Kathleen Ferrier sings Bach: Erbarme dich (St Matthew Passion)

[@margomoore4527]

Recorded 7 days before I was born. If my mother had listened to it, I would have responded with joy and empathy in the womb.

[@johannesdenee6007]

Kathleen Ferrier, the lady we grew up with in Holland during and after WW2. Her voice, on the radio, kept us alive. And then she died! I have never been able to get over her not being there in person with her wonderfull voice that made her so special.

[@frederiquecouture3924]

😊.

[@klee06able]

❤

[@marilyndowns7736]

Her voice was so beautiful. Every time I hear her singing, I am moved to tears.

[@marlenegold280]

Gone in only 3 years at 41. Incredible voice

[@mariabagnoli868]

Kathleen was made for this piece and this piece was made for her. Contralto like no other . My mum loved her

[@tadcotadco6344]

Indeed, extremely authentic performance

[@Tenortalker]

What strikes me about this live recording is how full and wonderful Kathleen Ferrier's voice sounded even though she was already very ill and undergoing treatment that was exhausting. She sings Bach with a depth of humanity and spirituality combined. It is no wonder that Pablo Casals had invited her to sing at his festival in Prades, if only her health had permitted it. Kirsten Flagstad and Jussi Bjorling are two singers whose voices , along with Ferrier, stand out as totally natural , outstanding instruments. They worked to have great technical facility , but those voices were a gift that when joined to musicality and personality made them outstanding. They still speak to us today through their recordings and we feel that we know them.

[@robertst-louis7164]

A minor correction, if I may: information sources I have consulted indicate that although she suffered, around the time of this recording, from some pain and discomfort in her breast, shoulder and neck, a medical examination in summer 1950 did not reveal anything. She did suffer from occasional exhaustion due to a very busy performance schedule at that time. Only after the discovery of a lump in her breast in March 1951 was a diagnosis of breast cancer arrived at, which led to a subsequent mastectomy and radiation treatment. So her performance in June 1950 is indeed "full and wonderful" as you put it, but she was not at the time undergoing any exhausting medical treatment; that would come many months later, in 1951. Regards.

[@LuciePMSpoor]

I grew up with Kathleen Ferrier. Such a beautiful voice! My father loved her too.

[@babsclark8572]

UNforgettable the incomparable Kathleen Ferrier and the great J.S. Bach. We are so blessed.

[@janettucker3196]

There is something unearthly about her voice. Her sound is unique. How wonderfully it expresses the religious intensity of Bach.

[@melindamello6089]

I know! I am not a religious person, but anytime I hear people dismiss it as nothing more than power and politics, I want to show them this song. The core of religion is transcendent

[@9na.D]

Very human and earthly voice, I know, it is so beautiful in this case, its a sublime experience to listen to it and feel that " divine" something...

[@garthly]

She sounds to me very English, I don’t know why.

[@clarencepalmer3826]

Heavenly!

[@HugoSantacruzLeón]

Por Díos😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢 disculpen😢 no se que dice pero me hace sentir 😢

[@rossmcleod7983]

It doesn’t get any better than this.

[@jonem21yt]

A choir of angels in one voice!

[@василманолов-я5р]

Чудове контральто,чудовий вокал ,що занурює тебе в чарівництво світу Музики❤🎉😊

[@herwigcoryn6197]

Sound, the fullnes and beauty of it, is the most important quality you need as an interpreter

[@spmoran4703]

Kathleen Ferrier . My hero and my inspiration as a Contralto singer. And she is singing J S Bach. Perfection.

[@HugoSantacruzLeón]

Disculpe mi ignorancía! Soy de educacíon basica! No se de que habla en está musica pero me hace sentir algo😢😢😢

[@mariaasombrada3964]

I would give years of my own life so that she could have been on this Earth for longer and sing for us all.

[@resurgences5527]

Magnifique cadeau..

[@keithhulks7049]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Karajan had tears running down his face by the end of this aria.

[@heurtemattefrancois4160]

Yes, Schwarzkopf mentions it in a tribute to Ferrier, but it was about the Agnus Dei of the Mass in B.

[@johnfisher2269]

Kathleen Ferrier lived for a while (around 1940) in Silloth, a small seaside town in Cumbria (was Cumberland). Her home, old District Bank building is now a very nice cafe, its walls adorned with her photos and letters. All that is missing is the amazing sound of her voice - so unique and haunting - without equal.

[@Equinox1.5]

Does the café ever play her records?

[@bill1949d]

Has there been any greater singer since 1945???

[@bill1949d]

If you love opera, you might say Maria Callas, otherwise Kathleen Ferrier stands alone in my heart.

[@heatherwalton8900]

Heavens, silloth and the gondola swings childhood memories, didn’t know of the cafe , something in me is needing the beauty of her voice at this awful time

[@ΠαναγιώτηςΦρεντζάς]

@@bill1949d My compatriot maria Callas is comparable to Renata Tempaldi, and may even lose on the small details. Ferrier was one of a kind- gretest contralto voice with a huge margin.

[@eileenhill7602]

l first fell in love with kathleens voice at the age of 9 and have loved it ever since my mother had her Lp in 1950 and it made a lasting impression on me .such a tragic loss to the world that she died so young .

[@frogmouth]

I was given her biography as Sunday School prize about 1960 so also 9 and I heard her voice on radio. Totally captivated by both.

[@RudolfKooijman]

I am 60 years old. I heard her for the first time at the age of appr. 20 years in the movie Que la bete meure. Since then I listen to her. Her voice is the most beautiful voice I know.

[@woodrushwoodrush7076]

To grace the greatest piece of music ever composed, comes a voice of molten gold to break our hearts.

[@RealCurrencies]

I've been listening to Kathleen singing this song for, at least, 30 years now. Could well be 35, I don't really know when exactly this song came into my life. But once it did, it never left.

[@LaDivinaLover]

M B isn’t it though! 😊 I really wish she had not given up her career just because she got married and had a child.

[@ludmillakislakovska6030]

She dies so early (not 50) from cancer 😩😢😢

[@frogmouth]

@@LaDivinaLover who gave up her career and had a child?

[@patdaley9098]

@@frogmouth Eula Beal, I think.

[@RomanGolubev_A]

@@patdaley9098 she died of breast cancer at the hight of her career, alas

[@HomoMathematicus.]

Tears. Tears..

[@jaybee7078]

My dad was a big fan ( I think he vaguely knew her before dhe found fame...) He must have passed his enthusiasm on to me. So beautiful.....

[@yvettestaelens]

Sublime - listening to this has been my Easter ritual for many years on vinyl, so wonderful to access a live recording here. I don't think any other piece of music has ever made me cry so much, every time! I wish I had been alive to hear Kathleen Ferrier sing.

[@jonem211]

Amen

[@kennethlockridge8389]

When we are gone , all of us it now seems, and there is no one to remember, her singing of this Bach song will echo unwitnessed across this empty earth.

[@melindamello6089]

I don't know what it is but this song somehow perfectly captures the tragic aspect of humanity and our consciousness perfectly.

[@Nogah100]

Her singing will be here as long as humanity stays on planet Earth. Indeed, I believe people will carry her recorded singing into the farthest future, on other planets.

[@wilbindervoet-lampe6975]

Zy was geniaal van stem,haar stem heb ik nog op de grammofoon plaat!prachtig 😮😢

[@brentmarshall928]

The best Contralto ever and the technology of the time was limited, but it still showed how damn good she was. Lucky to hear her .

[@JRobbySh]

Even the best technology cannot put you into that oral space. The voice is unearthly.

[@DieFlabbergast]

Maybe, but there was also Marian Anderson, of whom Toscanini said she had "a voice heard once in a hundred years."

[@saltburner2]

@@DieFlabbergast I lived quite near her in Philadelphia in 1967/8, but never got to meet her. She was one of my mother's favourites - in the days before Ferrier arrived on the scene.

[@frederiquecouture3924]

...

[@luizamsalgado]

Wonderful aria! Divine unforgetable Kathleen Ferrier! Thanks for the upload!

[@vladimirorivas7020]

What an intensely beautiful music is this! Kathleen Ferrier, sublime, with her supreme contralto voice.

[@juliamiranda5318]

Lucky to hear J. S. Bach, Divine Bach!. Amazing interpretation!

[@marie-claudebecker291]

Une grande ame.. Musique et spiritualite. Bach

[@christianguignard9980]

Kathleen was the most authentic singer ever heard, by far ... She always sang in perfect tune, with a unique delicacy and sensitivity . I recently bought a new Deca integral box of her vinyl records ... The first one edited ... so moving, so appealing. I knew Kathleen Ferrier when i was twenty years old, from my own researches, and instantly felt a warm feeling towards her ... 35 years later, it still thrills me more and more . Always looking at the sky if i cannot see her !

[@luzilimitada]

Luna de Miel Sabina Chavela

[@michavandam]

Do you know Marianne Anderson?

[@lawrencebrown3677]

I have been a lover of her voice tor 75 years first heard her when I was 3 years old.

[@lawrencebrown3677]

@@michavandam Another great contralto favourite of mine.

[@jrgptr935]

@@michavandam Du meinst die Washingtoner Konzertaufnahme von - ich weiß im Augenblick nicht genau - 1937 oder 1939? Die "Mutter aller" schwarzen klassischen Sängerinnen... 😢

[@WimGelok]

Beautiful forever, indeed!

[@catherine-e9s]

La plus belle louange consacrée à Dieu est de Bach ,sans contestation possible!

[@emlynjessen2957]

A perfect expression during this time of pandemic.

[@Fritz_Maisenbacher]

Pandemic is over, but not Ferrier.

[@willhovell9019]

A wonderful voice and wonderful human being. A blue plaque to her in Frognal Hampstead flat , her home for sometime. Another memorial to her in the basement of the new University College Hospital radiotherepy treatment center where i went for treatment last year. A true working class diva with a golden voice

[@ruthimakoff5646]

what a heavenly voice, she was the best!!!!!

[@johnshares444]

With love from new Mexico usa

[@stevetaylor9807]

What a voice.So like crystal Bravo Kathleen

[@zcatfanxq]

Absolutely superb. The violin and voice entwine passionately around the very heart of this aria.

[@priscianusjr]

The violinist here is David McCallum, Sr.

[@hansjuergenkohlhaas871]

@@priscianusjr In the description above they mention a "Walter" Schneiderhan as violinist. Well if I recall the then famous WOLFGANG Schneiderhan had been the concert master with the Vienna Philharmonic, and since this had been a Live recording under Herbert von Karajan it could well be that Karajan had invited Schneiderhan over to serve as a guest CM with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on this occasion. Just my 2 cents opinion.

[@priscianusjr]

@@hansjuergenkohlhaas871 I'm sorry - you are right. I got this recording mixed up with a different one by Ferrier sung in English as "Have Mercy Lord on Me," with Malcolm Sargent and the National Symphony. David McCallum senior is the violinist on that. Do give it a listen. I love his playing.

[@amcdougall9998]

This is singing at its very very best by a sublime voice. Intonation, line and phrasing are perfect. I queue up several versions and listen to them in sequence. Just finished listening to the wonderful Natalie Stutzman, who is superb, what a musician. If I was only going to listen to one this would be it

[@rafikbaladi6555]

Her voice is divine and charged with contrition

[@chrisraffen5980]

Have always loved her beautiful voice, from when I first heard her singing, when I was a school - girl in Yorkshire, U.K.

[@janeormrod3229]

I can't imagine a more perfect performance of this piece. I wish that I had been alive to have heard Kathleen Ferrier. Beautiful recording and tribute.

[@voraciousreader3341]

Julia Hamari’s is my all time favorite, hands down (kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4Gkmntvjc2HfsU). Marian Anderson’s recording with Robert Shaw is also stellar.

[@nicolaspachecoarango]

I also like Kirsten Flagstad interpretation (she also sings the best Wagner).

[@paulivanoff571]

The Best!!!

[@keithhulks7049]

I was too young to have heard Kathleen Ferrier dring her lifetime but I remember hearing her on what we then called the wireless. On Sundays there was a proramme called Two Way Family Favourites and very often there was a request for something by Kathleen. I had never heard such singing before but from that day I was hooked. I was in Junior School at the time and now I am approaching my 74th birthday.

[@lizapiney8262]

Your Hundred Best Tunes on Sunday evenings?

[@richardbunting1031]

I remember that show! My father was a huge fan of Ms Ferrier. My other memory of it is that The Glasgow Orpheus Choir used to feature often! This piece is sublime, and has a timeless, almost modern feel to me.

[@francisheperi1127]

Two Way.... was a BBC programme I think, we had a NZ version and so did Australia - very popular; on Saturday mornings. Those were the days.

[@spmoran4703]

@@lizapiney8262 I miss that. The stuff broadcast now at the time Hudred Best tunes was broadcast is not to my taste. Well, BBC Radio 2 has to cater to the Tredies now. I have stopped listening to it. Thank goodness for Radio 3 and Classics FM.

[@mmbmbmbmb]

Thank you !

[@iansutton9746]

This is truly magnificent.

[@maxcornise-qh2jk]

For me, If the Blessed Mother could sing, it would be through Kathleen’s voice.

[@antonioschiavi6870]

Mamma mia... che bellezza!

[@Guiu65]

The all-time best voice!

[@joseangelhernandezmolina9709]

El dominio de la respiración y la ejecución de los melismas musicales y matices extraordinario felicidades a la cantante y los músicos

[@alfredlawrence3182]

God Bless Kathleen,sat with the Angels as long as they can sing ,as good as You

[@barbaradelamoussaye9419]

This brings out emotions. I just cant name.

[@biolaloucosmeceuticibioeve4846]

Un angelo che ci canta il paradiso

[@frederiquecouture3924]

😉.

[@gerlindeczech8524]

​@@biolaloucosmeceuticibioeve4846 So ist es!

[@paulhwbooth]

No words could express...

[@dlhuo2340]

This could be the most beautiful "Erbarme dich" (by the beloved Ferrier and the great von Karajan)!

[@cynic150]

the great advantage of You tube is that you can most easily compare different versions. Ferrier is the best ,so far, being the most expressive.

[@МихаилМатюхин-ъ9р]

БРАВО!!! БЛАГОДАРЮ!!! ❤

[@annabolena7663]

Magnifico!

[@nikname1672]

Поистине, это шедевр! Какая бесподобная ровность звука, какая гармония, голос будто бы рождается из самих струнных, продолжая и усиливая их плачь, боль и страдания. Только чистейшая душа так может чувствовать и выразить такое.

[@guilhermetc2631]

I can't decide who sings this perfect piece better, Kathleen or Julia Hamari. So I keep listening, forever...

[@hansjuergenkohlhaas871]

Same with me, and also the heart rending violin solo of Otto Büchner as CM of the Karl-Richter-Bachorchester München who assist Julia Hamari.

[@guilhermetc2631]

@@hansjuergenkohlhaas871 I totally agree! Otto's accompaniment makes the entire performance sublime.

[@annamcguinn702]

Beautiful song and voice! I love her :)

[@francoisetrillot5996]

Inégalée! Même l'orchestre reste pâle derrière cette voix!

[@camillaswarowski6345]

Danke 🙏💚🙏

[@Wavewolfaroha]

She sings my prayer, in the voice I wish were mine!

[@HenJack-vl5cb]

Speechless!!

[@galatee9930]

"Pitié Seigneur, car nous avons pêché" = "Have mercy, my God" ou "Aie pitié de nous Mon Dieu" et Kathleen Ferrier aura été une merveilleuse interprète du message "Christique" de Jean-Sébastien Bach, un des plus grands compositeurs qui ait été ; de nos jours il y a bien sûr de magnifiques artistes lyriques pour nous restituer ce message biblique et ce que nous devons à Dieu, et à la vie même puisque Dieu est la vie avant tout

[@jsphotos]

Erbarme dich, mein Gott, um meiner Zähren willen! Schaue hier, Herz und Auge weint vor dir bitterlich. Erbarme dich, mein Gott. Have mercy, my God, for the sake of my tears! See here, before you heart and eyes weep bitterly. Have mercy, my God.

[@frogmouth]

Superb contralto. My favourite voice for this aria. I like a lot of the countertenor and mezzo renditions but this is something else.

[@spmoran4703]

Hail! To the Godess of music.

[@janhalldin]

Warm thanks and greetings from Sweden!

[@frederiquecouture3924]

2023...

[@mdarcy886]

Nous atteignons le sublime, unique.

[@francoispallud1215]

oui c'est sublime de beauté de sensibilité quelle émotion

[@gatsby1962]

Erbarme dich, mein Gott, um meiner Zahren willen! Schaue hier, Herz und Auge weint vor dir bitterlich. Erbarme dich, mein Gott.

[@TheAnneclark]

Sublime

[@davidwatson3035]

Simply sublime. Perfect composition. Perfect singing.

[@imwelshjesus]

Incomparable and unsurpassed combination.

[@화이팅입니다인용하기]

케슬린 페리어는 신이주신 목소리 이렇게 감동에 찬 음악은 다시는 없을것이다 그녀는 진정한 예술가, 우리시대의 누구도 넘볼수없는 우뜩선 성악예술이다

[@bifeldman]

On the day I listen to this heart stopping gem I note 43 souls out of 170+k disliked this. What can be the criticism?

[@rowejon]

There are singers who CAN sing and subsequentialy refine their art. There are others, with less talent, who study to elevate their lesser talent. Kathleen Ferrier was amongst the former.

[@_PROCLUS]

💝💝💝Thank you very much for the beautiful upload

[@gyulaugron3379]

Ez a felvétel is, bár 68 éves, még mindig élvezhető. Hang ereje és szépsége egészen különleges.

[@MalisandreFeline]

La profondeur dramatique de sa voix est celle qui represente le mieux la force mystérieuse de l'oeuvre de Bach!

[@noya9852]

🥶

[@frederiquecouture3924]

VIVE LA GAULE!

[@PavelSemenov-j7n]

Hermoso!🙏🙏🙏

[@malekmestiri9715]

Erbarme dich, mein Gott, Um meiner zähren willen! Schaue hier. Herz und Auge Weint vor dir bitterlich Erbarme dich, mein Gott.

[@frederiquecouture3924]

Aurevoir ✌️.

[@resurgences5527]

C'est au delà de la musique. L'incarnation.

[@teresib]

Belleza suprema

[@mickb-h8955]

A wonderful gift from Jesus, I pray that she had faith Jesus and she is in The Kingdom of Heaven.

[@joseangelhernandezmolina9709]

Excelente interpretación es un verdadero talento lleno de sentimientos a ese lamento de cristo

[@markusgro-bolting6542]

Only God can Compose Like this. Bach is the God of music. Bach is Alpha and Omega. Thanks that WE Had him in music and thanks that He left us His music

[@davegraham3486]

Yes, this and Eula Beale with Menuhin are the Gold Standard on this one

[@leonidgorokhovsky4281]

No Words

[@cluny]

I suggest the Naxos 3 CD box of St Matthew Passion, recorded in London. Buffed up. Recorded over a couple years and now complete. $15 well spent. In English, I think Elgar was on the team of translators.

[@michavandam]

That footage of her at the end! I always thought there were no film images of her, but here it is, even an extremely beautiful fragment in colour! Is there more?

[@frogmouth]

Yes. There is footage of her clowning around on the piano. She loved to laugh.

[@michavandam]

@@frogmouth I have that on CD. But I've never found it on KZbin, did you?

[@ЛидияАлешечкина]

Согласна с предыдущим комментарием!!!!! Редкий голос!!!!!

[@ВикторЦарьков-ь3щ]

Необычайное контральто . Мягкое . Сколько талантов о которых мало знаешь.

[@ryhemchaabeni8180]

Erbarme dich, mein Gott Um meine zähren willen.

[@tyxikosgatopoulos3094]

Its as if Bach composed this.just for this etherial woman

[@frejat.boleyn2563]

Angelic

[@geraldstephen5418]

I don't quite understand the significance of the buildings etc. if there is one. Fabulous sounds,oh yes ,glory be.

[@JackGibbonsHQ]

The building shown in the various images is the St Thomas School in Leipzig where Bach lived and worked from 1723 to 1750, and where he wrote the St Matthew Passion in 1727 (his actual composing study, in which he wrote the work, is shown at 5:06 - the photograph was taken in 1902 just before the building's demolition, hence the reason the room is devoid of furniture). Elsewhere you can see at 4:50 the entrance to Bach's accommodation, which was on the floor above the ground floor (he would open the entrance door to visitors by means of a pulley from the room above). The window of his composing studio can be seen from the outside on the other side of the building at 2:23 (on the far right corner of the building on the floor above the ground floor). At 5:38 there is a particularly rare photograph taken in the 1860s of the St Thomas School showing the soon to be demolished St Thomas Gate adjoining the school on the right, through which Bach would walk to visit the surrounding formal gardens and countryside.

[@catherineschickel2036]

QUEL'TRANSPORT VERS L''AGNEAU'DU DIEU' 'SEIGNEUR, QUELLE AME' Chante ds sa Fibre le Messie. KATHLEEN NOUS'donne'la une interprétation unique 'et vibrante que l' on'avec Émotion.

[@franckieparis16]

une voix unique et jamais égalée

[@voraciousreader3341]

Of course, that’s your opinion. Farrier’s voice is absolutely lovely, but there have been many voices which-in my opinion-are equal in beauty and expression, including Julia Hamari, Marian Anderson, and Tatiana Troyanos, who are my personal favorites!

[@EMz369]

​@@voraciousreader3341 und Aafje Heynis

[@dlefil1364]

The must heartbreaking interpretation for this piece.