Dame Janet Abbott Baker (born August 21, 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano known for singing in operas, concerts, and lieder.

Baker is especially known for performing baroque and early Italian opera, as well as works by Benjamin Britten. Her career, which lasted from the 1950s to the 1980s, was marked by her skill as a singing actress and her powerful emotional performances. Her most famous role was Dido, the tragic heroine in Berlioz’s major work, Les Troyens. In concerts, she was recognized for her performances of music by Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar. David Gutman, writing in Gramophone, described her performance of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder as "intimate, almost self-communing."

Biography and career

Janet Abbott Baker was born in Hatfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Her father worked as an engineer and also sang in a choir. Some of her family members worked at Bentley Pit in Doncaster. She studied at York College for Girls and later attended Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Grimsby. When she was 10 years old, her older brother Peter died from a heart condition. This event had a lasting effect on her, and she later shared this experience in an interview with BBC Radio 3 in September 2011.

In her early career, Baker worked in a bank. She moved to London in 1953 and trained with Meriel St Clair and Helene Isepp, whose son Martin became her regular accompanist. In 1956, a bus hit her, causing a head injury and a long-lasting back injury. That same year, she came second in the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition at the Wigmore Hall, which brought her national attention.

In 1956, Baker made her stage debut with Oxford University's Opera Club, performing the role of Miss Róza in Smetana's The Secret. She also made her debut at Glyndebourne that year. In 1959, she sang Eduige in the Handel Opera Society's Rodelinda. Other Handel operas she performed included Ariodante (1964), which she later recorded with Raymond Leppard, and Orlando (1966), which she performed at the Barber Institute in Birmingham.

With the English Opera Group at Aldeburgh, Baker performed Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 1962, as well as Polly in Britten's The Beggar's Opera and Lucretia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. At Glyndebourne, she sang Dido (1966) and Diana/Jupiter in Cavalli's La Calisto, and Penelope in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria. For Scottish Opera, she performed Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Dido in Berlioz's The Trojans, and Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. She also sang the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos and Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, a role she became famous for. A recorded performance of this role from Glyndebourne is available.

In 1966, Baker made her debut as Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She later performed Berlioz's Dido, Kate in Britten's Owen Wingrave, Mozart's Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, and Idamante in Idomeneo. She also sang Cressida in Walton's Troilus and Cressida and the title role in Gluck's Alceste (1981). For the English National Opera, she performed the title role in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (1971), Charlotte in Massenet's Werther, and the title roles in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Handel's Giulio Cesare.

During this time, Baker also performed in concerts, singing in oratorios and giving solo recitals. Some of her notable recordings include her performance of the Angel in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, recorded with Sir John Barbirolli in 1964 and later with Sir Simon Rattle. She also recorded Elgar's Sea Pictures and Mahler's Rückert Lieder with Barbirolli, and the first commercial recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Hodie with The Bach Choir. In 1963, she sang the contralto part in the first performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony at the BBC Promenade Concerts under Leopold Stokowski. In 1969, she performed with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in a concert of Mendelssohn and Brahms songs, recorded by EMI. She also performed in Boston in 1971.

In 1976, Baker premiered Britten's solo cantata Phaedra, written for her, and Argento's From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, also composed with her voice in mind. She was praised for her performances of Brahms's Alto Rhapsody and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, as well as songs from French, German, and English repertoires.

Her final operatic performance was as Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice on July 17, 1982, at Glyndebourne. In 1988, she sang the role again in a concert with the Oratorio Society of New York, which was considered a farewell to the United States. She continued giving lieder recitals until retiring in 1989, though she made a few recordings in 1990. She wrote a memoir titled Full Circle in 1982. In 1991, Baker became Chancellor of the University of York, a position she held until 2004. She was also a Patron of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and spoke at the closing ceremony of the 2009 event.

Honours and awards

Janet Baker was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970 and later became a Dame Commander (DBE) in 1976. In 1993, she was named a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH). In 1968, she was named an Honorary Member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity by the Alpha Omicron chapter at Occidental College, California, United States. In 1971, she received the annual Shakespeare Prize from the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation. She was awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize of Denmark in 1979. She was given both Honorary Membership (1987) and the Gold Medal (1990) by the Royal Philharmonic Society. She has served as a vice-president of The Bach Choir since 1983. In 2007, she received the Distinguished Musician Award from the Incorporated Society of Musicians. In 2011, she was made an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians during a ceremony in the City of London. This is the highest honor the company can give to a musician. She was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Northern College of Music (FRNCM) in 1978. In 2012, she was voted into Gramophone magazine's inaugural Hall of Fame.

Private life

In 1957, she married James Keith Shelley in Harrow. He worked as her manager and traveled with her to events. They chose not to have children so she could focus on her career. After retiring as a singer, she continued to perform and record roles that involved speaking, such as the narrator in Britten's music for The Rescue of Penelope. Later in life, she made occasional public appearances, like the 2009 event in Leeds, but said she spent most of her time with close friends. These friends included singer Felicity Lott, pianist Imogen Cooper, conductor Jane Glover, and actress Patricia Routledge. They appeared in a BBC documentary titled Janet Baker in her own words, which aired in 2019. After her husband had a stroke, she cared for him at home. He passed away in June 2019.

Recordings

• Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, performed by Beverly Sills, Robert Lloyd, Nicolai Gedda, Raimund Herincx, John Alldis Choir, and New Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Giuseppe Patanè. 1975. Studio recording. EMI Records Ltd.
• Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict, performed by Christiane Eda-Pierre, Helen Watts, and Robert Tear, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis. Recorded at Henry Wood Hall from December 19 to 22, 1977. LP Philips 6700 121. CD 416 952 2.
• Berlioz: Les Troyens: scenes from Act V and La Mort de Cléopâtre, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Gibson. Recorded at Watford Town Hall on September 14–15, 1969. LP – ASD2516, CD CDM7 69544 2.
• Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ, Op.25, performed by John Alldis Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, and Colin Davis. Recorded at Watford Town Hall from October 24–28, 1976. LP Philips 6700 106, CD 415 949 2.
• Berlioz: La Mort de Cléopâtre (with Herminie and 5 songs), performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Philips, recorded March 1979.
• Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, op 53, performed by the male voices of the John Alldis Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sir Adrian Boult. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, on December 15, 1970. Producer: Christopher Bishop; Balance engineer: Christopher Parker. CDM 7 69424 2.
• Britten: Spring Symphony, op 44, performed by Sheila Armstrong, Robert Tear, London Symphony Orchestra, and André Previn. Recorded at Kingsway Hall on June 28–29, 1978. LP ASD3650, CD CDC7 47667 2.
• Delius: Songs of Sunset, performed by John Shirley-Quirk, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Chorus, conducted by Charles Groves.
• Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, performed by Hallé Orchestra and John Barbirolli. Recorded December 1964.
• Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, performed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, CBSO Chorus, and Simon Rattle. Recorded September 1986.
• Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37, performed by London Symphony Orchestra and John Barbirolli. Recorded August 30, 1965, at Abbey Road Studio 1. LP – ASD655, CD CDC7 47329 2.
• Gluck: Orpheus and Euridice at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, conducted by Raymond Leppard. On video. Copyright 1982 by National Video Corporation Limited.
• Handel: Julius Caesar, performed by the English National Opera, conducted by Charles Mackerras. (Chandos CHAN 3019; recorded August 1–7, 1984; released 1999). A studio-made video of the ENO production, recorded at Limehouse Studio, was released on video and later DVD.
• Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn, performed by Geraint Evans and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Wym Morris. (Nimbus 1966)
• Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, performed by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by John Barbirolli. (EMI LP cat. no. ASD 2338; released 1968)
• Mahler: Rückert Lieder, performed by the Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Jascha Horenstein. (BBC Legends, 1967)
• Mahler: Rückert Lieder, performed by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by John Barbirolli. (EMI LP cat. no. ASD 2338; released 1968)
• Mahler: Rückert Lieder, performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. (Columbia, 1974)
• Mahler: Rückert Lieder, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. (Columbia, 1987)
• Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, performed by Waldemar Kmentt and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rafael Kubelik. (Audite, 1970)
• Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, performed by Richard Lewis and the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by George Szell. (Arkadia, 1970)
• Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, performed by James King and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink. (Philips, 1975)
• Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, performed by Ludovic Spiess and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rudolf Kempe. (BBC Legends, 1975)
• Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, performed by John Mitchinson and the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Raymond Leppard. (BBC Legends, 1977)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 2, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Chorus, and others, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. (BBC Proms 1963); (BBC Legends)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 2, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and St. Hedwig's Cathedral Choir, conducted by John Barbirolli. (Nuova Era, 1965)
• Mahler: