Anne Pashley (5 June 1935 – 7 October 2016) was a British
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
sprinter, who represented Great Britain at the
1956 Summer Olympics. Following her track and field career, she made a second career as a
soprano singer
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
.
Pashley was born on 5 June 1935 in
Skegness
Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, ...
, Lincolnshire, the younger of two daughters of Roy Pashley, an English teacher, and his wife Milly Pashley, who ran a holiday camp.
She attended school in Great Yarmouth, where her athletic skills came to attention.
In 1953, at the AAA championships in White City, Pashley equalled the British women's 100-yard record of 10.8 seconds. She took the
bronze medal at the
1954 European Championships in
Berne, Switzerland
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
in the women's individual
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...
, behind
Irina Turova (Soviet Union) and
Bertha van Duyne (Netherlands). At the 1956 summer Olympics, she and her teammates
Jean Scrivens,
June Foulds
June Florence Paul (née Foulds; 13 June 1934 – 6 November 2020) was a British track and field sprint runner.
Personal life
Born June Florence Foulds in Shepherd's Bush in 1934, she was brought up by her grandparents. She married British ...
and
Heather Armitage
Heather Joy Armitage (later ''Young'', then ''McClelland;'' born 17 March 1933) is a British retired sprinter and British record holder for the 100 yards.
Sporting career
Armitage won her first major title representing Yorkshire in the all En ...
won the
silver medal in the women's
4 × 100 m relay
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
. Pashley retired from athletic competition soon after the Melbourne Olympics.
Pashley them embarked on a second career as an
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
singer, as a
soprano. She studied at the
Guildhall School of Music, and made her stage debut in 1959. She made her debut at
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hun ...
as the Second Boy in ''
Die Zauberflöte
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...
'' in 1962,
with her
Covent Garden debut as a bridesmaid in ''
Le nozze di Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
'' in 1963 and Barbarina in the same opera the following year, going on to sing a wide range of roles at the Royal Opera House, from a Page in ''
Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...
'', Berta in ''
Il barbiere di Siviglia
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based ...
'', a niece in ''Peter Grimes'', Amor in ''
Orfeo ed Euridice'', Karolka in ''
Jenůfa
''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed ...
'', Ascanius in ''
The Trojans'', Emma in ''
Khovanshchina
''Khovanshchina'' ( rus, Хованщина, , xɐˈvanʲɕːɪnə, Ru-Khovanshchina_version.ogg, sometimes rendered ''The Khovansky Affair'') is an opera (subtitled a 'national music drama') in five acts by Modest Mussorgsky. The work was writt ...
'', A Flower Maiden in ''
Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival ...
'', Mercédès in ''
Carmen'', Feódor in ''
Boris Godunov'' and two roles in the world premiere of ''
We Come to the River
''We Come to the River – '' is an opera by Hans Werner Henze to an English-language libretto by Edward Bond. Henze and Bond described this work as "Actions for music", rather than an opera. It was Henze's 7th opera, originally written for The Ro ...
''.
She sang Siébel in ''
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
'' at Sadler's Wells in 1965,
[Obituary - Anne Pashley. '']Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
'', February 2017, Vol 68 No 2, p178. later singing Gretel with the company. She also sang for
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...
including the premiere of ''
The Parlour'',
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland.
History
Scottish ...
,
Kent Opera
Kent Opera was a British opera company active between 1969 and 1989. It was based in Ashford and regular venues included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford; Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells; Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; Kings Theatre, Southsea; Theatre ...
and the
New Opera Company
The New Opera Company was a British opera company active during the period 1956 to 1984. It was mainly based at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London and later worked in co-ordination with English National Opera. The company was responsible for the premi ...
,
with whom she participated in the first UK performance of ''
Cardillac
''Cardillac'', Op. 39, is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. Ferdinand Lion wrote the libretto based on characters from the short story ''Das Fräulein von Scuderi'' by E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Performance history
The first per ...
'' in 1970, as Cardillac's Daughter, opposite her husband as an officer, her lover.
Her work in concert opera included a 1972 performance of Sir Arthur Bliss' ''
The Olympians
''The Olympians'' is an opera in three acts by Arthur Bliss to a libretto by J. B. Priestley, first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 29 September 1949, conducted by Karl Rankl in a production by Peter Brook.
After the initi ...
'', as Madeleine.
At
Wexford
Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...
she appeared as Stéphano in ''
Roméo et Juliette'' (1967), Aminta in ''
Il re pastore
' (''The Shepherd King'') is an opera, K. 208, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Metastasio, edited by Giambattista Varesco. It is an opera seria. The opera was first performed on 23 April 1775 in Salzburg in the Ritt ...
'' (1971), and the title role in ''
Eritrea'' (1975). She also appeared at the
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...
and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
festivals. In 1969 she sang the Second niece in the BBC video of ''
Peter Grimes
''Peter Grimes'', Op. 33, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Montagu Slater based on the section "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's long narrative poem '' The Borough''. The "borough" of the opera is a fictional ...
'', recorded in the
Maltings
A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain food ...
and took the same role in the 1978 Philips recording under
Colin Davis and the 1981 video, also with Davis. She appeared in a television version of ''
The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' (german: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, links=no) is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed on 9 March 1930 at the ...
'' on the BBC in 1965, as Jenny.
Noël Goodwin
Trevor Noël Goodwin (25 December 1927 – 27 March 2013) was an English music critic, dance critic and author who specialized in classical music and ballet. Described as having a "rare ability to write about music and dance with equal distincti ...
. Review of broadcast of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. BBC2, 28 February, ''Opera'' April 1965, Vol 16 No 4, p305-306.
Pashley married fellow opera singer Jack Irons, a fellow Guildhall student, in 1959. The marriage produced a son, Leon, and a daughter, Cleo. The marriage lasted until Irons' death in 2005. Their son Leon died in 2013. Pashley's daughter Cleo survives her.
References
External links
Anne Pashley (Soprano) - Short Biography. Bach-cantatas.com websiteObituary notice for Anne (Pashley) Irons, ''The Times'', 14 October 2016*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pashley, Anne
1935 births
2016 deaths
English female sprinters
Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes of Great Britain
Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
English operatic sopranos
European Athletics Championships medalists
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
20th-century British women opera singers
Olympic female sprinters