Operatic baritone (1911?1960)
Leonard Warren
(April 21, 1911 ? March 4, 1960) was an American
opera
singer. A
baritone
, he was a leading artist for many years with the
Metropolitan Opera
in New York City. Especially noted for his portrayals of the leading baritone roles in the operas of
Giuseppe Verdi
, he had few rival baritones in his time. His power and range were the highlights of his vocal instrument.
Biography
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Born
Leonard Warenoff
in
the Bronx
to Russian Jewish immigrant parents,
[1]
Warren was first employed in his father's fur business. In 1935, he joined the chorus at
Radio City Music Hall
. In 1938, he entered the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air. The Met sent him to Italy that summer with a stipend to study.
Returning to the United States, Warren made his concert debut at the Metropolitan Opera in excerpts from
La traviata
and
Pagliacci
during a concert in New York City in November 1938. His operatic debut took place there in January 1939, when he sang Paolo in
Simon Boccanegra
. A recording contract with
RCA Victor
soon followed.
Warren later sang in San Francisco, Chicago, Mexico City and Buenos Aires, and he appeared at
La Scala
in Milan in 1953. In 1958, he made a tour of the Soviet Union, but for most of his career he remained in New York City and sang at the Met. In 1950, he converted to
Roman Catholicism
, the faith of his wife Agatha, and became extremely devout.
Although he sang Tonio in
Pagliacci
, Escamillo in
Carmen
, and Scarpia in
Tosca
, he was particularly acclaimed as an interpreter of the great
Verdi
baritone roles, above all the title role in
Rigoletto
, which was captured in 1950 on an RCA Victor recording with soprano
Erna Berger
and tenor
Jan Peerce
, conducted by
Renato Cellini
. This was one of the earliest complete operatic recordings to be released on
LP
records. He also sang the role in a
Madison Square Garden
Red Cross benefit concert in 1944, in which only the final act of the opera was featured. Jan Peerce again sang the Duke, but
Zinka Milanov
was Gilda, and the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
was conducted by
Arturo Toscanini
. This
Rigoletto
excerpt was later released on records and CD by RCA Victor, and the entire concert was available years later on various unofficial CD releases. His other published complete opera recordings include
La traviata
with
Rosanna Carteri
,
Cesare Valletti
, and conductor
Pierre Monteux
;
Tosca
,
Aida
, and
Il trovatore
, each with Zinka Milanov and Jussi Bjorling;
La forza del destino
with Milanov,
Giuseppe Di Stefano
,
Rosalind Elias
and
Giorgio Tozzi
; a second recording of
Il trovatore
with his final tenor co-star,
Richard Tucker
, featuring a young
Leontyne Price
in her Met debut role of Leonora; and Verdi's
Macbeth
, with
Leonie Rysanek
and
Carlo Bergonzi
. Private recordings exist of his
Simon Boccanegra
and Iago in
Otello
. He also was the Renato in an album of highlights from
Un ballo in maschera
made with
Marian Anderson
as Ulrica on the occasion of her Met debut.
In 1948, Warren sang in the first-ever live telecast from the Metropolitan Opera. Verdi's
Otello
was broadcast complete by
ABC-TV
on November 29, 1948, the opening night of the season.
Ramon Vinay
was Otello,
Licia Albanese
was Desdemona, and Warren sang the role of Iago.
In 1958, Warren toured the
USSR
. He was one of the few American artists invited to do so and had great success at concerts in
Leningrad
and
Kyiv
. The concerts were recorded and excerpts have been released by RCA Victor on the album
Leonard Warren: On Tour in Russia
, available on both LP and CD.
In his book
The American Opera Singer
(1997, ISBN ), Peter G. Davis wrote of Warren:
The rich, rounded, mellow quality of [Warren's] voice, fairly bursting with resonant overtones, may not have been to every taste, particularly those preferring a narrower baritonal focus that "speaks" more quickly on the note. But by any standards it was a deluxe, quintessentially "Metropolitan Opera sound", one that seemed to take on a special glow and lustrousness as it opened up and spread itself generously around the big auditorium. And of course the easy top was its special glory?when relaxing with friends Warren would often tear into tenor arias like "Di quella pira" and toss off the high Cs that many tenors lacked. He could have, but never did, overindulge that applause-getting facility.
[2]
Death
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Warren's last complete performance was in the title role of
Simon Boccanegra
on March 1, 1960, at the Met. Three days later, on March 4, during a performance of
La forza del destino
with
Renata Tebaldi
as Leonora and
Thomas Schippers
conducting, Warren suddenly collapsed and died on stage. Eyewitnesses including
Rudolf Bing
reported that Warren had completed Don Carlo's Act III aria, which begins
Morir, tremenda cosa
("to die, a momentous thing"), and was supposed to open a sealed wallet, examine the contents and cry out
"E salvo, o gioia"
(He is safe, oh joy), before launching into the vigorous
cabaletta
. While Bing reports that Warren simply went silent and fell face-forward to the floor,
[3]
others state that he started coughing and gasping, and that he cried out "Help me, help me!" before falling to the floor, remaining motionless.
Roald Reitan
, singing the Surgeon, was on stage with Warren at the time of his death, and attempted to render aid.
[1]
Although no autopsy was performed, Warren's death was initially thought to have been caused by a massive cerebral hemorrhage, but was later believed by the Met house physician who attended Warren after his collapse, to have been a heart attack; Warren was only forty-eight years old. His death affected the Met schedule for several years following; he had been cast in the title role for a future Met premiere of Verdi's
Nabucco
during the 1960?61 season. Warren is interred at
Saint Mary's Cemetery
in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Ted Morgan
, writing (as Sanche de Gramont) for the
New York Herald Tribune
, won the
Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, Edition Time
in 1961 for
his account of Warren's death
.
[4]
References
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External links
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