Rita Hunter (15 August 193329 April 2001) was a British

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 librett ...

tic

dramatic soprano A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...

Biography

Rita Hunter was born in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

, Merseyside and lived in Limekiln Lane. During her childhood, her parents, both fans of

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

, would take Rita to many of the final tours of the last music-hall artists.Rita Hunter talks to John Greenhalgh. ''

Music and Musicians Hansom Books was a British publisher founded in 1950 by Philip Dosse to produce the magazine ''Dance and Dancers''. Magazines in a similar format were then founded to cover other arts, so forming the Seven Arts Group. The other titles were ''Art ...

'', March 1979, p26-27. She studied singing in Liverpool with Edwin Francis and later in London with Redvers Llewellyn and

Clive Carey Francis Clive Savill Carey CBE (30 May 188330 April 1968), known as Clive Carey, was an English baritone, singing teacher, composer, opera producer and folk song collector. Biography Clive Carey was born at Sible Hedingham, Essex, in 1883. He ...

. She joined the

Sadler's Wells Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English. ...

Company in 1957, and sang in the chorus with them for two years before touring with the

Carl Rosa Opera Company The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, and his wife, British operatic soprano Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company premiere ...

. She then obtained a grant from the Countess of Munster Trust, which made it possible for her to study for a year with Dame

Eva Turner Dame Eva Turner, (10 March 1892 – 16 June 1990) was an English dramatic soprano with an international reputation. Her strong, steady and well-trained voice was renowned for its clarion power in Italian and German operatic roles. Career Eva ...

. After this she went back to the Company as a principal, where her roles included Senta in ''

The Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...

'', Musetta in ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...

'', Odabella in ''

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

'', Fata Morgana in ''

The Love for Three Oranges ''The Love for Three Oranges'', Op. 33, also known by its French language title ' (russian: Любовь к трём апельсинам, links=no, ''Lyubov' k tryom apel'sinam''), is a satirical opera by Sergei Prokofiev. Its French libretto ...

'', Donna Anna 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 ...

'', Amelia in ''

A Masked Ball ''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''. The ...

'', Santuzza in ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...

'', Elizabeth in ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...

'' and Leonora in ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

''. Rita Hunter will be remembered as one of the major

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

ian sopranos of the later 20th century, especially for her performances as all three of the

Brünnhilde Brunhild, also known as Brunhilda or Brynhild ( non, Brynhildr , gmh, Brünhilt, german: Brünhild , label= Modern German or ), is a female character from Germanic heroic legend. She may have her origins in the Visigothic princess Brunhilda ...

s in the

Ring cycle (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...

, conducted by

Reginald Goodall Sir Reginald Goodall (13 July 1901 – 5 May 1990) was an English conductor and singing coach noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and for conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten. Early life Goodall ...

at the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

.Mini-biography in EMI

''Die Walküre'' insert booklet, London 1976. In this production she was partnered by

Alberto Remedios Alberto Remedios (27 February 193511 June 2016) was a British operatic tenor, especially noted for his interpretations of Wagner's heldentenor roles. Biography Alberto Remedios was born in Liverpool and began his working life as a shipyard w ...

(who had studied singing at the same time as Hunter in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

with Edwin Francis) as

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

, and Norman Bailey as

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelun ...

. The recordings based on this production, with the same artists, are regarded as amongst the finest available, even though they are sung, in accordance with ENO practice, in English. In an interview in 1979 Hunter expressed her dissatisfaction with having to sing the same part in both English and the original languages. "I find it very difficult learning a role in different languages. The phrasing is different - one has to take breath in a different place." She also recalled having to know " Santuzza in three different English translations as well as in Italian". She found Italian easier to learn and memorize than German. In the

Glen Byam Shaw Glencairn Alexander "Glen" Byam Shaw, CBE (13 December 1904 – 29 April 1986) was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later. In the 1920s and 1930 ...

Ring production, the quality of Hunter's singing and interpretation enabled audiences to set aside her outsize stature (which conformed to all prejudices about Wagnerian sopranos), and few have matched her conviction as Brünnhilde. She made her debut at the New York

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

on 19 December 1972, in ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...

'', with great success (conductor

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

and Dame Gwyneth Jones as

Sieglinde Sieglinde is a Germanic feminine given name. It is derived from two German words or elements. Those being: "sigu" for victory and "lind" for soft, tender, flexible. The diminutive version is "Sigi" or "Siggie". It is also seen in German mytholog ...

). She performed the ''Götterdämmerung'' Brünnhilde at Covent Garden, and also sang the part of Senta there at short notice. Hunter's later Metropolitan Opera performances of ''Die Walküre'' in 1975 featured

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide répertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner a ...

as Sieglinde and were conducted by

Sixten Ehrling Evert Sixten Ehrling (3 April 1918 – 13 February 2005) was a Sweden, Swedish Conducting, conductor and Piano, pianist who, during a long career, served as the music director of the Royal Swedish Opera and the principal conductor of the Detro ...

. She also performed in Wagner and other operas in Munich, Seattle, New Orleans, San Francisco, and with the

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 ...

. Among conductors with whom she worked whom she found sympathetic to the singer, she cited

Carlo Felice Cillario Carlo Felice Cillario (7 February 191513 December 2007) was an Argentinian-born Italian conductor of international renown.See Obituary, Elizabeth Forbes. Biography Born Carlos Felix Cillario in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina, he went to Italy in 1 ...

and

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...

Honours

In 1980 she was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE). She was also the recipient of Hon. RAM. Hon. DMUS (Doctor of Music Liverpool University) and Hon.DLIT (Doctor of Letters Warwick University)

Autobiography

In 1981 she moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and joined the Australian Opera. Her autobiography, ''Wait till the sun shines, Nellie'', was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1986. She died in Sydney in 2001, aged 67 and is survived by her daughter, Mairwyn Curtis (nee Hunter-Thomas) and her two grandchildren.

Notes

References

*Forbes, Elizabeth, ‘Hunter, Rita Nellie (1933–2001)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
online edition
Oxford University Press, Jan 2005 (accessed 30 June 2007) *'In Memoriam: Rita Hunter', ''The Musical Times''

Summer 2001 (accessed 30 June 2007) *Griffiths, Paul, 'Rita Hunter, 67, Soprano Skilled in Wagner'

May 6, 2001 (accessed 23 March 2008) *''Die Walküre'' cond.

, ''Booklet of explanatory notes'' to item SLS 5063, (EMI, London 1976).

External links

*Rita Hunte
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Rita 1933 births 2001 deaths English operatic sopranos Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Wallasey 20th-century British women opera singers