Archives....

.

Muriel Foster performed regularly in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and the provinces, as well as in Germany, the Netherlands, Russia and the USA. She had a command of a number of languages.

In 1906 she married Ludovic Goetz, and later both changed their surname to Foster.

Quote

Charles Villiers Stanford

Charles Villiers Stanford

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...

 wrote about her

“She has not got the whopping voice of Clara Butt

Clara Butt

Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...

, but she has more poetry and is musical to her fingertips”