1. Kathleen Mary Ferrier was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar.
The daughter of a Lancashire village schoolmaster, Ferrier showed early talent as a pianist, and won numerous amateur piano competitions while working as a telephonist with the General Post Office.
Kathleen Ferrier did not take up singing seriously until 1937, when after winning a prestigious singing competition at the Carlisle Festival she began to receive offers of professional engagements as a vocalist.
Kathleen Ferrier became a regular performer at leading London and provincial venues, and made numerous BBC radio broadcasts.
Kathleen Ferrier became known internationally through her three tours to the United States between 1948 and 1950 and her many visits to continental Europe.
The Lancashire branch originated in the 19th century, when Thomas Kathleen Ferrier settled in the area after being stationed near Blackburn during a period of industrial unrest.
Kathleen Ferrier was born on 22 April 1912, in the Lancashire village of Higher Walton where her father William Ferrier was the head of the village school.
Kathleen Ferrier was the third and youngest of the couple's children, following a sister and a brother; when she was two the family moved to Blackburn, after William was appointed headmaster of St Paul's School in the town.
From an early age Kathleen Ferrier showed promise as a pianist, and had lessons with Frances Walker, a noted North of England piano teacher who had been a pupil of Tobias Matthay.
Kathleen Ferrier's talent developed quickly; in 1924, she came fourth out of 43 entrants at the Lytham St Annes Festival piano competition, and in the following year at Lytham she achieved second place.
Kathleen Ferrier continued her piano studies under Frances Walker, and in November 1928 was the regional winner in a national contest for young pianists, organised by the Daily Express.
In 1931, aged 19, Kathleen Ferrier passed her Licentiate examinations at the Royal Academy of Music.
Kathleen Ferrier met Albert Wilson in 1933, probably through dancing, which they both loved.
In 1937 Kathleen Ferrier entered the Carlisle Festival open piano competition and, as a result of a small bet with her husband, signed up for the singing contest.
Kathleen Ferrier won the piano trophy; in the singing finals she sang Roger Quilter's To Daisies, a performance which earned her the festival's top vocal award.
Kathleen Ferrier was awarded a special rose bowl as champion of the festival.
At the 1939 Carlisle Festival, Ferrier sang Richard Strauss's song All Souls' Day, a performance which particularly impressed one of the adjudicators, J E Hutchinson, a music teacher with a considerable reputation.
Kathleen Ferrier became his pupil and, under his guidance, began to extend her repertoire to include works by Bach, Handel, Brahms and Elgar.
Kathleen Ferrier had better fortune when she was introduced to Malcolm Sargent after a Halle concert in Blackpool.
John Tillett accepted her as a client without hesitation after which, on Sargent's advice, Kathleen Ferrier decided to base herself in London.
Kathleen Ferrier gave her first London recital on 28 December 1942 at the National Gallery, in a lunch-time concert organised by Dame Myra Hess.
Kathleen Ferrier approached the distinguished baritone Roy Henderson with whom, a week previously, she had sung in Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Kathleen Ferrier later explained that her "warm and spacious tone" was in part due to the size of the cavity at the back of her throat: "one could have shot a fair-sized apple right to the back of the throat without obstruction".
On 17 May 1943, Kathleen Ferrier sang in Handel's Messiah at Westminster Abbey, alongside Isobel Baillie and Peter Pears, with Reginald Jacques conducting.
Kathleen Ferrier's assured performance led to other important engagements, and to broadcasting work; her increasingly frequent appearances on popular programmes such as Forces Favourites and Housewives' Choice soon gave her national recognition.
Kathleen Ferrier's first published record, made in September 1944, was issued under the Columbia label; it consisted of two songs by Maurice Greene, again with Moore accompanying.
On 15 September 1945, Kathleen Ferrier made her debut at the London Proms, when she sang L'Air des Adieux from Tchaikovsky's opera The Maid of Orleans.
Kathleen Ferrier had often sung Orfeo's aria Che faro as a concert piece, and had recently recorded it with Decca.
At Glyndebourne, Kathleen Ferrier's limited acting abilities caused some difficulties in her relationship with the conductor, Fritz Stiedry; nevertheless her performance on the first night, 19 June 1947, attracted warm critical praise.
On 1 January 1948, Kathleen Ferrier left for a four-week tour of North America, the first of three transatlantic trips she would make during the next three years.
Kathleen Ferrier returned to the Netherlands in January 1949 for a series of recitals, then left Southampton on 18 February 1949 to begin her second American tour.
Unaware of his problem, in letters home, Kathleen Ferrier berated "this abominable accompanist" who deserved "a kick in the pants".
Shortly after her return to Britain early in June 1949, Kathleen Ferrier left for Amsterdam where, on 14 July, she sang in the world premiere of Britten's Spring Symphony, with Eduard van Beinum and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Kathleen Ferrier felt that these recitals represented "a peak to which I had been groping for the last three years".
Schwarzkopf later recalled Kathleen Ferrier's singing of the Agnus Dei from the Mass as her highlight of the year.
Early in 1951, while on tour in Rome, Kathleen Ferrier learned of her father's death at the age of 83.
Two weeks later Kathleen Ferrier discovered a lump on her breast.
Kathleen Ferrier resumed performing on 19 June 1951, in the Mass in B minor at the Royal Albert Hall.
Kathleen Ferrier then made her usual visit to the Holland Festival, where she gave four performances of Orfeo, and sang in Mahler's Second Symphony with Otto Klemperer and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In January 1952, Kathleen Ferrier joined Britten and Pears in a short series of concerts to raise funds for Britten's English Opera Group, including the premiere of Britten's Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac.
Kathleen Ferrier's health continued to deteriorate; she refused to consider a course of androgen injections, believing that this treatment would destroy the quality of her voice.
Kathleen Ferrier died at University College Hospital on 8 October 1953, aged 41; the date for which, while still hopeful of recovery, she had undertaken to sing Frederick Delius's A Mass of Life at the 1953 Leeds Festival.
Kathleen Ferrier was cremated a few days later, at Golders Green Crematorium, after a short private service.
The news of Kathleen Ferrier's death came as a considerable shock to the public.
The opera critic Rupert Christiansen, writing as the 50th anniversary of Kathleen Ferrier's death approached, maintained that "no singer in this country has ever been more deeply loved, as much for the person she was as for the voice she uttered".
The Kathleen Ferrier Society, founded in 1993 to promote interest in all aspects of the singer's life and work, has since 1996 awarded annual bursaries to students at Britain's major music colleges.