Alfred Deller

Acknowledged as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century, Alfred Deller - born in Margate, Kent, England on May 31, 1912 - revived the countertenor range and paved the way for a new generation of early music performers. He is often referred to as the ‘godfather of the countertenor’. He was also influential in the rise of interest in early music, founding the Stour Music Festival in 1962, one of the first early music festivals in the world. As a young boy, he began singing in a local parish choir. Although his voice broke, he continued singing in a high register. He was a choirboy at Canterbury Cathedral from 1940 to 1947 before joining the London's St. Paul’s Cathedral choir (1947-1962). His desire to promote early music led him to form the Deller Consort in 1948. As a singer and musicologist, he taught Gregorian chant at Sénanque Abbey in Vaucluse, France, adding popular medieval and Renaissance songs to his repertoire. His recording career began in 1953, releasing a series of albums devoted to early music including Miserere (1953), Music of Henry Purcell, Jenkins, and Locke (1954), The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet with the Deller Consort (1955), Italian Songs (1956), Madrigal Masterpieces with the Deller Consort (1959), A Musical Panorama of Shakespeare’s England (1960), Purcell: Te Deum (1968), Gregorian Chant (1972), and the last Purcell: Music for a While (1979). Alfred Deller also recorded many of Purcell’s operas including The Fairy Queen (1972), The Indian Queen (1977) and King Arthur (1979). He was honored with many awards, but none higher than being raised to the rank of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). On July 16, 1979, Alfred Deller died of a heart attack after a rehearsal in Bologna (Italy). He was 67 years old.