Death of a leading countertenor
RIPThe English countertenor James Bowman died yesterday at the age of 81.
A frontrunner in the early music revival, he displaced Alfred Deller in Britten’s mind as the defining Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and made his London debut in the opening concert of the South Bank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Joining David Munrow’s Early Music Consort, he took charge of the group at Munrow’s early death, going on to work closely with Pro Cantione Antiqua.and Christopher Hogwood. He was a creative, mischievous presence on the London scene until his retirement in 2011.
photo (c) Wild Plum Arts
Very sad news. James Bowman was ‘always there’. Thanks goodness for his vast recorded legacy.
very sad news indeed he was quit simply the best and set the standard he was my hero god speed rest in peace
I got to know James from singing as a guest soprano for the wonderful Pro Cantiones Antiqua, and then some years later in the 90s, he and I were soloists along with Peter Auty, and one other I just for now can’t remember who, for Handel’s Messiah in York Minster. He was always charming to work with. May he rest in peace.
A great man. RIP.
Deeply saddened to read if this. I was a boy treble in Britten’s Dream at Scottish Opera. He was such an inspiration. Kind. Professional. Funny. RIP
He was marvelous in that Tony Robertson production of Scottish Opera’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, outstanding in a very fine cast. I still regularly listen to his David in Charles Mackerras very fine recording of Saul with such superb singers as Dame Margaret Price, Donald McIntyre, Sheila Armstrong and Stafford Dean.
John Dryden’s Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell has never seemed more fitting.
The Bowman / Chance recording (amongst many others) was my go-to in my own cock alto days!
Bumped into him at Dorking Halls only a few weeks ago and he was in fine form when we recalled the rare (but, to me, special) time we had sung together.
Always kind and encouraging of those younger signers around him and fondly remembered.
Truly one of the greatest singers of the second half of the twentieth century, and one of the most delightful, charming, mischievous, kind, generous, human beings that you could ever hope to meet.
I first came worked with James when in 1972 I (aged twelve) was recording the treble solos in Purcell’s Te Deum and Jubilate. Next to me stood this towering figure who made the most extraordinary sound, so utterly compelling that when the LP came out I wore out the tracks on which he was singing. He also, early on in the sessions, cracked a rude joke which had all of us hysterical with laughter – the first, as fate was happily to decree, of hundreds of times over the next thirty years that James was to put me and my colleagues at our ease with a well-chosen, sometimes quite risqué, but always perfectly placed, remark.
In 1986, our paths crossed again. James and TKC made a recording for a small British label, including Handel’s “Eternal source of light”, a track which then was not the staple that it now has become. We did it in one take, plus a small edit at the end to allow the trumpeter a fresh lip for the final phrase, and the recording producer was apparently so moved by the sound of James that he wept during the take. It became a cult recording. And that was the start of an amazing fifteen years of James and TKC.
From 1986 up to 2001 there was hardly a month when James and TKC didn’t perform or record together. In concerts, we travelled all over the world, also on the way staging Handel opera productions in Japan, France and the UK. And then there were the recordings: James made just short of fifty discs with TKC – our three ground-breaking Purcell series plus some single discs alone total two dozen CDs, a whole series of Handel oratorios and operas, and a wonderfully wide range of other baroque repertoire. Those discs of him and TKC sold more than a million copies.
But that’s only the music. James as a person was a giant in every way. Six foot four inches, and a personality that was utterly unique. He had amazing powers of recall, which was a joy as he had worked with all the greats, and the stories he told were extraordinary. As a raconteur, he was without parallel, and his timing was millisecond perfect. And he was kind, and incredibly supportive of his friends and colleagues.
James, you were truly one of the greats, and the world today is so, so, so much the poorer without you. Thank you so much.
Requiescat in pace.
Update: James worked with TKC and me for longer than I wrote earlier – it was 18 years, 1986-2003, and I think he is on 49 of our recordings (the last in 2001). What an amazing, wonderful man. “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”.
Thank you for your lovely tribute, Robert. I listen to your Purcell Odes and Welcome Songs discs regularly and with enormous pleasure.
Lovely tribute, Robert. Hope you’ve been keeping well since I last saw you in Ilkley! Was James really 6ft 4ins?????
James was extraordinary – the first great countertenor whose voice inspired much of my approach to singing early music.
We are so much the poorer for his death, and heaven all the more blessed.
Lovely, lovely man – taught part of a day school with him on the St Matthew Passion at the RCM and it was just delightful. James oozed brightness and class, just wonderful
Very sad news. A voice and personality that inspired so many of us countertenors over the years, as well as a fun and generous professional colleague. Personally, I don’t think I would have had a career without his generosity and support when I was starting out. He was equally supportive when we shared the stage in concert, opera and recordings in later years. A sad loss of a true musical Legend. RIP James 🙁
A real pioneer, along with Paul Esswood, in moving the voice beyond Alfred Deller. His Vivaldi recordings with Hogwood were electrifying. RIP.
A great singer and musician, without any doubt or misuse of the epithet. The loveliest of men, too and a genuine trailblazer without who (Munrow too, of course) I doubt that many would have been exposed to baroque music.
Strange: On the way to Stuttgart for the B minor Mass with Hans-Christoph Rademann, my wife and I heard James Bowman in the car on Saturday playing Heroic Arias by Handel. Because we didn’t know for sure, we googled James Bowman’s age…. He had such a wonderful voice. Of the three greats of his era, only Paul Esswood and Charles Brett are still alive.
A kind and funny man. The world is blander without him. Sad to hear of his passing.
One of the first, and one of the best. RIP.
An extraordinary artist who inspired everyone he came into contact with, and simply the kindest man in music. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Great to see your name again, Robin. When, oh when shall I hear again, the unforgettable voices of you and your wife, first experienced at All Saints Parish Church, Kingston upon Thames?
Very sorry to learn of this. James was a great singer and a lovely person. RIP
Many years ago, when I sang in the City of Birmingham Choir, we were lucky enough to engage him to sing the alto solos in two performances of Messiah one Christmas. His singing was charismatic and intelligent. I can still hear his voice leaping as he sang: Then shall the lame man leap as an hart. Wonderful. And off the stage he was friendly and charming.
RIP dear James Bowman.
From Vietnam, prayers to bác James Bowman’s family. Thành kính phân ưu cùng gia đình bác James Bowman. Mong bác về cõi vĩnh hằng.
This makes me so sad. I idolized James Bowman from the time I first heard him when I was twelve years old and he was not yet famous. Having had the privilege of working with him on two productions at ROH I can confirm that his wicked sense of humor was always in evidence. A truly lovely man.
Very sad news indeed. It was his voice that introduced the countertenor roles to me as a teenager. The vinyl recording of Handel’s oratorio Saul is my most treasured recording. His voice is simply sensational throughout.
Wonderful memories from Leeds Festivals in 1960/70s when James sang with us on many occasions. He was an inspiration to many of us.
Years later we met again in London and he helped sponsor Surrey Youth Choir and raise funds for our American tour in 2001.
A wonderful person and a true friend.
I trust he hears the sound of heavenly trumpets.
Indeed… as well as the sprightly hautboy, and all other instruments of joy that skilful numbers can employ,
I trust!
Early 1973 I had just joined Netherlands Opera when James Bowman and Paul Esswood came to perform in Filippo Sanjust’s production of “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” conducted from the harpsichord by Gustav Leonardt and Alan Curtis, two giants of the Dutch early music scene. James sang the smaller role of Nutrice and Paul the leading role of Ottone. Both made a big impression on me and took me under their wing when I went to the London Opera Centre later that year. The next time I came across James was when I was Peter Hall’s assistant in Glyndebourne and James was cast as Oberon in the now famous production of “A midsummer Night’s Dream” in 1981. James was utterly mesmerizing as Oberon together with the Puck of Damian Nash. History was written that opening night!
What a beautiful tribute, Guus! Thank you.
And yes, that first round of AMND absolutely made history. Glorious history on the stage and in the pit.
I still can’t hear or watch the play without thinking of Andrew, Patrick, Charles…
And James and Damien!!
Thanks again for writing so warmly and a stunning period of our lives.
I miss and love you chaps.
A life well lived, a brilliant career well acknowledged. By all accounts he was one of a kind and well loved.
What wonderful comments about him have been made here!!
What a sad loss of such a lovely, kind, irreverent and funny man, and a great, great musician. Amongst many musical memories I will never forget a performance of the St Matthew Passion in the church just off Sloane Square. His duetting of Erbarme dich with Clare Salomon on the violin was magical.
Very sad to hear about the death of an old friend. James and I first met in 1968. He was a friend of a friend who took me to the Maltings Concert Hall at Snape to hear him sing in Purcell’s 1683 Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day. When we met during the interval James suggested that I write something for him and I spent many hours during the summer that followed setting translations from the Chinese for counter-tenor and harpsichord. Thank goodness he never attempted to perform them. They were quite terrible! We met up at events over the passing of years and I was thrilled to write for him a setting of Dante’s sonnet ‘Tanto Gentile’ that he rather liked and performed at several recitals in both 2009 and 2010. He had a great sense of humour and the absurd that will be greatly missed by all who knew him. We had lots of laughs. It is wonderful that we have a great legacy of his recordings to keep our memories alive. R.I.P James. Always remembered.
A great character- he winked at me at The Ferrier awards- on the jury- when I used a lavish amount of pedal accompanying a young soprano in a Handel Aria.
Oh man. Such sad sad news. A voice that helped introduce me to so much wonderful Baroque music, like Robert KIng’s Purcell recordings mentioned above and countless cuts on L’Oiseau Lyre with the AAM. I remember his voice having real warmth, the antithesis to the “hooty” countertenor . RIP
Bowman had great high notes.
His Queen of the Night was
without equal.
I want Slipped Disc on the site first thing when I’m have my coffee.