Lilian Stiles-Allen

Lilian Stiles-Allen (28 July 1896 - 15 July 1982, Tunbridge Wells, England) was a British soprano of the mid 20th century.

She was born Lilian Elizabeth Allen, and later added her mother's maiden name. ["The Times", 17 July 1982]

Her musical education was at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she won the Sheriff's Prize for contraltos [sic] in 1909, and in Vienna undertaking an extensive study of Lieder. ["The Times", 31 July 1909.]

Her career was primarily on the concert stage, her physique being unsuited to operatic performance, but an early theatrical appearance was in the comedy "Eastward Ho!" in 1919. ["The Times", 21 October 1919.]

By the 1920s she was established as a leading concert soprano. Her appearances included the Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace ["The Times", 20 June 1923 ] ; a revival of Arthur Sullivan's "The Golden Legend" ["The Times", 8 March 1926] ; "Messiah" with Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent ["The Times", 29 March 1926] ["The Times", 19 December 1927] ; Verdi's Requiem (Sargent) ["The Times", 13 November 1926] ; Beethoven's Choral Symphony (Sir Henry Wood) ["The Times", 8 October 1927] ; Handel's "Solomon" (Beecham) ["The Times", 23 March 1928] ; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's "Hiawatha" (Sargent) ["The Times", 1 June 1928] ; and Mendelssohn's "Elijah" (Sir Adrian Boult) ["The Times", 30 November 1936] .

In addition to the standard repertoire, Stiles-Allen sang in Arnold Schoenberg's "Gurrelieder" under the composer ["The Times", 20 January 1928] ; Delius's "A Mass of Life" (Beecham) ["The Times", 12 December 1946] ; and Mahler's Eighth Symphony (Wood) ["The Times", 9 February 1938] .

On 5 October 1938 she was one of the original 16 singers in Vaughan Williams's "Serenade to Music". (Her solo lines were 'Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn! With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear, And draw her home with music.') The "Serenade to Music" has been reissued on CD by Dutton.

Though not physically suited to the operatic stage, Stiles-Allen took leading operatic roles in studio broadcasts for the BBC, including Handel's "Rodelinda" and Gluck's "Armide" ["The Times", 22 February 1928] ["The Times", 16 April 1928] .

She recorded for the Edison Bell Company a number of operatic arias (a few in Italian), oratorio arias and songs. Most of these are quite rare, and have not yet been transcribed to CD.

As a teacher, she included among her pupils the young Julie Andrews ["The Times", 17 July 1982] .

Stiles-Allen died at Tunbridge Wells ["The Times", 17 July 1982] .

Notes

References

* The Times Digital Archive - [http://www.infotrac.london.galegroup.com InfoTrac Web.] (Accessed 3 July 2007) (requires subscription)