The Crimson Twilight

a tribute to

Dame Clara Butt

Ruth Theobald - contralto

John Briggs - pianoforte

Dame Clara Butt was born at Southwick, Brighton, on February 1st 1873, a remarkable month in history of singing as Chaliapin was born on the 13th and Caruso on the 25th. In her day, Dame Clara's reputation in the English speaking world was quite as great as theirs.

Nowadays, Clara Butt is mainly remembered as the contralto who used to boom Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia at Empire day rallies in Hyde Park but this statuesque woman was a vocalist of remarkable skill and an interpreter of unusual conviction and authority.

Her contralto voice ranged from the C below middle C to high B flat, sure and telling at the top, vast and powerful in the lower range. Sir Thomas Beecham remarked that on a clear day one could hear Clara Butt across the English Channel.

As a student, Clara auditioned for the open scholarship at the Royal College of Music singing The Enchantress. She created such a stir that she mistook the examiners amazement for amusement. If they thought she was funny, she had a surprise for them! She hurled her great voice at them in the lines "Kings have trembled when I came/Reading doom upon my face". "I don't know about the King's" she later remarked, "but those examiners certainly trembled". She won the scholarship outright.

Her height (she was over six feet tall) effectively excluded her from the world of opera though she appeared twice in the title role of Orfeo. She managed to gain entrance to the home of Saint-Saens, who was a virtual recluse at the time and, when he heard Clara sing Softly awakes my heart declared "this is the perfect Delilah". In spite of their joint efforts, Covent Garden refused to stage Samson and Delilah because of its biblical theme.

Edward Elgar called on Clara Butt with the completed score of The Dream of Gerontius. Clara was in the bath and sent an imperious message to Elgar. "Go away and come back when I am not in the bath". Elgar did as he was told and the role of the Angel became a favorite Clara role.

On the concert platform, she sang the music of Bach, Handel and Gluck but her reputation was principally as a singer of ballads.

During the four years of World War I, she raised more than £100,000 for war charities and, it was in recognition of this effort, that she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire.

Ruth Theobald and John Briggs present an entertaining evening of anecdotes, conversation and song, many of which are featured on the CD The Crimson Twilight as a special tribute to Dame Clara Butt

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