Anne Wood (2 August 1907 – 12 June 1998), was a British
mezzo-soprano singer and opera administrator.
Early life
Anne Wood was born on 2 August 1907 at The Grange,
Crawley, Sussex, the daughter of
Percival Wood, JP for Sussex, and his wife, Eleanor.
She was educated at
St Mary's School, Calne
St Mary's School is an independent day and boarding school in Calne, Wiltshire, for girls aged 11 to 18. The school is a registered charity.
St Mary's Calne is the top performing independent school in the South West, ranked by 2017 examinatio ...
, and studied singing alongside
Elena Gerhardt
Elena Gerhardt (11 November 1883 – 11 January 1961) was a German mezzo-soprano singer associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters. She left Germany for good to live in London ...
, George Parker, and
Eve de Reussy.
Career
In 1934, Wood joined the
BBC Singers
The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC.
One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British ...
, at the same time as
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years.
Pears' musical career starte ...
, who was to become her lifelong friend.
Wood was the other soloist in Pera's first commercial recording,
Peter Warlock
Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...
's ''Corpus Christi Carol'' in 1936.
During the Second World War, she was employed by the
Ministry of Economic Warfare
The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. The minister was in charge of the Special Operations Executive and the Ministry of Economic Warfare.
See also
* Blockade of Germany (193 ...
to work on
black propaganda
Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propagan ...
, as she was a fluent in the German language. By night she drove an ambulance.
Wood also worked for the
Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, later ENSA; and was an ambulance driver during the evening.
After the War, Wood returned to her career and was a "leading mezzo-soprano", and a "resourceful interpreter" of contemporary and modern music.
She sang in many premières, including in 1950,
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
's
Spring Symphony
The Spring Symphony is a choral symphony by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 44. It is dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was premiered in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on Thursday 14 July 1949 (not 9 July which is ...
in Amsterdam.
In 1948, Wood was one of the prime movers in the creation of the
English Opera Group
The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten (along with John Piper, Eric Crozier and Anne Wood) for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operat ...
, and was its general manager until 1951, working alongside Britten,
John Piper, and
Eric Crozier
Eric Crozier OBE (14 November 19147 September 1994) was a British theatrical director, opera librettist and producer, long associated with Benjamin Britten.
Early life and career
Crozier was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Dr ...
.
In 1949, together with the soprano
Joan Cross
Joan Cross (7 September 1900 – 12 December 1993) was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on ...
, Wood formed the
Opera Studio, the first school in the UK to train opera singers; and by 1952 it had become the
London Opera School, and in 1959, the
National School of Opera,
and later,
London Opera Centre The London Opera Centre, a school for the training of opera singers and other opera professionals, existed in England between 1963 and 1978. It was located in the former Troxy Cinema on Commercial Road in London's East End Borough of Stepney (now T ...
.
For many years, she and her long-term companion, Scottish mezzo-soprano
Johanna Peters (1932–2000) ran
Phoenix Opera, a touring company.
Later life
Wood died on 12 June 1998 at the
Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth
The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, London, England, is a Catholic charitable general hospital in north London.
History and operations
The hospital was founded in 1856 with a Roman Catholic affiliation and is a register ...
, Westminster, London.
References
1907 births
1998 deaths
People from Crawley
British arts administrators
Women arts administrators
Operatic mezzo-sopranos
20th-century British women opera singers
Musicians from Sussex
People educated at St Mary's School, Calne
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