Herbert Heyner

Herbert Heyner (26 June 188218 January 1954) was a noted English baritone. Heyner appeared in a handful of operas, and a number of broadcast operas, but his stage appearances were predominantly in oratorio and songs. He sang in some notable performances of Sir Edward Elgar's oratorios under the composer's baton. He sang in Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Canada, and he sang at The Proms 59 times between 1909 and 1937, in songs and operatic arias.

Career

Herbert Augustus Otto Heyner He was a choirboy at St Botolph's Aldersgate, making his debut in that capacity in 1892;

At the start of the First World War, he volunteered along with many other musicians, artists and writers to join the United Arts Rifles. He was appointed temporary Second Lieutenant on 22 May 1915. He saw active service and was seriously wounded in 1916,

Heyner and Elgar Herbert Heyner had a significant association with Sir Edward Elgar. He sang in three notable performances of Elgar's oratorio The Apostles under the composer's direction, in 1922, 1925 and 1926, at the Three Choirs Festivals in Gloucester and Worcester, along with soloists Agnes Nicholls, Astra Desmond, Horace Stevens, Norman Allin, John Coates and Olga Haley. He also sang the work on other occasions, as well as the oratorio The Kingdom.

He recorded Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius under the composer's baton, with Margaret Balfour, Steuart Wilson and the Royal Choral Society, taken from a live performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 February 1927. Heyner's aria "Go, in the name of Angels and Archangels" later appeared on the HMV anthology "Great British Basses and Baritones". He also sang the work on other occasions: on 11 March 1925 with Astra Desmond and Hubert Eisdell, under the conductor Sir Henry Coward.

Later career On 23 March 1922, at the Queen's Hall in London, Herbert Heyner sang in Beethoven's Choral Symphony with Amy Evans, Phyllis Lett and Arthur Jordan, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Albert Coates, in the same concert as the world premiere of Frederick Delius's Requiem. On 11 November 1923, he was one of the soloists in the world premiere of John Foulds' A World Requiem in the Royal Albert Hall under the composer's direction. He also sang at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1923.

Heyner toured the United States and Canada in 1928, giving the New York premiere of Delius's Sea Drift. At the Proms on 4 September 1930, he gave the first concert performance of Dame Ethel Smyth's Ode anacréontique, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the composer.

In 1936, Herbert Heyner appeared alongside Muriel Brunskill, Norman Walker and Victor Harding in a presentation of Wagner's Parsifal for the BBC under Sir Henry Wood.

He retired in 1945 due to illness. He wrote a book of memoirs, A Singer Looks Back.

He died in Saxmundham, Suffolk on 18 January 1954, aged 71.

Charles Wood's song "The Fox" was also dedicated to Heyner.

Personal life In 1910 Heyner married the Savoyard contralto Bertha Lewis, who died in May 1931 after being involved in a car accident. He did not attend the funeral. In June 1931 he married Mary Louise Hamilton (1902–1973), with whom he had two daughters, Susan, born in 1936 and Diana, born in 1937.