Norman Walker (bass)
Encyclopedia
Norman Walker was an English bass singer, distinguished for his work in both opera and oratorio
.
, England. His father played trombone
in an amateur brass band
, and his mother was an amateur soprano
. A choirboy
in the parish church
, he continued his musical studies when he went to work in a cotton mill
on leaving school. By the age of fifteen and a half he already had a deep bass voice, which he used at the evening institute where he studied harmony
. At the age of 17 he made his first public performance as a soloist in a concert programme including Handel
arias. When he was eighteen he was heard by Mrs Percy Pitt
, wife of the conductor, and went to Laurence Lee for a year's training. While still working in a cotton mill he began to appear in Gilbert and Sullivan
productions and other light opera.
in 1929, and studied singing there for three years under Richard Evans. He took parts in college opera productions, notably The Magic Flute
, and won the Curtis Gold Medal. Walker was then keen to go to London. He sang for Landon Ronald
, and was awarded the Heilbut Major scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music, where he studied with the tenor Walter Hyde. In their production of Autumn Crocus
he was heard by Basil Dean
, who engaged him for films such as Java Head
, Sing As We Go
and Look up and Laugh
(with Gracie Fields
), and Whom the Gods Love (a film about the life of Mozart).
Mass in B minor in 1933. The first of many oratorio
performances, this led to an appearance in the Verdi Requiem
at the Queen's Hall
for the Royal Philharmonic Society
under Thomas Beecham
in 1935. In the same year he made his first important radio broadcast, and first appeared in the international seasons at the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden. After two years or so in minor roles, he sang the roles of King Mark in Tristan und Isolde
, Gurnemanz in Parsifal
and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni
. He also took the role of the King in Verdi's Aida
in a cast including Beniamino Gigli
.
in November 1945. During that time he received a Fellowship of the Royal Manchester College of Music (1941) and a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music in 1945. After the war he returned occasionally to Covent Garden (notably as the Evangelist
in the première of Ralph Vaughan Williams
's The Pilgrim's Progress
), and sang with Sadlers Wells Opera
and at Glyndebourne
, but devoted himself increasingly to oratorio, including the major works of Bach, Handel and Elgar. He also gave BBC
broadcasts of lieder. In 1952 he toured Australia and New Zealand.
Walker suffered a stroke in 1955 and retired from singing on the stage but continued to broadcast. He taught at the Guildhall School of Music from 1951 until his death, his students including Ian Partridge
.
He died in London.
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
.
Early development
Walker was born into a musical family in Shaw, LancashireShaw and Crompton
Shaw and Crompton is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines, north of Oldham, southeast of Rochdale, and to the northeast of the city of Manchester...
, England. His father played trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
in an amateur brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
, and his mother was an amateur soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
. A choirboy
Choirboy
A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" refers to someone who is considered honorable or conscientious.- History :The use of choirboys in Christian...
in the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
, he continued his musical studies when he went to work in a cotton mill
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
on leaving school. By the age of fifteen and a half he already had a deep bass voice, which he used at the evening institute where he studied harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
. At the age of 17 he made his first public performance as a soloist in a concert programme including Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
arias. When he was eighteen he was heard by Mrs Percy Pitt
Percy Pitt
Percy Pitt was an English organist and conductor.A native of London, Pitt studied music at the conservatory in Leipzig, also working in Munich with Josef Rheinberger...
, wife of the conductor, and went to Laurence Lee for a year's training. While still working in a cotton mill he began to appear in Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
productions and other light opera.
College, Guildhall and film roles
He won a scholarship to the Royal Manchester College of MusicRoyal Manchester College of Music
The Royal Manchester College of Music was founded in 1893 by Sir Charles Hallé who assumed the role as Principal. For a long period of time Hallé had argued for Manchester's need for a conservatoire to properly train the local talent. The Ducie Street building, just off Oxford Road, was purchased...
in 1929, and studied singing there for three years under Richard Evans. He took parts in college opera productions, notably The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, and won the Curtis Gold Medal. Walker was then keen to go to London. He sang for Landon Ronald
Landon Ronald
Sir Landon Ronald was an English conductor, composer, pianist, singing teacher and administrator...
, and was awarded the Heilbut Major scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music, where he studied with the tenor Walter Hyde. In their production of Autumn Crocus
Autumn Crocus (film)
Autumn Crocus is a 1934 British romance film directed by Basil Dean and starring Ivor Novello, Fay Compton and Muriel Aked. A teacher falls in love with the married owner of the guest house in which she is staying during a holiday to Austria...
he was heard by Basil Dean
Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE was an English actor, writer, film producer/director and theatrical producer/director....
, who engaged him for films such as Java Head
Java Head (1934 film)
Java Head is a 1934 British historical drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and J. Walter Ruben. It starred Anna May Wong, Elizabeth Allan, Ralph Richardson, Herbert Lomas and George Curzon...
, Sing As We Go
Sing as We Go
Sing As We Go is a 1934 British musical film starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley; it was directed by Basil Dean....
and Look up and Laugh
Look Up and Laugh
Look Up and Laugh is a British comedy film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gracie Fields, Alfred Drayton, Douglas Wakefield and Vivien Leigh...
(with Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
), and Whom the Gods Love (a film about the life of Mozart).
Concert, broadcast, and Covent Garden
Norman Walker's first appearance with the Hallé Orchestra and Choir was in the BachBạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
Mass in B minor in 1933. The first of many oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
performances, this led to an appearance in the Verdi Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
at the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
for 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...
under Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
in 1935. In the same year he made his first important radio broadcast, and first appeared in the international seasons at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden. After two years or so in minor roles, he sang the roles of King Mark in Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, Gurnemanz in Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
. He also took the role of the King in Verdi's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
in a cast including Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...
.
The war and after
In 1941 he was commissioned in the RAF and served as a Flying Control Officer until demobilised as a Flight LieutenantFlight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
in November 1945. During that time he received a Fellowship of the Royal Manchester College of Music (1941) and a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music in 1945. After the war he returned occasionally to Covent Garden (notably as the Evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
in the première of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
's The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress (opera)
The Pilgrim's Progress is an opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. The composer himself described the work as a 'Morality' rather than an opera, while nonetheless he intended the work to be performed on stage, rather than in a church or cathedral...
), and sang with Sadlers Wells Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
and at Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
, but devoted himself increasingly to oratorio, including the major works of Bach, Handel and Elgar. He also gave BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
broadcasts of lieder. In 1952 he toured Australia and New Zealand.
Walker suffered a stroke in 1955 and retired from singing on the stage but continued to broadcast. He taught at the Guildhall School of Music from 1951 until his death, his students including Ian Partridge
Ian Partridge
Ian Partridge CBE is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to contemporary works. He formed a renowned vocal-piano duo with his sister...
.
He died in London.
Sources
- D. Brook, Singers of Today (Revised Edition – Rockliff, London 1958), 195–197.
- New Grove Dictionary of OperaNew Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
, vol 4, p.1090