Dame Janet Abbott Baker (born 21 August 1933) is an Englishmezzo-soprano best known as anopera, concert, andlieder singer.[1]
Baker is particularly closely associated with baroque and earlyItalian opera and the works ofBenjamin Britten. During her career, which lasted from the 1950s to the 1980s, she was considered an outstanding singing actress and widely admired for her dramatic intensity, perhaps best represented in her famous portrayal asDido, thetragic heroine ofBerlioz's magnum opus,Les Troyens. As a concert performer, Baker was noted for her interpretations of the music ofGustav Mahler andEdward Elgar. David Gutman, writing inGramophone, described her performance of Mahler'sKindertotenlieder as "intimate, almost self-communing".[2]
Janet Abbott Baker was born inHatfield, in theWest Riding of Yorkshire, where her father was an engineer as well as a chorister.[3][4] Members of her family worked at Bentley Pit, inDoncaster.[5] She attendedYork College for Girls and thenWintringham Girls' Grammar School inGrimsby.[6] The death, when she was 10 years old, of her elder brother Peter, from a heart condition, was a formative moment that made her take responsibility for the rest of her life; she revealed this in aBBC Radio 3 Lebrecht Interview in September 2011.[7]
In her early years Baker worked in a bank, transferring to London in 1953 where she trained withMeriel St Clair andHelene Isepp, whose sonMartin became her regular accompanist.[8][9] Knocked down by a bus in 1956, she suffered concussion and a persistently painful back injury.[8] In the same year she came second in theKathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition at the Wigmore Hall, winning national attention.[8]
In 1956, she made her stage debut withOxford University's Opera Club as Miss Róza inSmetana'sThe Secret. That year, she also made her debut atGlyndebourne. In 1959, she sang Eduige in the Handel Opera Society'sRodelinda; otherHandel roles includedAriodante (1964), of which she later made a notable recording withRaymond Leppard, andOrlando (1966), which she sang at the Barber Institute, Birmingham.[10]
During this same period she made an equally strong impact on audiences in the concert hall, both in oratorio roles and solo recitals. Among her most notable achievements are her recordings of the Angel inElgar'sThe Dream of Gerontius, made with SirJohn Barbirolli in December 1964 and SirSimon Rattle over twenty years later; her 1965 performances of Elgar'sSea Pictures and Mahler'sRückert Lieder, also recorded with Barbirolli; and, also from 1965, the first commercial recording ofRalph Vaughan Williams's Christmas oratorioHodie under SirDavid Willcocks with The Bach Choir. In 1963, she sang the contralto part in the first performance at the BBC Promenade Concerts of Mahler'sResurrection Symphony under the direction ofLeopold Stokowski, then making his Proms debut appearances. She performed in 1971 for thePeabody Mason Concert series in Boston.[13]
In 1976 she premiered the solo cantataPhaedra, written for her by Britten; andDominick Argento's Pulitzer Prize-winning song cycleFrom the Diary of Virginia Woolf, also written with her voice in mind. She has also been highly praised for her insightful performances ofBrahms'sAlto Rhapsody andWagner'sWesendonck Lieder, as well as solo songs from the French, German and English repertoire.
Dame Janet's final operatic appearance was as Orfeo in Gluck'sOrfeo ed Euridice, on 17 July 1982, at Glyndebourne.[14] In May 1988, she repeated the role in a concert performance with the Oratorio Society of New York (an unannounced farewell to the U.S.). She had continued to perform lieder recitals, retiring for good in 1989 (although she did make a small handful of recordings in January 1990). She published a memoir,Full Circle, in 1982. In 1991, Baker was electedChancellor of theUniversity of York.[5] She held the position until 2004, when she was succeeded byGreg Dyke.[5] An enthusiastic Patron of theLeeds International Pianoforte Competition, she gave an address at the closing ceremony of the 2009 event.[15]
She married James Keith Shelley in 1957 in Harrow; he became her manager and accompanied her to engagements. They decided not to have children for the sake of her career.[25] Following her retirement as a singer, she did perform and record some spoken roles, for example the role of the narrator in Britten's incidental music forThe Rescue of Penelope; in later years, apart from occasional public appearances such as the 2009 Leeds event, she said she had "nothing to do with anyone except close friends".[14] Those friends include the singerFelicity Lott, pianistImogen Cooper, conductorJane Glover and actressPatricia Routledge, all of whom appeared in a BBC documentary profile,Janet Baker in her own words, shown in 2019.[26] After her husband suffered a stroke, she cared for him at home.[27] He died in June 2019.[citation needed]
Berlioz:L'Enfance du Christ, Op.25 – John Alldis Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis. Recorded Watford Town Hall, 24–28 October 1976. LP Philips 6700 106, CD 415 949 2.[28]
Berlioz:La Mort de Cléopâtre (withHerminie and 5 songs), London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis cond. (Philips, rec. 03/1979)
Brahms:Alto Rhapsody, op 53, with the male voices of the John Alldis Choir,London Philharmonic Orchestra, SirAdrian Boult. Recorded Abbey Road Studios, London, 15 December 1970. Producer: Christopher Bishop; Balance engineer: Christopher Parker. CDM 7 69424 2.
Handel:Julius Caesar with theEnglish National Opera;Charles Mackerras conducting (Chandos CHAN 3019; recorded 1–7 August 1984; released 1999). A studio-made video of the ENO production, recorded at Limehouse Studio, was released on video and later DVD.[29]
.jpg)
