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WARREN, Leonard: Sea Shanties / Kipling Songs / Songs for Everyone (1947-1951)
Throughout the 1950s baritone Leonard Warren, a dedicated musician with high standards and a powerful personality, held sway at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, until his tragic death on stage, on 4 March 1960, having just completed Morir, tremenda cosa (To die, a momentous thing) from La forza del destino. His remarkable artistry, rich tone allied with clear enunciation, and sheer musicality made him a leading exponent not only of the operatic repertoire but also of popular music, as in these recordings of ballads, songs and shanties laid down during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Warren can also be heard on Naxos Historical in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (8.110258), and Verdi’s Rigoletto (8.110148-49), Aida (8.111042–44) and Il trovatore (8.110240–41).
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Leonard Warren (1911-1960) was born in New York of Russian immigrant parents and began his career in the chorus of Radio City Music Hall. After winning the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in 1938, he then studied briefly in Italy, before his formal début as Paolo in Simon Boccanegra in January 1939. During 22 seasons at the Met, Warren sang in over six hundred performances with the company, with whom he became the principal in the Italian repertoire.
His overseas appearances included Rio de Janeiro (between 1942 and 1946), Mexico City (1948-49), Milan (1953- 54) and a concert tour of the Soviet Union in addition to three operatic appearances. He collapsed on stage during a performance of La forza del destino in March 1960 and died in the wings almost immediately.
His huge, resonant voice with easy ringing upper register was ideally suited to the music of Verdi, a number of whose operas he recorded, including Rigoletto (Naxos 8.110148-49) and Il trovatore (Naxos 8.110240-41).
