David Ward

High and imposing, this Scotsman progressed within a decade’s period from leading jobs for lyric bass towards the rigors of Wagner’s Wotan. Through the period where Hans Hotter steadily withdrew from shows of Wagner’s great creation, David Ward distributed to the American baritone Thomas Stewart pre-eminence as Wotan, learning the function with Hotter and performing it under Hotter’s stage path. Among the many United kingdom Isles performers to reap the benefits of Georg Solti’s tenure as music movie director at Covent Backyard, he discovered his association using the conductor a substantial improvement to his profession. His full, curved bass of appealing timbre under no circumstances was fully relaxed in the best gets to of Wotan, but he paid out along with his magisterial specialist, smoothly maintained legato, and biting enunciation. He was also a reliable vocalist of Verdi’s leading bass personas, and also other French, German, and Russian jobs for low tone of voice. After their studies at the Royal University of Music in London, Ward became a member of the chorus at Sadler’s Wells Opera in 1952 and graduated the next year towards the rank of soloist, showing up initial as the Aged Bard in Rutland Boughton’s The Immortal Hour and afterwards, as Count number Walter in Verdi’s Luisa Miller. At its premiere on Sept 22, 1954, he developed the part of Hardy in Lennox Berkeley’s Nelson, improving each time of year thereafter to a lot more essential assignments. Apart from regular bass functions such as for example Méphistofélès, he undertook his 1st bass baritone component when he sang Vanderdecken in Der Fliegende Holländer. For his Covent Backyard debut in 1960, Ward essayed Pogner, a job well-suited to his moving tone of voice and dignified way. Lord Walton in Bellini’s I Puritani was the automobile for Ward’s Glyndebourne Event debut the same 12 months inside a creation repeated in Edinburgh, starring Joan Sutherland. Bayreuth also beckoned in 1960 and Ward sang his 1st shows there as Titurel. In Chicago, Ward produced a unforgettable Lyric Opera appearance as Bluebeard in Bartók’s psychologically probing opera, his large, hulking figure coordinating the grim darkness of his performing. San Francisco noticed his Das Rheingold Wotan in 1967 and in 1969, Ward came back for Sarastro inside a Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), filled by other performers from the uk, including Margaret Cost, Stuart Burrows, and Geraint Evans. Ward taken care of a close romantic relationship using the Royal Opera Home until his pension. Among his Wagner functions, Fasolt and Hunding offered method to Wotan, while his Sir Morosus in Strauss’ Die Schweigsame Frau (The Silent Female), noticed in 1961, was accompanied by his restrained and solicitous Arkel (documented with Boulez), Rocco, Clement VII in Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, Ivan Khovansky, and Don Basilio. Ward produced his tag with many Verdi character types, notably a tragic Fillip II, Fiesco, and Zaccaria. For the Scottish Country wide Opera, he sang an acclaimed Boris Godunov. He sang in Italy aswell as Germany and America and performed Wotan in multiple Band cycles at Argentina’s Teatro Colón in 1967. His last overall performance at Covent Backyard was as the Grand Inquisitor in Meyerbeer’s L’africaine in 1978. By the first ’70s, Ward experienced accomplished an interpretive fullness along with his Wotan that begged assessment using the century’s esteemed exponents. His Siegfried Wanderer, specifically, conveyed a feeling of wry laughter in resignation that was distinctively touching.