Anne Sharp

Anne Sharp (24 October 1916 – 25 August 2011) was a Scottish coloratura soprano particularly associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten.

Background and education

Anne Smellie Graham Sharp was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, the eighth and youngest child in a family of keen amateur musicians. Her father was an engineer in the steel industry, and also an amateur singer and choirmaster. She attended Glencairn Primary School and Dalziel High School in Motherwell. After leaving school she worked as a secretary''Seven Singing Scots'', unattributed article in the Glasgow ''Evening Times'', 1946 (exact date unknown). while taking private singing lessons, and in 1941 she began studying at the Scottish National Academy of Music in Glasgow, winning the Jean Highgate singing scholarship in 1943. During her years of study, which coincided with the Second World War, she also sang in the choir of Glasgow Cathedral. She gained the Performer's Diploma in Solo Singing from what was by then the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 1944, and similar diplomas awarded by Trinity College London and The Royal Academy of Music in 1946.

In the summer of 1946 the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, was re-establishing itself after the Second World War, and to this end a series of auditions was held in various centres around the country to recruit singers for the opera chorus. Sharp, who attended the Glasgow audition, was one of seven Scots who were successful. A contemporary newspaper article reported:

London career

At the Royal Opera House, Sharp sang in the chorus in the first post-war production, Purcell's '' The Fairy Queen'', then in the 1947 productions of Bizet's ''Carmen'', Massenet's ''Manon'' and Mozart's ''The Magic Flute''.

In March 1947 she became a founder member of Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group, singing Britten roles at Glyndebourne, Sadler's Wells, Lucerne, Scheveningen, Oslo and Copenhagen as well as the company's home base at Aldeburgh.Parry, Elisabeth (2010). ''Thirty Men and a Girl''. Allegra, pp. 225–262. Able to pass as a teenager even in her thirties, she sang the role of "tiresome village child" Emmie Spatchett in ''Albert Herring'', the centrepiece of the first Aldeburgh Festival in June 1948.

She created the roles of (13-year-old) Cis Woodger in ''Albert Herring'' and Molly Brazen in Britten's 1948 adaptation of ''The Beggar's Opera'', as well as Juliet Brook in ''The Little Sweep'', a part written for her by Britten. In the play ''Let's Make an Opera!'' which precedes ''The Little Sweep'', in which the characters were named for the original cast members, "Annie Dougall" (a bank clerk) who takes the part of the 14-year-old Juliet was originally played as a Scots girl, with the original libretto containing a number of Scots expressions for that character. Britten initially conceived the role of Polly Peachum in ''The Beggar's Opera'' for Sharp, but while composing the opera changed his concept of the character to a mezzo-soprano role. The part was eventually created by Nancy Evans.

Between 1948 and 1950 she appeared in live radio broadcasts of ''Albert Herring'', ''Let's Make an Opera!'' and ''The Beggar's Opera'' on the BBC Third Programme and the BBC Home Service. In February 1950 ''Let's Make an Opera!'' was broadcast live on BBC television, one of the earliest televised operas.Britten-Pears Foundatio
"''The Little Sweep'', op. 45"
/ref>

Other performances during this period included the soprano solo parts in Bach's Mass in B minor, Handel's ''Messiah'' and '' A German Requiem'' by Brahms, and solo recitals for the BBC Third Programme including Handel's ''Lusinghe piu care'' and " Ständchen" by Richard Straus. Operatic roles included the Queen of the Night in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute''''Memorable performance of "The Magic Flute"'', unattributed article in the ''Totnes Times'', 4 November 1950. and Micaëla in a concert performance of Bizet's ''Carmen''. She created the title role in Lawrance Collingwood's little-known opera ''The Death of Tintagiles'', at its only performance in April 1950.

Vocal quality

Elisabeth Parry, a contemporary in the English Opera Group, described Sharp as having "... a lovely natural very high soprano voice, which never seemed to give her any problem. In our digs we used to tease her because she could get out of bed in the morning and lie in the bath singing up to E in alt." In 1950 the ''Totnes Times'' described "a charming presentation of the Queen of the Night." In 1957 the ''North Star'' reviewed her performance in ''Messiah'' as follows:''Handel's Messiah – Tain performance'', unattributed article in the ''North Star'', 6 April 1957.

Marriage and later life

In December 1950, Sharp married Rev. James Lyon Kerr, a Church of Scotland minister. She continued her operatic career in London intermittently after her marriage, but after the birth of their daughter in 1953 concentrated on oratorio roles in Scotland.

In the last four years of her life, Sharp lived with her daughter in West Linton, Peeblesshire. She died in Edinburgh on 25 August 2011, aged 94.

Recordings

* Molly Brazen, in the 1948 BBC radio original cast performance of ''The Beggar's Opera'', issued by Pearl in April 2005.
* Emmie Spatchett, in a 1949 performance of ''Albert Herring'' recorded live at the Theatre Royal, Copenhagen, issued by Nimbus in September 2008.Britten-Pears Foundation
"Early ''Albert Herring'' recording released"
23 July 2008
* The 1949 BBC archive recording of ''Let's Make an Opera!'' with Anne Sharp in the dual role of Anne Dougall and Juliet Brook is not commercially available.

References

External links

* ttp://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=203296 Nimbus recording of 1949 performance of ''Albert Herring''
Guide to Musical Theatre article on ''The Beggar's Opera''

Pearl original cast recording of ''The Beggar's Opera''
:Anne Sharp in the original 1949 production of ''Let's Make an Opera!''

''Let's Make an Opera!'' play, rehearsing the audience (extreme left)
(Getty Images)

''Let's Make an Opera!'' play, rehearsing the audience in the "Night Song" (second from left)
(Getty Images)

''The Little Sweep'' scene 1, freeing Sammy from the chimney (left, standing)
(This picture is wrongly dated, being from the 1949 production not the 1951 revival.) (Boosey & Hawkes)

''The Little Sweep'' beginning of scene 2, Sammy's bath (extreme right)
(Getty Images)

''The Little Sweep'' scene 3, trying to lift the trunk (centre, rear)
(Getty Images)


(Boosey & Hawkes / ArenaPAL : Performing Arts Image Library)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Anne
People from Motherwell
Scottish operatic sopranos
People educated at Dalziel High School
1916 births
2011 deaths
20th-century Scottish women opera singers