William Warfield - wikipedia William Warfield William Warfield Portrait of William Warfield by Carl Van Vechten, 7 Feb. 1951 Background information ( 1920 - 01 - 02 ) January 2, 1920 West Helena, Arkansas, U.S. August 26, 2002 ( 2002 - 08 - 26 ) ( aged 82 ) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Genres Opera Years active 1947 -- 1970s William Caesar Warfield ( 22 January 1920 -- 26 August 2002 ), was an American concert bass - baritone singer and actor. One of his earliest professional engagements was in Marc Blitzstein 's Broadway opera, Regina. His breakthrough came when he gave his recital debut in New York 's Town Hall in 1950. He went on to produce a highly acclaimed album of selections from Porgy and Bess with Leontyne Price in 1963. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and career 1.2 Decline and death 2 Membership of organizations 3 Legacy 4 References 5 External links Biography Early life and career Warfield was born in West Helena, Arkansas, the oldest of five sons of a Baptist minister. He grew up in Rochester, New York, where his father was called to serve as pastor of Mt. Vernon Church. He gave his recital debut in New York 's Town Hall on 19 March 1950. He was quickly invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to tour Australia and give 35 concerts. In 1952, Warfield performed in Porgy and Bess during a tour of Europe sponsored by the U.S. State Department ( he made six separate tours for the US Department of State, more than any other American solo artist. ) In this production he played opposite the opera star Leontyne Price, whom he soon married, but the demands of two separate careers left them little time together. They divorced in 1972, but were featured together in a 1963 studio recording of excerpts from Porgy and Bess. According to a recent exhibit about World War Two, Warfield was the only African American member of the `` Ritchie Boys '', thousands of soldiers who were trained at Fort Ritchie, Maryland. It was an intelligence center where hundreds of Jewish recruits who fled Nazi Germany for the United States were trained to interrogate their one - time countrymen. According to the exhibit at the Zekelman Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Warfield was brought to the camp because of his strong German skills which he perfected while studying music. Because of segregation, his skills were never put to use. Warfield was a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. In 1975 he accepted an appointment as Professor of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign. He later became Chairman of the Voice Department. In 1994, he moved to Northwestern University 's School of Music, where he stayed until his death. He sang the premiere performances of the version for soloist and orchestra of Set I of Aaron Copland 's Old American Songs in 1955, and of the version for soloist and piano of Set II of the collection in 1958. ( He also recorded both sets of the songs. ) His vocal talents were also featured on two recordings of Handel 's `` Messiah '' -- a classic, but heavily cut, performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy ( released in 1959 ), and a lesser - known, drastically restructured recording made in 1956, also heavily cut, with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. Bernstein combined the Christmas and Resurrection sections, and ended with the arias and choruses depicting the death of Christ. The Ormandy recording featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Bernstein 's the Westminster Choir. Warfield was also accomplished in acting and poetry recitation. He played the character De Lawd in a celebrated Hallmark Hall of Fame television production of The Green Pastures, a role he played twice on live TV ( both versions survive as kinescopes ). He appeared in two Hollywood films, including a star - making performance as Joe in Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer 's 1951 Technicolor remake of Show Boat. His other film was an overlooked item called `` Old Explorers '', starring James Whitmore and José Ferrer. In a nod to `` Show Boat '', Warfield played a cameo role as a tugboat captain. Footage of Warfield in `` Show Boat '' has been included in several TV shows and / or films, notably That 's Entertainment !. Warfield played his Show Boat role in two other productions of the musical -- the 1966 Lincoln Center production, and a 1972 production in Vienna. He sang Ol ' Man River in three different record albums of the show -- the 1951 motion picture soundtrack album on MGM Records, a 1962 studio album featuring Barbara Cook and John Raitt on Columbia Masterworks, and the RCA Victor album made from the Lincoln Center production. He made an appearance on The Colgate Comedy Hour and on a program called TV Recital Hall in 1951, the same year that he made his screen debut in Show Boat. He later appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. In 1961, he appeared as a recital soloist on an episode of the Young People 's Concerts, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. In March 1984 he was the winner of a Grammy in the `` Spoken Word '' category for his outstanding narration of Aaron Copland 's Lincoln Portrait accompanied by the Eastman Philharmonia ( 1 ). And in the 1990s, he narrated a special jazz arrangement of music from `` Show Boat '', on the PRI program Riverwalk Jazz. In 1999 Warfield joined baritones Robert Sims and Benjamin Matthews in a trio by the name of `` Three Generations ''. Managed by Arthur White, this ensemble toured the United States giving full concerts of African - American spirituals and folk songs until Warfield 's death in 2002. Decline and death Beginning in 1962, Warfield began to have some trouble with his voice, as he himself admitted in his autobiography. This was only slightly noticeable on the 1962 studio recording of Show Boat. By the time he made the 1966 recording of the Lincoln Center production of the musical, his voice had deepened from merely bass - baritone to a full - fledged bass, and he could not sing the climactic high note on Ol ' Man River as easily as he had in the 1951 film version, though he sounded fine on his lower notes. Because of this problem, however, he compensated by learning how to sing even more expressively than he had before. By 1976, Warfield, although still making various stage and television appearances, was not singing as much as he had in the past. He served as narrator in various orchestral works, such as Aaron Copland 's Lincoln Portrait, and occasionally performed sprechstimme roles in works by Arnold Schoenberg. However, he did sing on occasion during his final years, despite the fact that by then his singing voice was practically gone. In those years, when he sang Ol ' Man River, he would not perform it with the original lyrics, but with the altered ones that Paul Robeson used in his recitals beginning in 1938. He died in Chicago in August 2002, following treatment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, succumbing to injuries he sustained in his neck from a fall a month prior. Membership of organizations Warfield was active in many organizations, after appearing as the featured artist at the 50th year convention of the National Association of Negro Musicians ( 2 ), he became active with the organization, serving as its president for two terms. He later served on the boards of the ( 3 ) ( NANM ) and the Schiller Institute. After joining the Schiller Institute in 1996, he began to collaborate with acclaimed vocal coach Sylvia Olden Lee in a project to save the performance tradition of the Negro spiritual. During the final years of his life, from 1999 to 2002, he performed regularly at Schiller Institute biannual conferences, often with Olden Lee as his accompanist, and the two of them traveled the country conducting singing workshops for members of the LaRouche Youth Movement. Warfield was made an honorary member of the Delta Lambda chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Ball State University in 1961, and awarded the Fraternity 's Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award in 1976 at its national convention in Evansville, Indiana. LEGACY The William Warfield Scholarship Fund was formed in 1977 with the purpose supporting young African American classical singers at the Eastman School of Music. Recipients include Claron McFadden and Nicole Cabell. It has provided financial aid to over 35 students to date. References ^ Jump up to : `` William Warfield, 82, Baritone Known for ' Porgy, ' Is Dead ''. The New York Times. 27 August 2002. Retrieved 27 February 2015. Jump up ^ `` William Warfield BM 42 ''. rochester.edu. Retrieved 27 February 2015. Jump up ^ `` Artist Biography by Joseph Stevenson ''. allmusic.com. Retrieved 27 February 2015. Jump up ^ `` ' Save the African - American Spititual ' A Dialogue with William Warfield and Sylvia Olden Lee ''. Schiller Institute. Retrieved 27 February 2015. Jump up ^ `` Obituary ( William Warfield 1920 - 2002 ) ''. Schiller Institute. Retrieved 27 February 2015. Jump up ^ `` SCHOLARSHIP BENEFIT CONCERT HELPS CONTINUE THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM WARFIELD ''. rochester.edu. Retrieved 27 February 2015. Jump up ^ `` ANNUAL CONCERT CELEBRATES LEGACY OF WILLIAM WARFIELD, BENEFITS SCHOLARSHIP FUND ''. rochester.edu. Retrieved 27 February 2015. External links Biography portal William Warfield on IMDb William Warfield at the Internet Broadway Database William Warfield Scholarship Fund Schiller Institute biography and obituary William Warfield interview by Bruce Duffie National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. William Warfield at Find a Grave LaRouche movement History Lyndon LaRouche Views of Lyndon LaRouche LaRouche criminal trials Lyndon LaRouche U.S. Presidential campaigns Organizations Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität Citizens Electoral Council European Workers Party Executive Intelligence Review LaRouche movement National Caucus of Labor Committees Schiller Institute Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement Defunct California Proposition 64 ( 1986 ) Fusion Energy Foundation North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada U.S. Labor Party Members Robert Beltran James Bevel Michael Billington Amelia Boynton Robinson Norbert Brainin Anton Chaitkin Jacques Cheminade Billy Davis Sergey Glazyev Paul Goldstein Janice Hart Hulan Jack Kenneth Kronberg Stanislav Menshikov Theo Mitchell Robert James Moon Kesha Rogers Nataliya Vitrenko William Warfield Frederick Wills Helga Zepp - LaRouche Critics Chip Berlet Daniel Patrick Moynihan John Rees Mike Royko People separated from the movement Nicholas F. Benton Robert Dreyfuss F. William Engdahl David P. Goldman Laurent Murawiec Webster Tarpley Related persons Jeremiah Duggan Daniel Estulin Erik R. Fleming Roy Frankhouser Victor Gunnarsson Zbigniew Jaworowski Gordon M. Johnson Karen Kwiatkowski Eric Lerner Fred Newman Friedwardt Winterberg J.L. Chestnut Book : LaRouche movement Wikiquote Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album ( 1980s ) 1980 John Gielgud - Ages of Man - Readings From Shakespeare 1981 Pat Carroll - Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein 1982 Orson Welles - Donovan 's Brain Tom Voegeli ( producer ) - Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Movie on Record performed by various artists 1984 William Warfield - Lincoln Portrait 1985 Ben Kingsley - The Words of Gandhi 1986 Mike Berniker ( producer ) & the original Broadway cast - Ma Rainey 's Black Bottom Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chips Moman, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Sam Phillips - Interviews From the Class of ' 55 Recording Sessions Garrison Keillor - Lake Wobegon Days Jesse Jackson - Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson Complete list ( 1959 & 1960s ) ( 1970s ) ( 1980s ) ( 1990s ) ( 2000s ) ( 2010s ) VIAF : 44489000 LCCN : n82025101 ISNI : 0000 0000 7357 6562 GND : 119286742 SUDOC : 180698982 BNF : cb139383026 ( data ) MusicBrainz : 262c8c46 - 6ec0 - 403e - b41a - 74015c3c46d3 SNAC : w6zm7j1f Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Warfield&oldid=767020098 '' Categories : 1920 births 2002 deaths African - American singers African - American opera singers American opera singers American male singers American bass - baritones LaRouche movement People from West Helena, Arkansas Grammy Award winners 20th - century American singers 20th - century opera singers Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from February 2012 Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2016 Articles with IBDb links Find a Grave template with ID same as Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Português Edit links This page was last edited on 23 February 2017, at 14 : 13. 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Question: who sang ol man river in showboat 1951
Answer: Warfield