100 Greatest Singers: ALFRED DELLER

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! To find Alfred Deller in this list, what´s your opinion? Please let us know!

Alfred Deller, Countertenor (1912-1979)

Greensleeves (Old english folksong)

My personal opinion: At times, the world of great voices gave us singers you can´t rate with usual standards. One example was german tenor Karl Erb (1877-1958) who kept a boy-like voice his whole life, another one was Peter Pears (1910-1986). Can you image these tenors in conventional operatic-roles on stage? Or dutch contralto Aafjee Heynis (born 1924), Agnes Giebel (born 1921) and Dame Clara Butt (1872-1936), three singers who made their careers only on the concert stage. Out of every standard even the bizarre sound-documents of the last castrato Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922).
In the late eighteenth century the operatic taste changed and the end for castrati came. It is stated, that the success of heroic tenor Gilbert Duprez finished the castrato-era. From now on their roles were sung by sopranos, contraltos or tenors in transpositions. But it was far from authenticity. A remedy was given with the english tradition of countertenors, which we find for the first time in polyphonic compositions of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century.
Throughout the nineteenth century, it was only in the tradition of all-male cathedral choirs that the countertenor voice had survived, but the last century saw a revival and a member in the choirs of Canterbury and St. Paul´s Cathedrals, Alfred Deller, became famous. With him a renaissance for high male voices began. Deller was the most popular of all countertenors, but certainly a high male voice is not everybody´s taste. But for instance hear Radu Marian to experience the magic of a voice pure like that of an angel.
For me, Alfred Deller was the perfect voice of Purcell´s music (The Fairy Queen). Benjamin Britten wrote the role of Oberon in his "Midsummer Night´s Dream" with Deller in mind, and I believe his recordings of Dowland´s songs are his best work.
I select a variante of "Greensleeves" to present you Alfred Deller in familiar repertory.

THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: PLEASE GO TO ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Alfred
• Deller
• Countertenor
• Purcell
• Haendel
• Mozart
• Castrato
• Moreschi
• Farinelli
• Canterbury
• Greensleeves

[100Singers]

Hi Fabrice. Please pardon me, but I don´t see Russel Oberlin in the same league as Alfred Deller who was much more influential. Cheers from Mike

[paulostroff99]

Awesome. No other counter tenor compared.

[lalagonegaga]

A great singer, but above all, a magnificent storyteller : you actually pay attention to the words, not only the beautiful melodies. The one and only.

[Bigbearbeau]

truly the greatest musican not just a singer of the period Oberin, and others were amasing too!

[Imhof44]

The international superstar Gustave Leonhardt,who toured the USA many times to great acclaim said" Deller was my teacher,without him I would never have got to be so well known,he was the greatest musician of the 20th Century".

[mizofan]

Thanks for this selection; he was my dear kind late mum's favourite 

[ProfessorChaotix]

he sounds like a bard from the medieval times! such a beautiful voice

[esmedoodles]

Still my favorite counter-tenor, hands down. One of only 3-4 artists that can bring a tear to my eye and a smile to my face.

[PEAinSwe]

Pure angelic voice. And the way he treats the text! Wow!!!

[ellandelachapelle]

Still the best.

[paulostroff99]

Awesome!  TY.

[jimcalander]

Peut-être n'est-il pas le meilleur, il est cependant pour moi le plus émouvant. Et cela en fait un des meilleurs.

[SalieriLives]

Thank goodness - countertenors repressented - and by the granddaddy of them all (in the modern era). Bowman, Chance, Scholl, and so forth to promising breakout artists like Pagenkopf owe much to Deller's courageous defence of The Voice.