The first performances of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Jubilee Hall at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1960 had been a success, with the critics praising “a great English opera”. There was, however, one weak link in the form of Alfred Deller, the British countertenor for whom Britten had written the role of Oberon, king of the fairies. While Deller’s soft, high-pitched voice was considered to be exquisite, many felt his acting skills left something to be desired.
True, Deller was not known as an actor. Yet Georg Solti, who was to conduct the work at Covent Garden the next year, insisted on having an Oberon with proven stage skills. He brought in Russell Oberlin, an American countertenor who had been making a name for himself in New York.
Deller and Oberlin had been pursuing similar, though somewhat isolated, musical paths on their respective sides of the Atlantic, reviving interest in a male voice whose range was equivalent to a mezzo-soprano yet was often viewed with suspicion. Deller told of a German woman inquiring, “You are eunuch, Herr Deller?”, to which he replied: “I’m sure you mean unique, Madam.” Oberlin would tell of how, the moment he began singing, half the audience’s eyes would drop to just below his belt.
The first night of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Covent Garden in February 1961, now directed by John Gielgud, was described by The Times as a “triumph”, the paper’s critic adding: “The new Oberon, Mr Russell Oberlin, is gentler of voice and more mercurial of gesture and gait than Mr Deller . . . but extremely musical.” When he joined San Francisco Opera for the US premiere in November 1961, the critics were far less kind. A “magnificent failure” said one of Britten’s masterpiece. Of Oberlin’s role, “the high-pitched voice became terribly monotonous”.
Russell Keys Oberlin was born in Akron, just south of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928. His father, John, worked for Firestone inspecting tyres, while a forebear was Jean-Frédéric Oberlin, the 18th-century theologian. At age 11 the red-haired, freckle-cheeked church choirboy, known as Sonny, sang a solo at the rededication of the Akron stadium. On one occasion a visiting church organist urged him to face the congregation rather than the other half of the choir, which is Episcopalian tradition. “Oh no, sir,” young Russell replied. “I sing to the glory of God, not to the congregation.” Soon he was winning national competitions and singing advertising jingles, including for a brand of lavatory paper.
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He went to the Juilliard School, New York, to study as a tenor, but found that he could hit very high notes with ease, much as the castrati singers had done in the 16th century. He spent a couple of years as a backing singer for Edith Piaf, sang in Broadway shows and was a member of Pro Musica Antiqua, a New York ensemble dedicated to reviving performances of 17th-century music that often featured the countertenor voice.
Oberlin, a confirmed bachelor, took part in the US premiere of Bernstein’s choral work The Lark; the composer went on to write a part for him in Chichester Psalms. He also made a couple of brief forays to the Proms in London, including a performance of Walton’s Façade with Hermione Gingold in 1965 conducted by the composer.
Soon after that he quit the stage and started teaching at Hunter College, New York, where he remained until his retirement in 1994. “The more I teach the more I like it,” he said in 1972. “We talk about [the composer] Purcell, we sing. He wrote some very dirty rounds and the kids get a kick out of them.”
Russell Oberlin, countertenor, was born on October 11, 1928. He died from cancer on November 26, 2016, aged 88