Muriel Brunskill
Encyclopedia
Muriel Brunskill was an English contralto
of the mid-twentieth century. Her career included concert, opera
tic and recital performance from the early 1920s until the 1950s. She worked with many of the leading musicians of her day, including Sir Thomas Beecham
, Albert Coates
, Felix Weingartner
and Sir Henry Wood.
, Westmorland
, England, daughter of Edmund Capstick Brunskill. She studied singing in London and Paris with Blanche Marchesi
. Her début was in 1920 at the Aeolian Hall, London
. She sang at the Proms
in 1921 in Elgar
's Sea Pictures
, when The Times
commented that her singing was intelligent but lacked bite, and her diction was indistinct. By 1923 Brunskill's critical reputation was much higher: The Musical Times said, "She is clearly one of the elect as a Bach
singer."
In 1922 Brunskill was recruited by the British National Opera Company where her roles included Amneris in Aida
, Delilah in Samson and Delilah
, Erda in the Ring
and Emilia in Otello
She remained with the company for six years, performing at Covent Garden
, His Majesty's Theatre
and on tour.
Her appearances for the Royal Philharmonic Society
began in October 1925 at the Queen's Hall
in a choral programme including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
under Albert Coates
, with Dorothy Silk, Walter Widdop
and Robert Radford
. In March 1927 she performed the Missa Solemnis
in the RPS Beethoven memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall
, under Sir Hugh Allen
, with Rosina Buckman
, Parry Jones
and Norman Allin
.
In 1925 Brunskill married the conductor Robert Ainsworth, with whom she had two sons. Ainsworth died in 1947, aged 46.
and other concert works, appearing regularly at the Three Choirs
, Handel, Norwich
, and Leeds
Festivals, and with the Royal Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Society, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra
.
To celebrate Elgar's 70th birthday in 1927, the BBC broadcast a birthday concert from No 1 Studio, Savoy Hill. Elgar conducted, and Brunskill sang in The Music Makers and Sea Pictures. Overseas, Brunskill sang with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
and on a Canadian tour in 1930; at the Cincinnati May Festival in 1931; and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
and in New York in 1932. She returned to opera for seasons in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, in 1934-1935 followed by a concert tour in Australia and New Zealand, with her husband.
In December 1928 Brunskill was in Beecham's Queen's Hall RPS presentation of Handel
's Hercules with Dora Labbette
, Lilian Stiles-Allen
, Tudor Davies
and Horace Stevens. Brunskill's operatic appearances were fewer in the 1930s, but in 1933 her Amneris at Covent Garden, conducted by John Barbirolli
, won warm praise: "Miss Brunskill seemed to rejoice in having the Covent Garden stage as a sounding-board for her magnificent voice, and to find inspiration in the unaccustomed freedom of dramatic music. Her acting was a direct and unexaggerated expression of emotion... she achieved a fine piece of work in the part and her actual singing was superb throughout."
In 1936, Brunskill appeared as Kundry alongside Herbert Heyner, Norman Walker
and Victor Harding in a presentation of Parsifal
for the BBC
under Sir Henry Wood. In 1938 she appeared in the English première of Paul Hindemith
's Mathis der Maler
On 5 October 1938, in celebration of Sir Henry Wood's golden jubilee as a conductor, Brunskill sang in the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams
's Serenade to Music
along with fifteen other leading English singers including another Marchesi pupil, Astra Desmond
. In the same year Brunskill sang under Wood in a rare performance of Gustav Mahler
's 8th Symphony (Symphony of a Thousand)
. Early in Wood's autumn 1940 season at Queen's Hall, Brunskill sang Brahms
's Alto Rhapsody
, ("jolly well", according to Wood).
Brunskill sang the role of the Angel in The Dream of Gerontius
conducted by Malcolm Sargent
on 10 May 1941, the last concert given in the Queen's Hall, which was destroyed by a German incendiary bomb that night in an air raid
. In 1942, to mark Arthur Sullivan
's centenary week, the BBC broadcast The Golden Legend from the Royal Albert Hall
, conducted by Wood with soloists including Muriel Brunskill.
at Covent Garden. In the 1950s, she extended her repertoire, appearing in the musical
Golden City by John Toré, which ran at the Adelphi Theatre
from June to October 1950, and in the film The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan in 1953. In 1956–1957 she appeared in a Gilbert and Sullivan
tour in Australia and New Zealand.
Though best known for oratorio and opera, Brunskill was also admired for her song recitals. The Times said, "As a recitalist she excelled in the songs of Schubert, Brahms and those of contemporary English composers. Her voice, even throughout all registers... was capable of many and expressive nuances." In 1954 a Times critic commented that years of opera and oratorio had made her voice less suitable for the recital room. In a 2001 history of London's main recital venue, the Wigmore Hall
, the critic Alan Blyth
remembered Brunskill's "formidable presence with her handbag plonked on the piano lid."
Brunskill retired to Bishops Tawton, near Barnstaple
, Devon
, England, where she died at age eighty.
's first recording of Messiah
, in 1927, Brunskill was one of the soloists, along with Dora Labbette, Harold Williams
, Hubert Eisdell, and Nellie Walker. In recordings of the same period, Brunskill was the contralto soloist in Felix Weingartner
's recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Her other recordings include Gounod
's Faust, with Harold Williams, Robert Carr
, and Robert Easton, conducted by Clarence Raybould; Vaughan Williams's, Serenade to Music, with Lilian Stiles-Allen, Dame Isobel Baillie
, Elsie Suddaby
, Dame Eva Turner
, Margaret Balfour
, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred
, Parry Jones, Heddle Nash
, Frank Titterton
, Walter Widdop, Roy Henderson, Norman Allin, Robert Easton, Harold Williams, Queen's Hall Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra
, conducted by Sir Henry Wood; and John Toré's Golden City, original cast recording, with Edmund Purdom
, Eleanor Summerfield
and Emile Belcourt.
Brunskill's last recordings include a disc of Christmas music for EMI
in 1955 with Isobel Baillie, Heddle Nash and Harold Williams.
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
of the mid-twentieth century. Her career included concert, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic and recital performance from the early 1920s until the 1950s. She worked with many of the leading musicians of her day, including Sir 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...
, Albert Coates
Albert Coates (musician)
Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. Born in Saint Petersburg where his English father was a successful businessman, he studied in Russia, England and Germany, before beginning his career as a conductor in a series of German opera houses...
, Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
and Sir Henry Wood.
Early years
Muriel Brunskill was born in KendalKendal
Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
, Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
, England, daughter of Edmund Capstick Brunskill. She studied singing in London and Paris with Blanche Marchesi
Blanche Marchesi
Blanche Marchesi was a French mezzo-soprano and voice teacher best known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner...
. Her début was in 1920 at the Aeolian Hall, London
Aeolian Hall (London)
Aeolian Hall located at 135-137 New Bond Street, began life as the Grosvenor Gallery, being built by Sir Coutts Lindsay in 1876, an accomplished amateur artist, with a predeliction for the aesthetic movement, for which he was held up to some ridicule. In 1883, he decided to light his gallery with...
. She sang at the Proms
The 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...
in 1921 in Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Sea Pictures
Sea Pictures
Sea Pictures, Op. 37 is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar...
, when The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
commented that her singing was intelligent but lacked bite, and her diction was indistinct. By 1923 Brunskill's critical reputation was much higher: The Musical Times said, "She is clearly one of the elect as a 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...
singer."
In 1922 Brunskill was recruited by the British National Opera Company where her roles included Amneris in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, Delilah in Samson and Delilah
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
, Erda in the Ring
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
and Emilia in Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
She remained with the company for six years, performing at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, His Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
and on tour.
Her appearances for the 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...
began in October 1925 at the 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...
in a choral programme including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
under Albert Coates
Albert Coates (musician)
Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. Born in Saint Petersburg where his English father was a successful businessman, he studied in Russia, England and Germany, before beginning his career as a conductor in a series of German opera houses...
, with Dorothy Silk, Walter Widdop
Walter Widdop
Walter Widdop was a British operatic tenor who is best remembered for his Wagnerian performances. His repertoire also encompassed works by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Handel and Bach.-Career:...
and Robert Radford
Robert Radford
Robert Radford was a British bass singer who made his career entirely in the United Kingdom, participating in concerts and becoming one of the foremost performers of oratorios and other sacred music...
. In March 1927 she performed the Missa Solemnis
Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)
The Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819-1823. It was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie,...
in the RPS Beethoven memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, under Sir 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:...
, with Rosina Buckman
Rosina Buckman
Rosina Buckman was a New Zealand soprano, and a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. She was born in Blenheim, and studied in England at the Birmingham School of Music. She then returned to New Zealand, toured Australia and debut in London with La boheme at Covent Garden...
, Parry Jones
Gwynn Parry Jones
Parry Jones , known early in his career as Gwynn Jones, was a Welsh tenor of the mid-twentieth century.-Life and career:...
and Norman Allin
Norman Allin
Norman Allin was a British bass singer of the early and mid twentieth century, and later a teacher of voice...
.
In 1925 Brunskill married the conductor Robert Ainsworth, with whom she had two sons. Ainsworth died in 1947, aged 46.
Peak years
After leaving the BNOC in 1927, Brunskill sang mostly in oratorioOratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
and other concert works, appearing regularly at the Three Choirs
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...
, Handel, 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...
, and 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...
Festivals, and with the Royal Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Society, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
.
To celebrate Elgar's 70th birthday in 1927, the BBC broadcast a birthday concert from No 1 Studio, Savoy Hill. Elgar conducted, and Brunskill sang in The Music Makers and Sea Pictures. Overseas, Brunskill sang with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
and on a Canadian tour in 1930; at the Cincinnati May Festival in 1931; and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
and in New York in 1932. She returned to opera for seasons in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, in 1934-1935 followed by a concert tour in Australia and New Zealand, with her husband.
In December 1928 Brunskill was in Beecham's Queen's Hall RPS presentation of 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 Hercules 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...
, Lilian Stiles-Allen
Lilian Stiles-Allen
Lilian Stiles-Allen was a British soprano of the mid 20th century.She was born Lilian Elizabeth Allen, and later added her mother's maiden name....
, Tudor Davies
Tudor Davies
-Biography:Tudor Davies was born in Cymmer, near Porth, South Wales, on 12 November 1892. He studied in Cardiff and at the Royal College of Music in London. He served as an engineer in the Royal Navy during World War I...
and Horace Stevens. Brunskill's operatic appearances were fewer in the 1930s, but in 1933 her Amneris at Covent Garden, conducted by John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, won warm praise: "Miss Brunskill seemed to rejoice in having the Covent Garden stage as a sounding-board for her magnificent voice, and to find inspiration in the unaccustomed freedom of dramatic music. Her acting was a direct and unexaggerated expression of emotion... she achieved a fine piece of work in the part and her actual singing was superb throughout."
In 1936, Brunskill appeared as Kundry alongside Herbert Heyner, Norman Walker
Norman Walker (bass)
Norman Walker was an English bass singer, distinguished for his work in both opera and oratorio.- Early development :...
and Victor Harding in a presentation of Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
under Sir Henry Wood. In 1938 she appeared in the English première of Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
's Mathis der Maler
On 5 October 1938, in celebration of Sir Henry Wood's golden jubilee as a conductor, Brunskill sang in the first performance of 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...
's Serenade to Music
Serenade to Music
Serenade to Music is a work by Ralph Vaughan Williams for 16 vocal soloists and orchestra, composed in 1938. The text is an adaptation of the discussion about music and the music of the spheres in Act V, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Vaughan Williams later arranged...
along with fifteen other leading English singers including another Marchesi pupil, Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond CBE was a British contralto of the early and middle twentieth century.-Early years:Astra Desmond was born Gwendolyn Mary Thompson, in Torquay, England. She was educated at Notting Hill High School and Westfield College, where she was a classical scholar...
. In the same year Brunskill sang under Wood in a rare performance of Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's 8th Symphony (Symphony of a Thousand)
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...
. Early in Wood's autumn 1940 season at Queen's Hall, Brunskill sang 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...
's Alto Rhapsody
Alto Rhapsody
The Alto Rhapsody, Op 53, is a work for contralto, male chorus, and orchestra by Johannes Brahms. It was written as a wedding gift for Robert and Clara Schumann's daughter, Julie. Brahms scholars have long speculated that the composer may have had romantic feelings for Julie, which he may have...
, ("jolly well", according to Wood).
Brunskill sang the role of the Angel in The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
conducted by Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
on 10 May 1941, the last concert given in the Queen's Hall, which was destroyed by a German incendiary bomb that night in an air raid
Airstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
. In 1942, to mark Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
's centenary week, the BBC broadcast The Golden Legend from the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, conducted by Wood with soloists including Muriel Brunskill.
Later years
In 1949 Brunskill made her last operatic appearance, as Ortrud in LohengrinLohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
at Covent Garden. In the 1950s, she extended her repertoire, appearing in the musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Golden City by John Toré, which ran at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
from June to October 1950, and in the film The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan in 1953. In 1956–1957 she appeared in a Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
tour in Australia and New Zealand.
Though best known for oratorio and opera, Brunskill was also admired for her song recitals. The Times said, "As a recitalist she excelled in the songs of Schubert, Brahms and those of contemporary English composers. Her voice, even throughout all registers... was capable of many and expressive nuances." In 1954 a Times critic commented that years of opera and oratorio had made her voice less suitable for the recital room. In a 2001 history of London's main recital venue, the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, the critic Alan Blyth
Alan Blyth
Geoffrey Alan Blyth was an English music critic, author, and musicologist who was particularly known for his writings within the field of opera. He graduated from the Rugby School before attending the University of Oxford where he studied with Jack Westrup...
remembered Brunskill's "formidable presence with her handbag plonked on the piano lid."
Brunskill retired to Bishops Tawton, near Barnstaple
Barnstaple
Barnstaple is a town and civil parish in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England, UK. It lies west southwest of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town of Exeter. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete.It is the main town of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England, where she died at age eighty.
Recordings
In Sir Thomas BeechamThomas 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...
's first recording of Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
, in 1927, Brunskill was one of the soloists, along with Dora Labbette, Harold Williams
Harold Williams (baritone)
Harold John Williams MBE was a leading Australian baritone and music teacher. Born in Sydney, he enjoyed a long and successful career in England and his native country, performing in opera, oratorio and concerts and giving radio broadcasts.-Early years:Williams was born on 3 September 1893 at...
, Hubert Eisdell, and Nellie Walker. In recordings of the same period, Brunskill was the contralto soloist in Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
's recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Her other recordings include Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust, with Harold Williams, Robert Carr
Robert Carr (baritone)
Robert Carr was an English baritone singer and prolific recording artist. Born in London, he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Bantock Pierrepoint...
, and Robert Easton, conducted by Clarence Raybould; Vaughan Williams's, Serenade to Music, with Lilian Stiles-Allen, Dame 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...
, Elsie Suddaby
Elsie Suddaby
Elsie Suddaby was a leading British lyric soprano of the years between World War I and World War II. She was born in Leeds.A pupil of Sir Edward Bairstow, she was known as ‘The Lass With The Delicate Air’ .She was principal soprano in the bicentennial St Matthew Passion Elsie Suddaby (1893 -...
, Dame Eva Turner
Eva Turner
Dame Eva Turner DBE was an English dramatic soprano with an international reputation. Her strong, steady and well-trained voice was renowned for its clarion power in Italian and German operatic roles.-Career:...
, Margaret Balfour
Margaret Balfour
Margaret Balfour was an English classical Contralto of the 1920s and 1930s. She is best remembered as the angel in Elgar's own recorded excerpts of The Dream of Gerontius and one of the 16 soloists in the original performance of Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music .She was also recorded by HMV...
, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred
Mary Jarred
Mary Jarred was an English opera singer of the mid-twentieth century. She is sometimes classed as a mezzo-soprano and sometimes as a contralto.-Biography:...
, Parry Jones, 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....
, Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton was a well known British lyric tenor of the mid twentieth century. He was noted for his musicianship.Titterton's career was mainly in the concert hall...
, Walter Widdop, Roy Henderson, Norman Allin, Robert Easton, Harold Williams, Queen's Hall Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
, conducted by Sir Henry Wood; and John Toré's Golden City, original cast recording, with Edmund Purdom
Edmund Purdom
Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was a British actor.-Early life:Purdom was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and educated at St. Augustine's Abbey School, Ramsgate, then by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Grammar School and Welwyn Garden City Grammar School...
, Eleanor Summerfield
Eleanor Summerfield
Eleanor Summerfield was a British actress.Summerfield was born in London in 1921. She received her acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In the mid-1960s, she played P. G. Wodehouse' character Aunt Dahlia in the BBC One's World of Wooster. She was a team member on BBC Radio 4's...
and Emile Belcourt.
Brunskill's last recordings include a disc of Christmas music for EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in 1955 with Isobel Baillie, Heddle Nash and Harold Williams.