Philip Langridge

born on 16/12/1939 in Hawkhurst, Kent, United Kingdom

died on 5/3/2010

Philip Langridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Philip Gordon Langridge CBE (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)[1] was an English tenor,[2] considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio.[3][4]

Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educated at Maidstone Grammar School and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London.[5] He started his career as an orchestral violinist, which exposed him to a greater variety of music than professional singers ordinarily experience.

As a singer, Langridge was admired for his fine technique coupled with keen dramatic instincts. His repertoire was broad, ranging from the operas of Claudio Monteverdi and Mozart to more modern works by Ravel, Stravinsky, Janáek and Schoenberg. At the end of his life, he was adding some Wagner roles, including Loge from Das Rheingold. Langridge was also a fine concert singer and regularly performed the sacred music of Bach and Handel. He also won great acclaim for his assumption of the title role in Elgar's oratorio, The Dream of Gerontius. In recent years, Langridge frightened and delighted families in his portrayal of the witch in Hansel and Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera holiday production.

For all his versatility, he was at his most distinguished performing the works of Benjamin Britten.[6] Much of Britten's vocal music was written specifically for his artistic and life partner, tenor Sir Peter Pears. Many regarded Langridge as Pears' true successor because they shared similar vocal qualities and brought uncommon immediacy to the music they performed. He recorded many of his famous roles, including Peter Grimes and the Prologue / Quint in The Turn of the Screw, as well as all the orchestral song cycles for tenor voice.

Langridge's association with Harrison Birtwistle began in 1986 when he created the role of Orpheus in his opera The Mask of Orpheus. He also sang The Lawyer in the world premiere recording of Punch and Judy (1989) and created the roles of Kong in The Second Mrs Kong (Glyndebourne, 1994) and Hiereus in The Minotaur (Royal Opera House, 2008).[7] Birtwistle composed Vanitas (based on a poem by David Harsent) especially for Langridge's 70th birthday concert at London's Wigmore Hall in November 2009.[6]

Langridge was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to music in 1994. He was married to Irish mezzo-soprano Ann Murray until his death from bowel cancer. Langridge is survived by their son Jonathan Philip (born 1986, Greenwich, London),[8] and his three adult children from his previous marriage: Anita, Jennifer,[9] and opera director Stephen.[10]

References

  1. Millington (7 March 2010)
  2. Kozinn (8 March 2010) page B9.
  3. Valencia (6 March 2010)
  4. Millington (8 March 2010)
  5. Daily Telegraph (7 March 2010)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Clements (6 November 2009)
  7. Hewett (10 April 2008)
  8. Births England and Wales 1984-2006
  9. Guardian obituary
  10. Obituary The Times, 8 March 2010

Sources

External links

This page was last modified 23.05.2013 23:01:50

This article uses material from the article Philip Langridge from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.