William Warfield Sings Schumann and Brahms

The American bass-baritone William Warfield was a great singer who did not achieve the fame his gifts warranted, possibly because he made very few solo recordings. We have been slowly working through them on this blog.

Warfield's initial session for Columbia, in 1951, was devoted to lieder by Carl Loewe and a selection of "Ancient Music of the Church." That recording will appear here in the future.

William Warfield

Later in 1951, Warfield premiered Copland's Old American Songs, which Columbia coupled with Celius Dougherty settings of sea chanteys. This record, which appeared here many years ago, is now available in a newly remastered edition.

In 1952, Warfield's third Columbia session produced more quasi-popular material, this time settings of folk or folk-influenced songs, with backings led by (and possibly authored by) Lehman Engel. This also has appeared here, and now has been remastered.

Today we have a fine collection of Schumann and Brahms lieder dating from 1953. Following this session, Warfield was to make no other solo recordings, save for a reprise of Copland's Old American Songs, this time in the orchestrated version. He was, however, often heard in ensemble works such as The Messiah, and of course in Porgy and Bess.

Warfield in the recording studio

This Brahms-Schumann recital elicited strong reviews; I've included examples from The New Records, The New York Times and Billboard. The LP cover quotes approving European reviews of Warfield's appearances, such as this from Vienna's Weltpresse: "This glorious voice is a baritone which reached from dark bass-register to bright tenor notes, and is of a singular technical perfection and smoothness of voice control. Joy and pain, hope and sorrow and great inner strength are in the voice..."

The LP program shows these qualities very well. It includes Schumann's Liederkreis, 1840 settings of poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, and Brahms' Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs), the composer's 1896 settings of Biblical texts. (The download includes texts and translations for both works.) It's a shame Warfield was not asked to record more of this repertoire.

Otto Herz

The fluid accompanist on the LP was Otto Herz, who at the time was much in demand by young performers making their debuts  at New York's Town Hall, as did Warfield in 1950. The download includes an obituary for this sensitive pianist.

Also included is an interview with Warfield by the Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein dating from 2000, when the vocalist was 80 and still teaching at Northwestern. He died two years later.