Gerald English

{{Short description|English tenor (1925–2019)}} {{Use British English|date=July 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | background = person | name = Gerald English | image = Gerald English (1).jpg | alt = Publicity headshot of clean-shaven man with pale, oiled hair, brushed back, and spectacles. | caption = Gerald English, in the 1950s | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|11|06|df=y}} | birth_place = Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|02|06|1925|11|06|df=y}} | death_place = United Kingdom | genre = Early and Classical music | occupation = Tenor | discography = | years_active =  | label = | past_member_of = | spouse =  | partner =  | website =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = }}

'''Gerald English''' (6 November 1925 – 6 February 2019)<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" >{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/mar/04/gerald-english-obituary |title=Gerald English obituary |first=Barry |last=Millington |date=March 4, 2019 |website=theguardian.com |accessdate=May 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190304170950/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/mar/04/gerald-english-obituary |archive-date=4 March 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> was an English tenor. He performed operatic and concert repertoire, was a recording artist, and was a sometime academic.

He gave many premiere performances of works by composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Hans Werner Henze, Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett, and Andrew Ford, often under their own direction. He also sang under the batons of Ernest Ansermet, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir John Barbirolli and Sir Thomas Beecham. He sang opera for the Glyndebourne Festival, The Royal Opera at Covent Garden, La Scala, and in Sydney, Adelaide, Manchester, Edinburgh, Florence, Rome, Paris, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Barcelona, and Sadler's Wells. He also performed in concerts in America, as well as in cities like Brussels, Rome, Cologne, Stockholm, Lisbon, Amsterdam or Rio de Janeiro.

==Personal life== Gerald Alfred English was born in 1925 to Alfred English who as a chemist was employed as a manager at Reckitt & Colman. His mother was Ethel née Gambrell, who was a tailor, and he had two sisters, Margot and Yvonne. His father wanted him to be a mathematician. His family moved to France when he was two years old, and he was based in northern France for 14 years,<ref name=Safe>Georgina Safe, ''Lifelike slip on to Freudian couch'', Weekend Australian, 13–14 January 2001</ref> although from the age of 13 he was attending King's School, Rochester in England.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> During World War II he spent four years in military intelligence,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> where he spent much of his time listening to secret German communications from a base on the bleak Yorkshire moors.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> One of his colleagues during that time was the composer Peter Wishart.<ref name=Safe/><ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> He became a student at the Royal College of Music.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> He was taught by Jennifer Ryan.<ref name="Oron 2023" >{{cite web |last1=Oron |first1=Aryeh |title=Gerald English (tneor) |url=https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/English-Gerald.htm |website=bach-cantatas.com |publisher=Bach Cantatas |access-date=30 July 2024 |date=28 May 2023}}</ref>

English had three significant relationships, mostly in Australia, and ten children. His first marriage in 1954 was to Jane or Jennifer Ryan who gave him four children and played viol in some of his Baroque music recordings. They were divorced.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> His second marriage in 1974 was to Linda Jacoby. They had one son, and were divorced.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> He had a long-term relationship and five children with Helen O'Brien. They lived in Victoria, then he left her in 2012 and returned to the United Kingdom.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> In 2019 Tim English, one of his sons from his first marriage, was running the junior department of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" />

==Career== In the 1950s, English was a concert singer.<ref name="Oron 2023" /> For example, in 1950 he took part in a recital at Holy Trinity Church, Kensington Gore, London, singing polyphonic motets.<ref>{{cite news |title=Holy Trinity Church, Kensington Gore |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&retrievalId=77781e06-6b25-4211-ae68-846e354bb2ab&hitCount=341&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CCS33770370&docType=Advertisement&sort=Pub+Date+Forward+Chron&contentSegment=ZTMA-MOD1&prodId=TTDA&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCS33770370&searchId=R3&userGroupName=leedscl&inPS=true |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=The Times |agency= |issue=51864 |date=2 December 1950 |page=2|via=Gale|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Although English worked internationally, he was based in the United Kingdom, and then in Australia.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" />

===United Kingdom=== At age 25, English became a member of the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> and shortly thereafter in 1948, one of the original members of the Deller Consort,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" >{{cite web |title=Gerald English |url=https://www.move.com.au/artist/gerald-english |website=move.com.au |publisher=Move |access-date=30 July 2024 |date=2024}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" >{{cite news |title=Gerald English - Virtuoso tenor and founder member of the Deller Consort who ranged from Monteverdi to Tippett |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWGLNB&t=pubname%3ADST1%21Daily%20Telegraph%2C%20The/The%20Sunday%20Telegraph%20%28London%2C%20England%29&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22Gerald%20English%22&docref=news/1728D39C2CE75C80 |access-date=31 July 2024 |work=Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph |agency=|via=Gale|url-access=subscription |date=2 April 2019 |page=29}}</ref> where his continental upbringing proved of value in singing idiomatic French. In 1952 he sang Boyce's ''The Heavens Declare'' and Purcell's ''Bell Anthem'', besides Thomas Tallis's ''Mode III Hymn Tune'', in St Sepulchre's, London, with the Deller Consort.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tudor and Restoration church music |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&retrievalId=53f61275-70e8-43b0-b206-d32c524fc467&hitCount=341&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=3&docId=GALE%7CCS134827580&docType=Review&sort=Pub+Date+Forward+Chron&contentSegment=ZTMA-MOD1&prodId=TTDA&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCS134827580&searchId=R1&userGroupName=leedscl&inPS=true |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=The Times |via=Gale|url-access=subscription |issue=52220 |date=28 January 1952 |page=8}}</ref> During this time, he also began to build a reputation as a recitalist, gaining particular authority as an interpreter of the songs of Gabriel Fauré.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Oron 2023" /> He sang many opera performances in a wide-ranging repertory that covered several centuries. He was as comfortable and authentic in Monteverdi as he was in the music of his own time. He had many years of experience in music of the Elizabethan period.<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> English's debut in opera took place with the English Opera Group in 1956 when he sang the evil Peter Quint in Benjamin Britten's ''The Turn of the Screw'' under the composer's direction. He also sang the role in Milan.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> From 1961 to 1977, he sang 26 times in the BBC Proms, his debut being Britten's ''Les Illuminations'' under the baton of Sir Malcolm Sargent.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> He sang at many British venues, including Sadler's Wells.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> He performed alongside Forbes Robinson and April Cantelo in ''Der Barbier von Bagdad'', which was broadcast by the BBC in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barbier von Bagdad, Der ('The Barber of Baghdad') |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O008683 |website=oxfordmusiconline.com |publisher=Grove Music Online|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O008683 |url-access=subscription |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref>

English received good notices for his interpretations in works by contemporary composers such as Tippett,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Richard Rodney Bennett (who had requested him for the title role in ''The Ledge''),<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> Stravinsky,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Luigi Dallapiccola, and Henze.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" /> He appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival 1962–1964 (where he sang in Monteverdi's ''L'incoronazione di Poppea''),<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Oron 2023" /> and in 1963 at the Grand Opéra Paris (as Andres in Alban Berg's ''Wozzeck'').<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Oron 2023" />

From 1960 to 1977, English was a professor at his alma mater, the Royal College of Music,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Oron 2023" /> and tutor in singing at New College, Oxford.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name=Safe/> During 1968–1969 he was with others in Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Brussels, Stockholm, Rome, Cologne, Amsterdam and Lisbon in a successful concert program, which included works from both the Baroque era, in particular of Johann Sebastian Bach,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> and from the modern era.<ref name="Oron 2023" />

===Australia=== In 1973, English was artist-in-residence for universities in Western Australia and New South Wales.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name=Safe/> Between 1977 and 1989 he became Founding Director of the Opera Studio of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.<ref name="Move GE 2024" /><ref name="Oron 2023" /> There he supervised postgraduate vocal studies in baroque music and movement.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" />

English sang Leoš Janáček's song cycle ''The Diary of One Who Disappeared'' as part of the 1992 Melbourne International Festival,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" /> and in the same year premiered Andrew Ford's ''Harbour'' with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Other highlights include the role of the story teller in Peter Tahourdin's ''Heloise and Abelard'' for the West Australian Opera, Maurice Ravel's ''Chansons madécasses'' with the Australia Ensemble,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> performances of Peggy Glanville-Hicks' ''Letters from Morocco'' with the Hunter Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the soloist in scenes and interludes from György Ligeti's ''Le Grand Macabre'' with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> On 13 May 1989 English was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Sydney. Professor JM Ward, A.O, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University presented the degree.<ref>University of Sydney newsletter 1989.</ref>

In 1993 he was awarded one of the prestigious Australian Creative Artists' Fellowships,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> and he held the position between 1994 and 1999.<ref>{{cite web |title=English, Gerald, (6 Nov. 1925–6 Feb. 2019), Australian Artists Creative Fellow, 1994–99 |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/search?q=English%2C+Gerald%2C+%286+Nov.+1925%E2%80%936+Feb.+2019%29%2C+Australian+Artists+Creative+Fellow%2C+1994%E2%80%9399 |website=ukwhoswho.com |publisher=Who's Who and Who Was Who online 2024|url-access=subscription |access-date=30 July 2024 |date=1 December 2007}}</ref> In 1995, he persuaded 13 Australian composers to each write a piece, to be showcased at the Gerald English Birthday Concert in honour of his 70th birthday.<ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" /> The composers who contributed included; Tony Bremner, Roger Smalley, Richard David Hames, Gordon Kerry, Nigel Butterley, Wilfrid Mellers, Stephen Cronin, Andrew Ford,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Michael Finnissy, George Tibbits, Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards and Martin Wesley-Smith.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name=Safe/>

Premiere performances include Benjamin Britten's ''Nocturne'' with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Hallé Orchestra,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Henze's ''We Come to the River'' directed by the composer at Covent Garden,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Dallapicolla's ''Ulisse'' conducted by the composer in Rome, and Luciano Berio's ''Opera'' for the Florence Festival.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" /> He has also premiered 12 pieces by the Australian composer and broadcaster Andrew Ford.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Move GE 2024" /> The one-man music-theatre piece ''Night and Dreams: the death of Sigmund Freud'' was commissioned by the 2000 Adelaide Festival, when he was 74 years old.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> English's last vocal performances before retirement were in 2004.<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /><ref name="Telegraph 2 April 2019" />

==Recordings== English made many recordings, including the complete works of Monteverdi.<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> He recorded cantatas by Telemann, Handel and Bach,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> with the group Il Pastor Fido. Other composers he recorded include Andrew Ford,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Peggy Glanville-Hicks,<ref name="Move GE 2024" /> Vaughan Williams (''The Pilgrim's Progress''),<ref name="Oron 2023" /> Henry Purcell (''Te Deum''),<ref name="Oron 2023" /> John Dowland,<ref name="Oron 2023" /> and Robert Schumann.<ref name="Move GE 2024" />

==Conductors Gerald English performed with as soloist==

==Orchestras Gerald English sang solo with==

===Australia and New Zealand===

*Adelaide Symphony Orchestra,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> *Brisbane Symphony Orchestra, *Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, *Sydney Symphony Orchestra, *Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, *West Australian Symphony Orchestra, *Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, *New Zealand Radio Orchestra,

===Asia===

*Singapore Symphony Orchestra, *Hong Kong Symphony *Israel Philharmonic, *Tel Aviv Chamber Orchestra

===Europe===

'''Austria'''

Austrian Radio Orchestra,

'''Czechoslovakia'''

Czech National Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra,

'''Germany'''

Philharmonisches Staatsorcherester Hamburg, Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrucken, WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, Collegium Auriem,

'''France'''

Orchestre de Paris,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine, French National Radio Orchestra,

'''Belgium'''

Brussels Radio Symphony Orchestra Liege, Namu,

'''Netherlands'''

Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Rotterdam Philharmonic,

'''Spain''' Orqesta Ciudad de Barcelona, Orchestra Nacional Spain, Madrid Symphony Orchestra, Alhambra Concerts, Barcelona Concerts, San Sebastian Concerts.

'''Portugal'''

Lisbon National Orchestra, Oporto Opera Orchestra, Gulbenian Centre Orchestra,

'''Italy'''

Turin Opera House Orchestra, La Scala Orchestra,<ref name="Guardian 4 March 2019" /> Orchestra Sinfonica de Milano, Orchestra de Milano RAI RAI Roma, Orchestra Santa Cecilia Roma, Naples, Florence Opera Orchestra,

'''UK'''

London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, English Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfoietta, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Philaharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Mozart Players, St. Martin in the Fields, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Phiaharmonic,

'''Other''' Hungarian State Orchestra

Dubrovnik Orchestra

===North America===

Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Ottawa Symphony Orchestra.<ref name="Oron 2023" />

===South America===

Orquesta Filharmonica de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Brazil Rio de Janeiro Radio Symphony Orchestra.

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== *Gerald English: A 70th Birthday Celebration, 5 November 1995, program by Tall Poppies.

{{DEFAULTSORT:English, Gerald}} Category:1925 births Category:2019 deaths Category:English operatic tenors Category:English expatriates in Australia Category:Place of birth missing Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:British military personnel of World War II Category:20th-century English male opera singers Category:21st-century British male opera singers