Joan Carlyle
Encyclopedia
Joan Carlyle is a Welsh
opera singer (born 6 April 1931 Wirral
, Cheshire
).
After studying singing with Madame Nicklass Kempner, Joan Carlyle auditioned for the Royal Opera House
and was put under contract by music director Rafael Kubelík
and made her debut in 1955.
She became one of the principal English-speaking singers who emerged at Covent Garden in the 1950s and became an established member of the Covent Garden Opera Company. These included sopranos Amy Shuard
, Joan Sutherland
, Elsie Morison
, Marie Collier
, and Josephine Veasey
; tenors Jon Vickers
and Peter Pears
; bass Michael Langdon
and Geraint Evans
While often being paired with Jon Vickers, conductor and music director Rudolf Kempe
was a powerful influence and nurtured her career. It was with Kempe that she had her first successes in the 1958/1959 season as “Sophie” in Luchino Visconti
’s production of Der Rosenkavalier
, and then as “Micaela” in Carmen
.
Carlyle sang many major roles at the Royal Opera House. They included her "Nedda" in Pagliacci
which brought her international acclaim in Franco Zeffirelli
's controversial production during the 1959/1960 season.
Other roles, which she performed throughout many seasons included “Oscar” in Un ballo in maschera
, a performance which Montague Haltrecht, in his biography of the first ROH General Director David Webster
, describes as "the young Joan Carlyle makes a pageboy with a delicious vocal glitter"; “Ascanius” in Les Troyens
; “Mimi” in Peter Brook
’s La bohème
which resulted in a BBC Television production of the opera.
In her first recording, she is featured as "The Voice From Heaven" in a Decca release of Verdi
's Don Carlo in June/July 1965 with the ROH Orchestra conducted by Solti. Featured singers include Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi
, Grace Bumbry
, Nicolai Ghiaurov
, and Martti Talvela
.
In Italian opera her successes include “Desdemona” in Verdi's Otello
with James McCracken
in the 1965/1966 season, and subsequently with Jon Vickers
in 1972, where her performance was noted as being “experienced, dignified, and often very touching” by Philip Hope-Wallace in his review in The Guardian
in June 1972.
Carlyle was no less at home on the concert platform than in the opera house, she had a concert repertoire which included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Brahms' German Requiem and the Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Poulenc's Gloria, Orf's Carmina Burana and Mahler's Fourth Symphony.
Now retired, she lives in Wales and teaches singing privately. Also, she has taught master classes and workshops at such institutions as the Royal College of Music
in London.
1959: "Glauce" in Medea
with Maria Callas
in the title role.
1961: “Tytanya” in Benjamin Britten
’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by Georg Solti
during his first year as music director.
1962: “Pamina” in The Magic Flute conducted by Otto Klemperer
.
1963: "The Countess" in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Solti with Tito Gobbi
as the Count.
1967: “Arabella” in Richard Strauss
’ Arabella
. She was the first British singer to perform this role, which she sang opposite Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
, conducted by Solti.
1968/69: "Jenifer" in Michael Tippett
's The Midsummer Marriage
. She also recorded the part in the first complete recording of this work.
La Scala, Milan:
"Mimi" in La bohème
conducted by Herbert von Karajan
.
US Debut:
March 1963: She made her American debut in Boston in the Brahms
' A German Requiem with Erich Leinsdorf
.
Other engagements:
These included performances at the Munich Festival (where her Zdenka in Strauss's Arabella opposite Lisa Della Casa
prompted her interest in the title role), in Brussels, Monaco and Holland as well as at the Staatsoper in Vienna, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Staatsoper in Munich, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aries in 1968, and other major houses in Europe.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
opera singer (born 6 April 1931 Wirral
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
).
After studying singing with Madame Nicklass Kempner, Joan Carlyle auditioned for the 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...
and was put under contract by music director Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
and made her debut in 1955.
She became one of the principal English-speaking singers who emerged at Covent Garden in the 1950s and became an established member of the Covent Garden Opera Company. These included sopranos Amy Shuard
Amy Shuard
Amy Shuard CBE was an English operatic soprano renowned in such dramatic roles as Elektra, Turandot and Brünnhilde. She created both title roles in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and Jenůfa in their respective British premieres. She has been described as "the best English dramatic soprano since Eva...
, Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Elsie Morison
Elsie Morison
Elsie Jean Morison is an Australian soprano.Morison was born in Ballarat, Victoria, and studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music from 1943-45...
, Marie Collier
Marie Collier
Marie Collier was an Australian operatic soprano.Marie Collier was born in Ballarat, Victoria. She first came to prominence in 1952 singing the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana for the National Theatre Opera company in Melbourne...
, and Josephine Veasey
Josephine Veasey
Josephine Veasey is a British mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Wagner and Berliozroles.-Life and career:Born in Peckham, she studied with Audrey Langford, and became a member of the Royal Opera House chorus in 1949, she made her debut as a soloist in 1955, as the Shepherd Boy in...
; tenors Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
and Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
; bass Michael Langdon
Michael Langdon
Michael Langdon was a British bass opera singer.Langdon was born in Wolverhampton. He had six half brothers and sisters, the youngest, Maud being 19 years his senior. His father, Harry was sixty when his youngest son was born and by all accounts a very strong personality...
and Geraint Evans
Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
While often being paired with Jon Vickers, conductor and music director Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor.- Biography :Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929...
was a powerful influence and nurtured her career. It was with Kempe that she had her first successes in the 1958/1959 season as “Sophie” in Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
’s production of Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, and then as “Micaela” in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen 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...
.
Carlyle sang many major roles at the Royal Opera House. They included her "Nedda" in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
which brought her international acclaim in Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
's controversial production during the 1959/1960 season.
Other roles, which she performed throughout many seasons included “Oscar” in Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
, a performance which Montague Haltrecht, in his biography of the first ROH General Director David Webster
David Webster (opera manager)
Sir David Webster was the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1945 to 1970. He played a key part in the establishment of the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera companies....
, describes as "the young Joan Carlyle makes a pageboy with a delicious vocal glitter"; “Ascanius” in Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
; “Mimi” in Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
’s La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
which resulted in a BBC Television production of the opera.
In her first recording, she is featured as "The Voice From Heaven" in a Decca release 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 Don Carlo in June/July 1965 with the ROH Orchestra conducted by Solti. Featured singers include Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period...
, Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry , an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano for many years...
, Nicolai Ghiaurov
Nicolai Ghiaurov
Nicolai Ghiaurov was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous bass singers of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi.Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978...
, and Martti Talvela
Martti Talvela
Martti Talvela was a Finnish operatic bass.Born in Hiitola, Finland , he studied in Lahti and Stockholm, and made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 as Sparafucile. At , he was the tallest singer of his century. He trained as a boxer in his youth and developed the stamina necessary for the...
.
In Italian opera her successes include “Desdemona” in Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
with James McCracken
James McCracken
James McCracken was an American operatic tenor. At the time of his death The New York Times stated that McCracken was "the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States and a pillar of the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s and 1970s."-Biography:Born in Gary, Indiana,...
in the 1965/1966 season, and subsequently with Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
in 1972, where her performance was noted as being “experienced, dignified, and often very touching” by Philip Hope-Wallace in his review in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in June 1972.
Carlyle was no less at home on the concert platform than in the opera house, she had a concert repertoire which included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Brahms' German Requiem and the Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Poulenc's Gloria, Orf's Carmina Burana and Mahler's Fourth Symphony.
Now retired, she lives in Wales and teaches singing privately. Also, she has taught master classes and workshops at such institutions as the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
in London.
Other notable roles
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London:1959: "Glauce" in Medea
Medea
Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
with Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
in the title role.
1961: “Tytanya” in Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward 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...
’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
during his first year as music director.
1962: “Pamina” in The Magic Flute conducted by Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
.
1963: "The Countess" in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Solti with Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.-Biography:Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa and studied law at the University of Padua before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome...
as the Count.
1967: “Arabella” in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
’ Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
. She was the first British singer to perform this role, which she sang opposite Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, conducted by Solti.
1968/69: "Jenifer" in Michael Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
's The Midsummer Marriage
The Midsummer Marriage
The Midsummer Marriage is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard...
. She also recorded the part in the first complete recording of this work.
La Scala, Milan:
"Mimi" in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
.
US Debut:
March 1963: She made her American debut in Boston in the Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes 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...
' A German Requiem with Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
.
Other engagements:
These included performances at the Munich Festival (where her Zdenka in Strauss's Arabella opposite Lisa Della Casa
Lisa Della Casa
Lisa Della Casa is a Swiss soprano most admired for her interpretations of major heroines in major operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss, of German lieder, and for her great beauty. She was dubbed “the most beautiful woman on the operatic stage”...
prompted her interest in the title role), in Brussels, Monaco and Holland as well as at the Staatsoper in Vienna, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Staatsoper in Munich, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aries in 1968, and other major houses in Europe.