Bernadette Greevy
Encyclopedia
Bernadette Greevy was an Irish
mezzo-soprano
. She was founder and artistic director of the Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival. She was the first artist-in-residence at the Dublin Institute of Technology
's Faculty of Applied Arts.
and was one of seven children. She went to school at the Holy Faith Convent in Clontarf and later studied in Dublin with Jean Nolan and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London
with Helene Isepp.
Greevy made her first appearance on the operatic stage at the age of 18 in the role of Siebel in Gounod
's Faust
at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. She appeared in Julius Benedict
's opera, The Lily of Killarney at Dublin's Olympia Theatre
in 1960, alongside Veronica Dunne, John Carolan and Denis Noble with conductor Fr. John O'Brien
and the Glasnevin Musical Society. In 1961, she made her professional operatic debut as Maddalena in the Dublin Grand Opera Society's production of Verdi
's Rigoletto
. She appeared at the Wexford Festival
in 1962 as Beppe in Pietro Mascagni
’s L'amico Fritz
. She made her Royal Opera House
début in 1982 as Genevieve in Claude Debussy
’s Pelléas et Mélisande
.
However, Greevy never developed the acting skills necessary for true operatic success, and made her musical mark instead in the world of oratorio
and song recitals. She was introduced to works such as Elgar
's The Dream of Gerontius
and Handel
's Messiah
by Sir John Barbirolli
, and later recorded music by Mahler
, Bach
and Haydn
.
A 1966 review by Howard Klein in the New York Times
of Greevy's recording of Handel arias stated: "The voice has the firm, compact resonance of a true contralto. She has endless breath and can move her voice with agility and precision."
Greevy had a special affinity with Mahler, in particular his orchestral song cycles. In 1966, she performed Kindertotenlieder
in London
with the then RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
. The Times
praised the 26-year-old Greevy's "full, glowing voice, rich and firm at the bottom, radiant at the top, and gloriously expressive phrasing". Later, in the 1990s, she performed all Mahler's vocal works with orchestra over a four-year period in the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires
, Argentina
.
Greevy chose to live in her native Dublin throughout her career rather than be based in one of the world's major music centres. She maintained confidently that "if you're good enough you can live where you like". Nevertheless, this decision undoubtedly curtailed her opportunities in the recording studio and on the concert stage.
Bernadette Greevy died aged 68 following a short illness. She was married to Peter Tattan, who predeceased her in 1983. They had one son, Hugh.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
. She was founder and artistic director of the Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival. She was the first artist-in-residence at the Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology was established officially in 1992 under the but had been previously set up in 1978 on an ad-hoc basis. The institution can trace its origins back to 1887 with the establishment of various technical institutions in Dublin, Ireland...
's Faculty of Applied Arts.
Biography
Bernadette Greevy was born in Clontarf, DublinClontarf, Dublin
Clontarf is a coastal suburb on the northside of Dublin, in Ireland. It is most famous for giving the name to the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, in which Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, defeated the Vikings of Dublin and their allies, the Irish of Leinster. This battle, which extended to districts...
and was one of seven children. She went to school at the Holy Faith Convent in Clontarf and later studied in Dublin with Jean Nolan and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with Helene Isepp.
Greevy made her first appearance on the operatic stage at the age of 18 in the role of Siebel in Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. She appeared in Julius Benedict
Julius Benedict
Sir Julius Benedict was a German-born composer and conductor, resident in England for most of his career.-Life:...
's opera, The Lily of Killarney at Dublin's Olympia Theatre
Olympia Theatre, Dublin
The Olympia Theatre is a concert hall/theatre venue in Dublin, Ireland, located in Dame Street.-History:Built in 1879, it was originally called the "Star of Erin Music Hall". Two years later in 1881, it was renamed "Dan Lowrey's Music Hall" and was renamed again in 1889 to "Dan Lowrey's Palace of...
in 1960, alongside Veronica Dunne, John Carolan and Denis Noble with conductor Fr. John O'Brien
Fr. John O'Brien
John O'Brien was a Roman Catholic priest who worked in the Archdiocese of Dublin from 1956 until his death in 2008. He is best remembered as one of Ireland's leading conductors, a prominent organist and founder of the retired St...
and the Glasnevin Musical Society. In 1961, she made her professional operatic debut as Maddalena in the Dublin Grand Opera Society's production of Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
. She appeared at the Wexford Festival
Wexford Festival Opera
The Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in South-Eastern Ireland during the months of October and November.-Festival origins under Tom Walsh, 1951 to 1966:...
in 1962 as Beppe in Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
’s L'amico Fritz
L'amico Fritz
L'amico Fritz is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon , based on the French novel L'ami Fritz by Émile Erckmann and Pierre-Alexandre Chatrian.While the opera enjoyed some success in its day and is probably Mascagni's most famous work after...
. She made her Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
début in 1982 as Genevieve in Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
’s Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
.
However, Greevy never developed the acting skills necessary for true operatic success, and made her musical mark instead in the world of oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
and song recitals. She was introduced to works such as Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
and Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
by Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, and later recorded music by Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
, Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
.
A 1966 review by Howard Klein in the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
of Greevy's recording of Handel arias stated: "The voice has the firm, compact resonance of a true contralto. She has endless breath and can move her voice with agility and precision."
Greevy had a special affinity with Mahler, in particular his orchestral song cycles. In 1966, she performed Kindertotenlieder
Kindertotenlieder
Kindertotenlieder is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with the then RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert music orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
praised the 26-year-old Greevy's "full, glowing voice, rich and firm at the bottom, radiant at the top, and gloriously expressive phrasing". Later, in the 1990s, she performed all Mahler's vocal works with orchestra over a four-year period in the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
Greevy chose to live in her native Dublin throughout her career rather than be based in one of the world's major music centres. She maintained confidently that "if you're good enough you can live where you like". Nevertheless, this decision undoubtedly curtailed her opportunities in the recording studio and on the concert stage.
Bernadette Greevy died aged 68 following a short illness. She was married to Peter Tattan, who predeceased her in 1983. They had one son, Hugh.
Operatic roles
- BizetGeorges BizetGeorges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
: CarmenCarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
(Carmen) - BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
: The Rape of Lucretia (Lucretia) - GluckChristoph Willibald GluckChristoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
: Orfeo e EuridiceOrfeo ed EuridiceOrfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
(Orfeo) - HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
: AriodanteAriodanteAriodante is an opera seria in three acts by Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso... - MassenetJules MassenetJules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
: HérodiadeHérodiadeHérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...
(Hérodiade) - Massenet: WertherWertherWerther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
- PurcellHenry PurcellHenry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
: Dido and AeneasDido and AeneasDido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid...
(Dido) - Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
: Samson et DalilaSamson and Delilah (opera)Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
(Delilah) - VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
: Il TrovatoreIl trovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
(Azucena) - Verdi: Don CarlosDon CarlosDon Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
(Eboli)
Awards and honours
These include:- Harriet Cohen International Music AwardHarriet Cohen International Music AwardThe Harriet Cohen International Music Award was founded in 1951 by Sir Arnold Bax and others in 1951, in honour of the British pianist Harriet Cohen.- 1950s :1951*Philippe Entremont – Piano Medal1954*Ingrid Haebler – Beethoven Medal1955...
for Outstanding Artistry - National Order of Merit (conferred by MaltaMaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
) - Honorary Doctorate of Music, National University of Ireland
- Honorary Doctorate of Music, Trinity College, DublinTrinity College, DublinTrinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
- Jacob's AwardJacob's AwardsThe Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients were selected by Ireland's national newspaper television...
(1978) for her performance on radio of MahlerGustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic... - The papal cross Pro Ecclesia et PontificePro Ecclesia et PontificeThe Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal is an award of the Roman Catholic Church. It is also known as the "Cross of Honour". The medal was established by Leo XIII on July 17, 1888, to commemorate his golden sacerdotal jubilee and was originally bestowed on those women and men who had aided and...
(conferred by the Holy SeeHoly SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
)
Selected recordings
- MahlerGustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
: KindertotenliederKindertotenliederKindertotenlieder is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler...
/Rückert Lieder (1997) (with the RTÉ National Symphony OrchestraRTÉ National Symphony OrchestraThe RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert music orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
conducted by János FürstJános FürstJános Fürst was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.János Fürst originally studied the violin at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in his native Budapest. After the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, he continued studies at the conservatory in Brussels. He attended the Conservatoire de Paris...
), Naxos 8.554156 - A Sheaf of Songs from Ireland (1998) (features songs by John F. Larchet, Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers StanfordSir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
, Carl HardebeckCarl Hardebeck-Origins:Hardebeck, whose father was German and mother was Welsh, was born in Clerkenwell, London in 1869. He lost his sight when he was a baby. He was educated in London and showed a marked aptitude for music.-Move to Ireland:...
, Gerard VictoryGerard VictoryGerard Victory was a prolific Irish composer, writing over two hundred works across many genres and styles including tonal, serial, aleatoric and electroacoustic music.-Biography:Victory was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1921...
, Vincent O’Brien and Havelock NelsonHavelock NelsonHavelock Nelson was a composer and conductor. He joined the BBC in Belfast in 1947, having been educated at Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He conducted the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra, also the Studio Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Singers...
), Marco Polo 8.225098 - Great HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
Arias (1998) (with the Academy of St. Martin in the FieldsAcademy of St. Martin in the FieldsThe Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...
conducted by Raymond LeppardRaymond LeppardRaymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School...
), Decca Eloquence 4615932 - Bernadette Greevy Sings BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
(1998) (featuring Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121, and Two Songs, for voice, viola and piano, Op. 91), Claddagh 52CD - ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
: Symphony No. 2 in E flat; Sea PicturesSea PicturesSea Pictures, Op. 37 is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar...
(2002) (with the London Philharmonic OrchestraLondon Philharmonic OrchestraThe London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
conducted by Vernon HandleyVernon HandleyVernon George "Tod" Handley CBE was a British conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mother into a musical family in Enfield, London. He acquired the nickname "Tod" because his feet were turned in at his birth, which his...
), EMI 575306 - Gerard VictoryGerard VictoryGerard Victory was a prolific Irish composer, writing over two hundred works across many genres and styles including tonal, serial, aleatoric and electroacoustic music.-Biography:Victory was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1921...
: Ultima Rerum (2004), Marco Polo 8.223532-33