Leonard Warren

Baritone

The outstanding American baritone, Leonard Warren’s original family name was Warenoff. It was Americanized as Warren when his Russian father settled in the USA He was first employed in his father's fur business in New York In 1935 he joined the chorus of Radio City Music Hall. He also studied voice with Sidney Dietch and Giuseppe De Luca. In 1938 he won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air and was granted a stipend to study in Italy, where he took voice lessons with Pais and Piccozi.

Returning to America, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in excerpts from La Traviata and Pagliacci during a concert in New York in November 1938. His formal operatic debut took place there in January 1939, when he sang Paolo in Simon Boccanegra. He quickly advanced in public favour, eventually assuming a leading place among the noted baritones of his time. He also sang in San Francisco, Chicago, Canada, and South America. He appeared at La Scala in Milan in 1953. In 1958 he made a highly successful tour of the Soviet Union. His last complete performance at the Metropolitan Opera was as Simon Boccanegra on March 1, 1960, 3 days before his tragic death.

He was particularly acclaimed as one of the foremost interpreters of the great Verdi baritone roles; he also sang the parts of Tonio in Pagliacci, Escamillo in Carmen, and Scarpia in Tosca. He collapsed while singing the aria "Urna fatale dal mio destino;" as Don Carlo during a performance of La forza del destino, underlining the tragic irony of the words, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage backstage. He was reputed to be a person of an intractable character, who always tried to impose his will on stage designers, managers, and even conductors, in matters of production, direction, and tempi. He caused pain, a colleague said, but he had a great voice.

Ex. VAT prices will be applied automatically for non-EU delivery addresses.
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates.

Verdi: Il Trovatore

Jussi Bjorling, Zinka Milanov, Leonard Warren, Fedora Barbieri, Nicola Moscona, Margaret Roggero, Paul Franke, George Cehanovsky, Nathaniel Sprinzena

Robert Shaw Chorale & RCA Orchestra, Renato Cellini

Regis - RRC2060

(CD)

£8.49 (£7.23 ex. VAT)

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Verdi: Falstaff

Recorded 1949

Leonard Warren, Regina Resnik, Giuseppe Valdengo, Cloe Elmo, Martha Lipton, Licia Albanese, Giuseppe di Stefano

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Reiner

Best of Opera sale

Click here for full details

Walhall - WLCD0012

(CD - 2 discs)

Normally: £10.49 (£8.93 ex. VAT)

Special: £7.34 (£6.25 ex. VAT)

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

Recorded 1947

Daniza Ilitsch, Jan Peerce, Leonard Warren, Pierrette Alarie, Margaret Harshaw, Gioacomo Vaghi, Lorenzo Alvery, John Baker

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Giuseppe Antonicelli

Best of Opera sale

Click here for full details

Walhall - WLCD0054

(CD - 2 discs)

Normally: £10.49 (£8.93 ex. VAT)

Special: £7.34 (£6.25 ex. VAT)

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Live Recordings from the 1940s

Verdi:

Va, pensiero (from Nabucco)

Recorded 31/01/1943

Westminster Choir

I Lombardi: Qual voluttà trascorrere

Recorded 31/01/1943

Vivian Della Chiesa, Jan Peerce, Nicola Moscona, Mischa Mischakoff

I vespri siciliani Overture

Recorded 21/01/1943

Luisa Miller Overture

Recorded 25/07/1943

Quando le sere al placido (from Luisa Miller)

Recorded 25/07/1943

Jan Peerce

Rigoletto: Act 3

Recorded 25/05/1944

Leonard Warren (Rigoletto), Zinka Milanov (Gilda), Jan Peerce (Duke), Nan Merriman (Maddalena), Nicola Moscona (Sparafucile)

NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini

Opus Kura - OPK7038

(CD)

£8.99 (£7.65 ex. VAT)

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Verdi: Il Trovatore

Stella Roman (Leonora); Leonard Warren (Il Conte di Luna); Margaret Harshaw (Azucena); Jussi Björling (Manrico); Giacomo Vaghi (Ferrando); Lodovico Oliviero (Ruiz); Inge Manski (Ines) & John Baker (gypsy)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Emil Cooper

Music & Arts West Hill Radio Archive - WHRA6010

(CD - 2 discs)

£23.99 (£20.42 ex. VAT)

Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days.

Verdi: Il Trovatore

Zinka Milanov (Leonora); Nell Rankin (Azucena); Kurt Baum (Manrico); Leonard Warren (Il Conte di Luna) & Giorgio Tozzi (Ferrando)

Metropolitan Opera, Fausto Cleva

Recorded 14/3/1956

Best of Opera sale

Click here for full details

Walhall - WLCD0207

(CD - 2 discs)

Normally: £10.49 (£8.93 ex. VAT)

Special: £7.34 (£6.25 ex. VAT)

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Leonard Warren

Disc One - Verdi Arias

1 UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Verdi, Alzati! là tuo figlio ... Eri tu 6.29

Metropolitan Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor

Rec: 9 January 1955 Victor LP LM 1911

2 IL TROVATORE, Verdi, Il balen ... Qual suono!...Per me ora fatale 7.26

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Nicolai Moscona and The Robert Shaw Chorale

Rec: 11 March 1952 Victor LP LM 6008

3 SIMON BOCCANEGRA, Verdi, Dinne, perche in ques’eremo ... Figlia! a tal nome palpito 9.39

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Astrid Varnay

Rec: 4 February 1950 Victor LP WDM 1426

4 RIGOLETTO, Verdi, Pari siamo 3.34

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor

Rec: 25 May 1950 Victor LP LM 6101

5 RIGOLETTO, Verdi, Povero Rigoletto ... Cortigiani, vil razza dannata 7.41

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with The Robert Shaw Chorale

Rec: 25 May/6 April 1950 Victor LP LM 6101

6 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Verdi, Solenne in quest’ora 3.56

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Jan Peerce

Rec: 7 April 1955 Victor LP LM 1916

7 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Verdi, Morir! tremenda cosa ... urna fatale 7.31

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Raymond Keast

Rec: 16 February 1950 Victor LP LM 1916

8 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Verdi, Invano, Alvaro ... Ah! una suora mi lasciasti 8.53

RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Jan Peerce

Rec: 7 April 1955 Victor LP LM 1916

9 AIDA, Verdi, Ciel! mio padre ... Rivedrai le forester imbalsamate 8.24

with Zinka Milanov. Rome Opera House Orchestra, Jonel Perlea, conductor

Rec: 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 6122

10 OTELLO, Verdi, Credo in un Dio crudel 4.45

Rome Opera House Orchestra, Vincenzo Bellezza, conductor

Rec: 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 1932

1 OTELLO, Verdi, Era la notte 3.36

RCA Victor Orchestra, Jonel Perlea, conductor

Rec: 3 March 1955 Victor LP LM 1932

2 FALSTAFF, Verdi, È sogno? O realtà? 4.22

Rome Opera House Orchestra, Vincenzo Bellezza, conductor

Rec: 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 1932

Disc Two

Sea Shanties

1 Blow the Man Down 2.18

2 The Drummer and the Cook 2.17

3 Haul-A-Way, Joe 2.55

4 The Drunken Sailor 2.38

5 A-Rovin’ 2.54

6 Low Lands 3.25

7 Shenandoah 3.43

8 Rio Grande 2.42

The Robert Shaw Chorale & Orchestra, Robert Shaw, conductor

Rec: 8 & 9 July 1947 Victor LP Catalogue Number: LM 1168

Rolling Down to Rio - songs of Kipling, arrangements by Frank Black

9 On the Road to Mandalay, Speaks 3.38

10 Rolling Down to Rio, German 2.16

11 Gunga Din, Spross 5.26

12 Recessional, DeKoven 4.39

13 Danny Deever, Damrosch 5.09

14 Boots, McCall 3.05

15 Mother O’Mine, Tours 2.39

16 Smuggler’s Song, Kernochan 3.03

RCA Victor Orchestra, Frank Black, conductor

Rec: 2 & 5 October 1951 Victor LP Catalogue Number LM 147

Songs for Everyone

10 America the Beautiful, Ward 3.14

11 Love’s Old Sweet Song, Molloy 3.29

12 Mother Machree, Olcott 2.23

13 A Little Bit of Heaven, Ball 3.27

14 Home on the Range, Guion 3.48

15 Ol’ Man River (from Show Boat), Kern 3.30

16 Battle Hymn of the Republic, Steffe 3.39

RCA Victor Orchestra, Frank Black, conductor

Rec: 26 & 28 September 1950 Original Victor LP Catalogue Number LM 94

Leonard Warren

"Leonard Warren was the great Verdi baritone of our times ... Lord Byron said of the fabled Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean that seeing him was one of the great consolations, and that was Leonard Warren’ Tony Randall, from the foreword to the biography by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz. What ever subjective effect the voice of Leonard Warren had or has on the listener, whether live or on record, there can be no doubt that in his era, like Lawrence Tibbett his immediate predecessor, Warren occupied a special place in the pantheon of American opera singers. In spite of serious competition from other great baritone voices active then, such as Francesco Valentino, Richard Bonelli, Robert Weede, Igor Gorin, Robert Merrill and Donald Dixon, Warren was to the opera going public at the Metropolitan Opera, New York ‘the King’.

Nimbus Prima Voce - NI7939/40

(CD - 2 discs)

£10.99 (£9.35 ex. VAT)

Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days.