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Inspirations DameJanet Baker RachelPugh talksto thesinger who hasjust receiuedthe Incorporated Society of Musk's DktinguishedMusician Award aboutthe teachers who set her on thepath tosuccess dilficult to believe that this slim, feisty,trouser- suited woman will this summer celebrateher 75th birthday. Gently spoken, with the clariry of articularionone would expectfrom the singer who made the role of the Angel in Elgar's Dream of Cerontius her own, she allows a senseof humour to show, alongside the determination that drove her career as probably England's most successfulmezzo sopranoofthe 20th ccntury. She describesherselfas a 'very fortunate person indeed'when talking about a musical life which until her retirement at her height in 1982 brought her into close contact with musicians such as Benjamin Britten, Peter Pearsand SirJohn Barbirolli. Music was not an obvious choice for the youngJanet, born to a policeman and his wife near Doncaster. Music was not played during her wartimc upbringing, except for the Proms with Sir Malcolm Sargent.These concerts would transport her into a ditTerent world and she would run to the Victorian dresser to 'play' what she heard. She had to wait until she was 12 before the family bought a prano. The church choir in York was where her music-making started, at the age of nine. Later a member ofYork Musical Sociery she remembers at 13 being surrounded by adults to sing the Brahms German Requiem. 'Even now my hair stands up when I remember it and the feeling ofbeing in the centre ofit all, and the profound feeling that I was in the right place.' School was a mked blessing. The move to Winteringham School, Grimsby becauseof her father's work separated her from her friends and made her academic progress dilficult; but music was taken seriously, there was the a strangcway DamcJanet Baker owes teaching ofvocal interpretation and the chance to sing in various choirs including a Jn her illu'triou: singing careerto tlte anony- languageof music. Hcr dynalnic teaching madrigal group and suddenly it dawned on I I-ou, BBC audirioner who turned hcr (given to the pennilcs' pupil free ofcharge). Baker that she might earn her living through down for radio broadcast work in her early together with the lessonsin techniqueJanet nlus1c. 20s,judging her with a single scrawled word was already receiving from Helene Isepp, She had always excelled in English, but to go to to be 'boring'. transformed Baker into the performer who was failed to get the requisite qualifications she Smiling broadly, the Yorkshire-born to inspire Benjamin Britten, aswell as gaining university as her parents had hoped, so joined soprano recalls: 'I wanted to chuck myself in her hundreds ofBBC broadcasts. went into Barclays bank and Leeds the Thames. Then I thought "Sod itl I'm not 'We used to pore over scores very deeply. Philharmonic Choir. Having entered going to be beaten by thatl" That sharpened my wits. I began to 1et the Harrogate Music Festival with no erpectations 'It drove me to set off and find someone to language of music speak to me,' saysDame and no erperience, the 1B-year-oldJanetnot the mezzo soprano classbut also the help me to change that judgment. I was Janet. 'The wvo sides of my performance - the only won 'I obviously thinking too much about technique music and the words - came together and I rose bowl for the best performer. was - you have to have it, ofcourse, but you also became a complete performer.' chuffed,' she smilcs, her eyes nvinkling at her need to know what to do with it.' Enloying the old-fashioned charm of lapse into Yorkshire-speak. She began to The youngJanet Baker sought out Meriel Durrant's Flotel, where she often used to stay wonder about taking singing seriously but did St Clair, the teachcr famed for her inspired when giving recitals at the Wigmore Hall, it is not know how. ,:.i I nlllSiCat..r Ir :r'l tt :t, uavzoog l:. 'l The unerpected spur to action came after ex?erlence ln a concert and you are never quite Munster Tiust and rccently acted as presenter Baker had taken a solo part in a Haydn Mass the same again. of thc Hall6's 150th anniversary concert alongside at the a professionalsoprano from London, 'He gave me such freedom. When a special Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Dame Ilse'Wolf Janet is who said that if Baker ever decided moment was coming upJohnny would look at also closely associatedwith the Foundation to take For singing seriouslyshe should go to her my face and I would look at his. He would give Sports And The Arts and the Elgar Birthplace own teacher in London, and handed her a me all the spaceto er?ress things in the best Foundation. piece of paper with the name Helene Isepp possibleway.' She has never done much teaching wrltten but on it. The Elgar SeaPictures recordine with the occasionally gives in-depth help to singers, This act was to change the course of LSO was a memorable session.Baker was not such asAlice Coote, who are in the processof Baker's Iife. She mcntioned the note she'd enthusiastic about thc piecesbut knew that cstablishing their career. philharmonic been passed to the Leeds Choir Barbirolli was. Both of them were on boxes 'I do not teach in the conventional conductor ,Go sense,, AIan Wilkes, who urged her to above the orchestra in the Maida Vale studio: explains Baker. 'I want to reveal the for avenue and itl' - then he went round to her parents to 'All of a sudden the scorewas all around mc. the door to artists. It is up to them apologise to walk for his 'reckless,advice.But Baker Barbirolli was incredible. I realisedthere was through it - you cannor rnake them. had It is about the bit beti,veenher teeth. The more to this than you met the eye. just had to helping them to understand the practicalities york score of the move from came via a look at his face to feel the same way he did.' completely and how to apply it to themselves kindly Barclays bank manager who agreed to She regarded Johnny'and his wife Evelyn intcrnally. grant hcr a transfer to London, in the as great friends and continued to see Lady You can tell when someone knows knowledge what that she would leave as soon as her Barbirolli regularly for lunch right up to her they are doing, even ifyou do not you career agrce. took ofT recent death: T/hat an amazingprivilcge to cannot help but be convinced. I spend Helene a lot of Isepp, she says!was vital to this know people like that.' Other conductors like tlmc ovcr a very small picce of music. process. 'I Few had found, first off, a woman whose Carlo Maria Giulini inspired her with their people are empry enough to learn idea but it,s of singing fitted me like a glove. She humanity and respect ,Tyrants for her views: magical when it happcns. I never fail belonged to be to a school ofteachers in Vienna that do not do anything for me.' amazed to see a person suddenly grow _ you taught singing and createdsound in a perfectly She also speakswarmly of the Hall6,s can sec it happcn.' relaxed and normal way., current principal conductor Mark Eldeq Bakcr has no time for master classes,which Isepp gave Bakcr two private lessons a week whom she seesas being a worthy successorto she seesas being too often concerned but insisted with thatJanet never practised except Barbirolli. She seeshim regularly at the Leeds giving the so-called 'master' a platform. She rrnder the supervision ofllse V/ol{ so that she Piano Competition ,many and values the also has criticisms of today's consewatoires, never dcvelopcd bad habits. inspirational ,with conversations'she has had a which she considers do 'I not devote sufficient was really being fast-tracked,' she recalls. real renaissance man'. trme and guidance to 'Helly students prcparing them taLrglrtmc thc ideal way of placing Among her accompanists she enthuses for a performing carecr and in particular souncl, fail to Dot llorrr tirc vocal cords butjust across about Geoffrey Parsons and Gerald Moore, but give rhem en.rugh acce5sro repetitcurs. the middle of the lrr:ad vcry poised, natural reservesspecial praise for Daniel ,When Barenboim, 'The talent is clearly there,, she says. and easy.She gavc nrc thc fcchniquc to last tne with whom she made several recordings: .F{e I chaired thejury oflast year's Ferrier prize I for 35 years ofa very busy carecr.' The pupil- is one of the greats like Britten who is both a was pleased with the technical teacher achievements of relationship lasted for DameJanet,s pianisrand a conductor. I havereal love and the singerswe heard. But there is entire a big gulf career. respectfor him. When playing with him you betr,veen them and a finisl-red product. The Iscpp-St Clair combination soon bore felt so held.' 'The trouble is that singcrs fruit, go lnro a carecr and following her entry into the These days Baker and her husband Keith with a shining gloss that is their talent, Glyndcbourne but Chorus and the English Opera lead a quiet life in North London. She when you are talking about a career that lasts I Group, Baker came to the attention of Britten. occasionallyappears on judging r panels at the 35 years like mine, you have to know what you Of her first concert with him at Blythburgh Royal Northern College of Music and for the are doing - that's called craft.' Church, Suffolk, she says:'Ben introduced me I to the highest standards.He erpected the best r from everybody.

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