Death of a Vienna-trained English tenor, 93
RIPWe have been notified of the death on December 15 of Nigel Douglas, a noted English tenor with a richly varied career.
Trained in Vienna in the 1950s, he shortened his name from Nigel Douglas Leigh Pemberton in order to fit onto placards at the Volksoper, where he sang for five years. He then returned hom to work in most of the British companies, mastering 80 roles.
Retiring at 72, he wrote two books about tenors and indulged in watching cricket.
His greatest excitement? ‘Working with Benjamin Britten. He cast me in the role of the young tenor in Owen Wingrave, the opera he wrote for TV. We did it on television in 1971 and on stage at Covent Garden in 1973, when I first came back to London. He came up on stage at the end of the performance and shook my hand and a lot of people said to me afterwards, what did he say to you? And what he said, word for word, was jolly well done old thing, jolly well done! He was just a lovely, lovely man and terribly kind to me. He was my absolute hero because there was no such a thing as British opera until Benjamin Britten came along.’
BBCTV publicity photo
brother of former Governor of the Bank of England. I remember him as the devil in Rimsky korsikov’s Christmas Eve
I had forgotten that!
So sad to hear about ND. I read his books on singers and he made radio programmes as well. Good memories. Thank you for what you gave. Hope he lived a happy and fulfilling life. RIP.
A fine singer in the repertoire he did and a nice man too. He wrote two excellent volumes in the 90s called Legendary Voices with two accompanying CDs corresponding to his choices. Thanks to the baritone and teacher, Neil Howlett introducing me to Nigel’s books, they got me into building a library of these old singers – realising how much I didn’t and still don’t know! And how much today’s ew singers could learn from if they were to investigate. Thanks to Neil and Nigel – may they both rest in peace.
Some years before the Britten recording, Nigel Douglas was heard as the tenor lead in the Sadler’s Wells highlights of THE GIPSY BARON. I recall his fine singing in duet with June Bronhill.
A noted operetta tenor, not surprisingly, but part of a distinguished triumvirate with Thomas Allen and Forbes Robinson in the memorable Michael Geliot production with WNO of Billy Budd
Nigel sang a variety of roles with Scottish Opera including Valzacchi in the superb Anthony Besch production of Rosenkavalier with Baker, Harwood and Dernesch, and in the premiere performances of Robin Orr’s Hermiston at the Edinburgh Festival and on tour. A true company man, his last role was a nicely supercilious performance as the Major Domo in 1998.
The first Letchmere in ‘Owen Wingrave’. And a dead ringer for Andrejz Panufnik!
De mortuis perhaps, but surely he was wrong on two counts. Britten was not ‘a lovely, lovely man’, and there WAS such a thing as English opera before he came along, some of it pretty good!
For me, he will always be Lechmere, in ‘Owen Wingrave’, a part that fitted him like a glove; he takes part in a discussion about it (with David Matthews, Anita Lasker and Lucy Walker) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPI_nMaRnLg
He was also a very good broadcaster, presenting several music-orientated programmes on the BBC with charm and enthusiasm.