Keith Falkner
Encyclopedia
Sir Keith Falkner was a distinguished English bass-baritone
singer especially associated with oratorio and concert recital, who later became Director of the Royal College of Music
in London.
, Cambridgeshire
. At the age of nine he won a place in the choir of New College, Oxford
, in which there were 18 boys, two altos, four tenors and four basses, under the direction of Dr Hugh Allen
. During his years as a chorister the choir sang almost all the repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach
's choral music, including particularly the motets, and also much other Elizabethan and more modern church music, and works by Palestrina
, Schütz
and Handel
. These were usually performed with minimal rehearsal or at sight. In this period Hugh Allen laid the foundation of Falkner's technique, his breathing, intonation and phrasing. During the early part of World War I
he was a schoolboy at the Perse School
, Cambridge
, but in 1917-19 he was a pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service
, working in hazardous early aircraft spotting submarine
s in the English Channel
.
) for an ex-serviceman's grant to enable him to study singing at the College. For five years he studied there with Albert Garcia, taking organ as his second subject. In 1920 he accepted the post as an assistant vicar-choral at St Paul's Cathedral
, which helped to support his continued studies and gave him a start as a professional singer until 1926. At St Paul's, the cavernous acoustic caused his voice to develop a 'lugubrious quality'. He took part in a number of public performances during the early 1920s, but did not begin to make a permanent impression until he sang in Hubert Parry
's oratorio Job, the role including the great dramatic passage of the Lamentations, at the Three Choirs Festival
at Gloucester
in 1925.
The role of Job became one of the pinnacles of his art, and he attributed his success in it to the coaching he received from Harry Plunket Greene
, whose pupil he became to lighten his tone after his term at St Paul's. Plunket Greene was an inspiration to him for his unique interpretative powers, and made Falkner into one of the finest English singers of his day. Falkner stated, 'Greene's recitals still remain in my mind, they were a highlight of my musical experience.' He attributed a lesser influence to lessons which he received intermittently as a very young man at Vienna
and Salzburg
from Theodore Lierhammer, from Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin, and from Dossert in Paris. He said that he went to Germany 'to sing himself into the German idiom.'
at Queen's Hall
, London, under Henry J. Wood, where he often sang thereafter. Falkner considered that his career 'owed much' to Henry Wood. In 1927 he made the first of his annual appearances in the Bach
St Matthew Passion with the Bach Choir, and thereafter was regularly engaged for most of the English festivals, including the Leeds
Triennial Festival. In April 1929 he first contributed to a Royal Philharmonic Society
concert, singing Bach's aria Thou most blessed under Henry Wood. His second was in November 1933, for Thomas Beecham
, in Dvořák
's Stabat Mater with Dora Labbette
, Heddle Nash
and Edith Furmedge. In December 1936 he sang with Olga Haley and Parry Jones
in the RPS performance of Berlioz
's Roméo et Juliette
under Albert Wolff.
His appearance as Hercules in Handel
's music drama, opposite Isobel Baillie
, at the 1936 Norwich
Festival was much admired. In this period he made recordings for His Master's Voice, including the successful Bach record of How Jovial is my Laughter (Secular Cantata 5, No. 3, Wie will'ich lustig lachen) and Twas in the cool of eventide (St Matthew Passion, No. 74, Am Abend, da es kühle war). After singing Mendelssohn's St Paul at he made a famous recording of the aria O God, have mercy; he also recorded Kodály
songs, and Purcell
songs (for the Purcell Society) with harpsichord and cello (Brand Richards and John Ticehurst).
s in 1935, 1937 and 1939, and throughout that decade, from 1932 to 1939, he gave annual performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
under Serge Koussevitzky. Although oratorio remained his primary interest, especially Parry's Job and the St Matthew Passion, his recitals also reflected his strong interests in folksong, in English Tudor
music, in modern English song, and in the songs of Brahms
and Schumann
.
. These were Warner Bros.
/First National
productions using Teddington Studios
facilities: the stories were scripted by James Dyrenforth and Kenneth Leslie-Smith. The first was Mayfair Melody
(1937), in the character of Mark, with Joyce Kirby
and Chili Bouchier
. The second was a spy film, The Singing Cop
(1938), playing Jack Richards, with Ivy St. Helier
(in her first film since Noël Coward
's Bitter Sweet
in 1933), which included opera scenes directed by the English singer Percy Heming and under the general musical direction of Benjamin Frankel
. The third was the film Thistledown
(1938), playing Sir Ian Glenloch opposite Aino Bergo
and Athole Stewart
, in a dramatis personae which included the character of Gioachino Rossini. Unfortunately all three of these film musicals are thought to be lost.
. During this time his singing career continued. In 1945, finding himself the Commanding Officer of a large RAF station, he was losing interest in just giving concerts and sought a more administrative role. He therefore gladly accepted an invitation to become Music Officer for the British Council
in Italy for four years, where he worked with Francis Toye
. When the British Council ran out of money, Adrian Boult
made contacts who arranged for him to open and develop the Voice Department at Cornell University
in the United States, where he remained for ten years. There he was a Visiting Professor in 1950-1951, Associate Professor in 1951-1956, and full Professor from 1956 to 1960. The Cornell University Music Library holds a small archive of his papers. While working on his Four Last Songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams
and his wife visited Falkner at Cornell, especially in connection with the songs Menelaus and Hands, Eyes and Heart, and in 1956 a first performance of the latter was given. In the first years there he appeared in performances of The Creation (Haydn
) and Alexander's Feast
(Handel
). He also made a complete recording of Schumann
's Dichterliebe
on acetate discs with the pianist John Hunt in 1952, for the University.
In 1960 Keith Falkner became Director of the Royal College of Music in London (the post formerly held by his first teacher, Hugh Allen), and remained there until 1974, in which year he received a knighthood. He wrote the volume on Voice in the Yehudi Menuhin
series of Musical Studies. From 1981 to 1983 he was joint artistic director of the Kings Lion festival. Among other distinctions he was a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music
and of the Trinity College of Music
in London, an Honorary Doctor of Music at Oxford University
, and a Vice-President of the Royal College of Music and of the Bach Choir. In 1991 he appeared in a BBC Radio 4
interview with Roy Henderson and Richard Baker
. He died at Bungay
in Suffolk
, England in 1994.
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
singer especially associated with oratorio and concert recital, who later became Director of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
in London.
Childhood and youth
Donald Keith Falkner was born at SawstonSawston
Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam seven miles south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,150...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. At the age of nine he won a place in the choir of New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, in which there were 18 boys, two altos, four tenors and four basses, under the direction of Dr Hugh Allen
Hugh Allen (conductor)
Sir Hugh Percy Allen was an English musician, academic and administrator. He was a leading influence on British musical life in the first half of the 20th century.-Early years:...
. During his years as a chorister the choir sang almost all the repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's choral music, including particularly the motets, and also much other Elizabethan and more modern church music, and works by Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
, Schütz
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
and Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
. These were usually performed with minimal rehearsal or at sight. In this period Hugh Allen laid the foundation of Falkner's technique, his breathing, intonation and phrasing. During the early part of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he was a schoolboy at the Perse School
The Perse School
The Perse Upper School is an independent secondary co-educational day school in Cambridge, England. The school was founded in 1615 by Dr Stephen Perse, a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and has existed on several different sites in the city before its present home on Hills...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, but in 1917-19 he was a pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
, working in hazardous early aircraft spotting submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
.
Adult training
Late in 1919 he gained the recommendation of Sir Hugh Allen (by then Director of the Royal College of MusicRoyal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
) for an ex-serviceman's grant to enable him to study singing at the College. For five years he studied there with Albert Garcia, taking organ as his second subject. In 1920 he accepted the post as an assistant vicar-choral at St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
, which helped to support his continued studies and gave him a start as a professional singer until 1926. At St Paul's, the cavernous acoustic caused his voice to develop a 'lugubrious quality'. He took part in a number of public performances during the early 1920s, but did not begin to make a permanent impression until he sang in Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
's oratorio Job, the role including the great dramatic passage of the Lamentations, at the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
at Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
in 1925.
The role of Job became one of the pinnacles of his art, and he attributed his success in it to the coaching he received from Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene was an Irish baritone singer who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He made a great contribution to British musical life also by writing and lecturing upon his art, and in the field of competitions and examinations...
, whose pupil he became to lighten his tone after his term at St Paul's. Plunket Greene was an inspiration to him for his unique interpretative powers, and made Falkner into one of the finest English singers of his day. Falkner stated, 'Greene's recitals still remain in my mind, they were a highlight of my musical experience.' He attributed a lesser influence to lessons which he received intermittently as a very young man at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
from Theodore Lierhammer, from Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin, and from Dossert in Paris. He said that he went to Germany 'to sing himself into the German idiom.'
Early professional career
It was also in 1925 that he made a debut at the Promenade ConcertsThe Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
at Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
, London, under Henry J. Wood, where he often sang thereafter. Falkner considered that his career 'owed much' to Henry Wood. In 1927 he made the first of his annual appearances in the Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
St Matthew Passion with the Bach Choir, and thereafter was regularly engaged for most of the English festivals, including the Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
Triennial Festival. In April 1929 he first contributed to a Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
concert, singing Bach's aria Thou most blessed under Henry Wood. His second was in November 1933, for Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, in Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
's Stabat Mater with Dora Labbette
Dora Labbette
Dora Labbette was an English soprano. Her career spanned the concert hall and the opera house. She conspired with Sir Thomas Beecham to appear at the Royal Opera House masquerading as an Italian singer by the name of Lisa Perli...
, Heddle Nash
Heddle Nash
William Heddle Nash was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio in the middle decades of the twentieth century. He also made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues....
and Edith Furmedge. In December 1936 he sang with Olga Haley and Parry Jones
Parry Jones
Parry Jones may refer to:* Gwynn Parry Jones , Welsh tenor*Rhys Parry Jones, Welsh TV actor-See also:*Love Parry Jones-Parry , British army officer and High Sheriff of Anglesey*Jones Parry...
in the RPS performance of Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette (symphony)
Roméo et Juliette is a "symphonie dramatique", a large-scale choral symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz, which was first performed on 24 November 1839. The libretto was written by Émile Deschamps and the completed work was assigned the catalogue numbers Op. 17 and H.79...
under Albert Wolff.
His appearance as Hercules in Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's music drama, opposite Isobel Baillie
Isobel Baillie
Dame Isobel Baillie DBE was a Scottish soprano, popular in opera, oratorio and lieder. She was regarded as one of the 20th century's great oratorio singers.Isobel Baillie was born in Hawick, Scottish Borders, in 1895...
, at the 1936 Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
Festival was much admired. In this period he made recordings for His Master's Voice, including the successful Bach record of How Jovial is my Laughter (Secular Cantata 5, No. 3, Wie will'ich lustig lachen) and Twas in the cool of eventide (St Matthew Passion, No. 74, Am Abend, da es kühle war). After singing Mendelssohn's St Paul at he made a famous recording of the aria O God, have mercy; he also recorded Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
songs, and Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
songs (for the Purcell Society) with harpsichord and cello (Brand Richards and John Ticehurst).
In America: 1930s
Keith Falkner was married in 1930 and had two daughters. Although England was proud of her singer, Falkner increasingly won success in the United States during the 1930s. In particular he triumphed at the Cincinnati May FestivalCincinnati May Festival
The Cincinnati May Festival is a two-week annual choral festival, held during the last two weekends in May in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The festival's roots go back to the 1840s, when Saengerfests were held in that city, bringing singers from all over the United States and abroad to perform large...
s in 1935, 1937 and 1939, and throughout that decade, from 1932 to 1939, he gave annual performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
under Serge Koussevitzky. Although oratorio remained his primary interest, especially Parry's Job and the St Matthew Passion, his recitals also reflected his strong interests in folksong, in English Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
music, in modern English song, and in the songs of Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
.
Film career
It is not widely noticed that Falkner appears to have had a brief film career in 1937 and 1938, leading the cast in three films directed by Arthur B. WoodsArthur B. Woods
Arthur Bickerstaffe Woods was an English film director with 27 credits between 1933 and 1940. Woods' films were mainly quota quickies but were diverse in style, from light comedy and musicals to dark crime thrillers. His most acclaimed film is 1938's They Drive by Night...
. These were Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
/First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
productions using Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios is a large British television studio complex located in Teddington, South-West London, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on BBC television, ITV, and Channel 4 along with others...
facilities: the stories were scripted by James Dyrenforth and Kenneth Leslie-Smith. The first was Mayfair Melody
Mayfair Melody
Mayfair Melody is a 1937 British musical film, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring popular bass-baritone singer Keith Falkner in the first of his three screen performances....
(1937), in the character of Mark, with Joyce Kirby
Joyce Kirby
-Selected filmography:* The Midshipmaid * Britannia of Billingsgate * It's a Boy * The Fire Raisers * Are You a Mason? * Mayfair Melody * The Compulsory Wife -External links:...
and Chili Bouchier
Chili Bouchier
Chili Bouchier , later known as Dorothy Bouchier, was a British film actress who achieved success during the silent film era, and went on to many screen appearances with the advent of sound films, before progressing to theatre later in her career.She made her first appearance as a child dancer at a...
. The second was a spy film, The Singing Cop
The Singing Cop (film)
The Singing Cop is a 1938 British musical comedy spy drama, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring singer Keith Falkner and Chili Bouchier. The film was a quota quickie production, based on a short story by Kenneth Leslie-Smith...
(1938), playing Jack Richards, with Ivy St. Helier
Ivy St. Helier
Ivy St. Helier was a British stage actress, composer and lyricist.On the stage, St. Helier played Manon la Crevette in the original production of Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet , a role she reprised in the 1933 film version...
(in her first film since Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet (1933 film)
Bitter Sweet is a musical romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and released by United Artists in 1933. It was the first film adaptation of Noel Coward's 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet. It starred Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey, with Ivy St. Helier reviving her stage role as Manon.It tells the story...
in 1933), which included opera scenes directed by the English singer Percy Heming and under the general musical direction of Benjamin Frankel
Benjamin Frankel
Benjamin Frankel was a British composer. Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concertos, resulted...
. The third was the film Thistledown
Thistledown (film)
Thistledown is a 1938 British musical film produced by Irving Asher, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Aino Bergo, Keith Falkner, Athole Stewart, Sharon Lynn and Amy Veness...
(1938), playing Sir Ian Glenloch opposite Aino Bergo
Aino Bergo
Aïno Lillalida Bergö was a Swedish ballerina, opera singer and film actress.-Life:...
and Athole Stewart
Athole Stewart
-Selected filmography:Athole appeared in the following films:* Canaries Sometimes Sing * The Speckled Band * The Faithful Heart * The Constant Nymph *Loyalties * The Four Masked Men...
, in a dramatis personae which included the character of Gioachino Rossini. Unfortunately all three of these film musicals are thought to be lost.
Post-war career
From 1940 to 1945 Falkner was in the Royal Air Force Volunteer ReserveRoyal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve consists of a number of groupings of individual military reservists for the management and operation of the Royal Air Force's Air Training Corps and CCF Air Cadet formations, Volunteer Gliding Squadrons , Air Experience Flights, and also to form the...
. During this time his singing career continued. In 1945, finding himself the Commanding Officer of a large RAF station, he was losing interest in just giving concerts and sought a more administrative role. He therefore gladly accepted an invitation to become Music Officer for the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
in Italy for four years, where he worked with Francis Toye
Francis Toye
John Francis Toye was an English music critic, teacher, writer and educational administrator. After early efforts as a composer and novelist, and service in naval intelligence in World War I, he became music critic of The Morning Post from 1925 to 1937, which he combined with teaching singing and...
. When the British Council ran out of money, Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
made contacts who arranged for him to open and develop the Voice Department at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in the United States, where he remained for ten years. There he was a Visiting Professor in 1950-1951, Associate Professor in 1951-1956, and full Professor from 1956 to 1960. The Cornell University Music Library holds a small archive of his papers. While working on his Four Last Songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
and his wife visited Falkner at Cornell, especially in connection with the songs Menelaus and Hands, Eyes and Heart, and in 1956 a first performance of the latter was given. In the first years there he appeared in performances of The Creation (Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
) and Alexander's Feast
Alexander's Feast (Handel)
Alexander's Feast is an ode with music by George Frideric Handel set to a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton. Hamilton adapted his libretto from John Dryden's ode Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music which had been written to celebrate Saint Cecilia's Day...
(Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
). He also made a complete recording of Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's Dichterliebe
Dichterliebe
Dichterliebe, 'The Poet's Love' , is the best-known song cycle of Robert Schumann . The texts for the 16 songs come from the Lyrisches Intermezzo of Heinrich Heine, composed 1822–1823, published as part of the poet's Das Buch der Lieder. Following the song-cycles of Franz Schubert , those of...
on acetate discs with the pianist John Hunt in 1952, for the University.
In 1960 Keith Falkner became Director of the Royal College of Music in London (the post formerly held by his first teacher, Hugh Allen), and remained there until 1974, in which year he received a knighthood. He wrote the volume on Voice in the Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
series of Musical Studies. From 1981 to 1983 he was joint artistic director of the Kings Lion festival. Among other distinctions he was a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
and of the Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
in London, an Honorary Doctor of Music at Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, and a Vice-President of the Royal College of Music and of the Bach Choir. In 1991 he appeared in a BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
interview with Roy Henderson and Richard Baker
Richard Baker (broadcaster)
Richard Baker OBE is a British broadcaster best known as a newsreader for the BBC News from 1954 to 1982. He was a contemporary of Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall and was the first person to read the BBC Television News in 1954. At one time he lived in Barnet, North London...
. He died at Bungay
Bungay
Bungay is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England.Bungay may also refer to:* Bungay railway station* Frank Bungay , former professional footballer* Stephen Bungay , British management consultant, historian and author...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England in 1994.
Literature
- Julia Falkner, Keith Falkner: Ich Habe Genug (A Biography) (Thames, 1998).