The operatic career of English mezzosoprano Janet Baker was in many ways exceptional, not least for the fact that she only performed opera in England. Between her debut in 1956 and her last stage performance in 1982 she sung a rather limited range of roles, mostly in operas by Handel, Mozart, Gluck, and Monteverdi, with the occasional foray into Berlioz and Strauss, on the stages of Glyndebourne, London, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh [Benjamin Britten wrote the role of Kate in Owen Wingrave for her, and she was his favourite choice for the title role in The Rape of Lucretia]. Yet she managed to reach an iconic status which still endures, some twenty-five years after her farewell to the stage. This phenomenon is quite difficult to understand simply on the basis of her recorded legacy, notwithstanding her remarkable Vitellia under Colin Davis,…
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