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Norman Walker (24 November 1907 – 5 November 1963) was an English
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
singer, distinguished for his work in both opera and oratorio.The core data in this article is derived from Brook 1958, apart from those details signalled by other footnotes.


Early development

Walker was born into a musical family in Shaw, Lancashire, England. His father played trombone in an amateur brass band, and his mother was an amateur
soprano 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 ...
. 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 Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
voice, which he used at the evening institute where he studied
harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
. At the age of 17 he made his first public performance as a soloist in a concert programme including
Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
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 Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
productions and other light opera.


College, Guildhall and film roles

He won a scholarship to the Royal Manchester College of Music 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 Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortes (surname), Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Por ...
. 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 The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
, 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 Tanjung Layar, formerly Java's Eerste Punt in Dutch, and Java's First Point, or Java Head in English is a prominent cape at the extreme western end of Java, at the Indian Ocean entrance to the Sunda Strait. Java Head is a bluff at the sea's e ...
'', '' Sing As We Go'' and '' Look up and Laugh'' (with
Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
), and '' Whom the Gods Love'' (a film about the life of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
).


Concert, broadcast, and Covent Garden

Norman Walker's first appearance with the Hallé Orchestra and Choir was in the Bach
Mass in B minor The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctu ...
in 1933. The first of many oratorio performances, this led to an appearance in the Verdi ''
Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
'' 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 ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...
''.New Grove, 1090. He also took the role of the King in Verdi's '' Aida'' in a cast including
Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...
. He married the New Zealand-born mezzo-soprano and pianist Merle Miller in October 1938. They had four children: Malcolm (born 1940), Nigel (1941-1947), Douglas (1944-2019) and Elspeth (born 1948).


The War and after

In 1941 he was commissioned in the RAF and served as a
Flying Control Officer Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * ''Flying'' (Jonathan Fagerlund album), 2008 * ''Flying'' (UFO album), 1971 * '' ...
until demobilised as a
Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...
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 The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
in 1945. After the War he returned to Covent Garden in February 1948 and was a member of the company for four seasons and appeared during the 1952/53 season as a guest. He was much admired as King Mark in ''Tristan und Isolde'' and created the role of the Evangelist in the première of
Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
's '' The Pilgrim's Progress'', and sang with Sadler's Wells Opera, Jay Pomeroy's company at the Cambridge Theatre 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 Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...
. 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, Elizabeth Bainbridge,
Janet Coster Janet Coster is an English operatic mezzo-soprano. Born in London, the daughter of a London Transport employee, Coster studied at the Guildhall School of Music and privately with Eva Turner. In the 1960s she undertook a number of roles at Covent G ...
, John Dobson,
Anne Pashley Anne Pashley (5 June 1935 – 7 October 2016) was a British track and field 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. Pashley w ...
, John Heddle Nash, Paschal Allen and Lawrence Richard. His son is the recording historian, magazine editor and discographer Malcolm Walker (born 16 May 1940).Walker, Malcolm. Lawrance Collingwood. '' Classical Recordings Quarterly.'' Summer 2014, No 77, p43. He died in London on 5 November 1963.


Notes


Sources

*D. Brook, ''Singers of Today'' (Revised Edition – Rockliff, London 1958), 195–197. *
New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The 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 volu ...
, vol 4, p. 1090 {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Norman Operatic basses British music educators 1907 births 1963 deaths Musicians from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham People from Shaw and Crompton Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century British male opera singers Musicians from Greater Manchester