Geraint Evans

Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans, (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992), was a Welsh baritone, noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title-roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck. He sang more than seventy different roles in a career that lasted from his first appearance at Covent Garden in 1948 to his farewell there in 1984.

Early life

Evans was born in Cilfynydd, the only son of William John Evans (1899–1978), a coal miner, and his wife, Charlotte May, née Thomas (1901–1923). His family was Welsh speaking, and Evans spoke Welsh before he learned English. On leaving school, aged 14, he worked as a window dresser for the High Class Ladies' Wear store in Pontypridd. In his spare time, he tooking singing lessons in Cardiff, and sang with the local Methodist choir and the local amateur dramatic society. On the outbreak of World War II he volunteered for the Royal Air Force; he was trained as a radio mechanic, but also took part in services entertainments. After the war he worked for the British Forces Radio Network in Hamburg where he sang with the radio chorus and took lessons from the baritone Theo Herrmann. He then studied with Fernando Carpi in Geneva and at the Guildhall School of Music in London with Walter Hyde.

Roles

During a career that lasted from his first appearance at Covent Garden in January 1948 to his farewell at the same house in June 1984, Geraint Evans played more than seventy roles. He made his operatic début as the nightwatchman in Die Meistersinger at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1948, and was given the role of Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro there in 1949 a part which he went on to sing more than 500 times during his international career. It was as Figaro that he made his début at La Scala, Milan in 1960, the first British singer to appear there since the war. His Vienna Staatsoper debut was as a last-minute replacement. Herbert von Karajan was sufficiently impressed as to offer him a contract with the company, but Evans declined, believing that his place was at Covent Garden.

At Glyndebourne in 1957 he first played the part with which he became internationally associated: the title role in Verdi's Falstaff, which he later played in opera houses around the world, including Covent Garden (1961, directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli), the Vienna Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera (1964 in another Zeffirelli production). Other roles in which he was celebrated were Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger, Figaro, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, Don Pasquale, Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore and Leporello in Don Giovanni. He was an outstanding actor in both comic and tragic roles such as Wozzeck.

His repertoire was in the bass-baritone range, for example Don Pizarro, and in Mozart he chose the lower roles - Leporello rather than Don Giovanni, Figaro rather than the Count. Roles higher in the baritone register were not comfortable for him: he never undertook Iago in Otello and his one attempt at Rigoletto, at Covent Garden in 1964, ended in disaster when his voice failed on the first night, on which occasion he took the unusual step of apologising to the audience at the final curtain.

Evans appeared in the premières of many modern British operas, including Vaughan Williams's Pilgrim's Progress (1951); Britten's Billy Budd (1951) and Gloriana (1953), Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1954), and Hoddinott's The Beach of Falesá (1974) and Murder the Magician (1976). In Billy Budd, Britten wrote much of the title part with Evans in mind, but the singer, after preparing the role found that it lay uncomfortably high for him and opted for the lesser role of Mr Flint, the Sailing Master. Later in his career Evans switched to the role of the evil John Claggart, Master at Arms.

Peter Ustinov, who directed Evans in opera, wrote of him:

His great qualities are a permanent commentary on all that make opera inviting, and finally impossible, to someone trained in the theatre. With his fine eighteenth-century face, looking like many of the actors' portraits in the Garrick Club, dark eyes, bulbous nose and chubby cheeks . . . he knows from the outset what he intends to do, usually because he has already done it successfully, and rehearsals are spent getting his own way by running the whole gamut of techniques, from charm to bluster and back again.

Recordings and television

Geraint Evans's recordings include Falstaff (conducted by Georg Solti); Mozart's Figaro (for both Otto Klemperer and Daniel Barenboim); Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Klemperer); Ned Keene in Peter Grimes (conducted by the composer); Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger(conducted by Herbert von Karajan); Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore (conducted by John Pritchard); Wozzeck (conducted by Karl Böhm). He also recorded Ko-Ko in The Mikado (1957), the Duke of Plaza Toro in The Gondoliers (1957) and Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard (1958), for EMI. This Gilbert and Sullivan series was conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.

Between 1968 and 1981 Evans gave a series of televised masterclasses for the BBC in which he took young professional singers through key operatic works, including The Marriage of Figaro, Falstaff, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, La bohème, Peter Grimes, I Pagliacci, and Così fan Tutte.

Honours and retirement

Geraint Evans was knighted in 1969. Other honours conferred on him included: Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music (1960); Sir Charles Santley Memorial Award (1963); Hon. Doctor of Music, University of Wales, (1965); Harriet Cohen International Award (1967); Hon. RAM (1969); Hon. Doctor of Music, Leicester University (1969); Fellow, University College, Cardiff (1976); Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music (1978); Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford; San Francisco Opera Medal (1980); Fidelio Medal (1980); Fellow of the Royal College of Music (1981); Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (1984); Freeman, City of London (1984); Society of Cymmrodorion Medal, 1984; Hon. Doctor of Music Oxford University (1985); Order of St John (1986); Fellow, Trinity College, London (1987); Fellow University College, Swansea (1990).

After his retirement from the operatic stage in 1983 (his farewell performances were as Dulcamara), he continued to work as an operatic stage director. He was more in demand abroad than at home in this capacity, and directed Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Falstaff, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Pasquale in the USA.

In 1984 Evans published his memoirs, A Knight at the Opera, written in collaboration with Noël Goodwin. A paperback edition was published the following year.

Evans's final public appearance was in July 1992 at the gala to mark the closure of the old opera house at Glyndebourne, along with Janet Baker, Montserrat Caballe, Cynthia Haymon, Felicity Lott, Ruggero Raimondi, Elisabeth Soderstrom and Frederica von Stade.

Evans died in Aberystwyth at the age of 70. A memorial service in Westminster Abbey was attended by more than 1,700 family, friends and admirers. The orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera House were conducted by Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Edward Downes. Hymns were sung in Welsh; lessons were read by Donald Sinden and Stuart Burrows. Among the congregation were Dame Joan Sutherland, Peter Brook, and representatives of the Welsh National Opera and the London Welsh rugby club.