Leonard Warren: American Baritone.(Review)

Leonard Warren: American Baritone. By Mary Jane Phillips-Matz. (Opera Biography Series, 13.) Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 2000. [471 p. ISBN 1-57467-053-0. $39.95.]

At last, we have a biography of one of the greatest American baritones of the twentieth century. From his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1939 until his untimely death on that stage in 1960, Leonard Warren was the premier Verdi baritone, rivaled only by Robert Merrill. Author Mary Jane Phillips-Matz had the assistance of the baritone's sister, Vivian Warren, in writing this book, and the Leonard Warren Foundation has issued a set of two compact discs (Leonard Warren Commemorative, Leonard Warren Foundation, distr. VAI Distribution, LWC 1-2, 2000) in conjunction with its publication.

Warren's life is put forth here in a straightforward chronological line, from his Russian-Jewish ancestry to his conversion to Catholicism, and from his years at Radio City Music Hall to the Metropolitan Opera. Somewhere in the process, the man behind the legend is lost, and we are left with the feeling that there is much that has been left unwritten. Though not as problematic as the collection of periodical articles the same publisher brought out as a biography of Lily Pans, this volume is certainly not a critical biography. The recollections of Warren's sister are of great interest, but they should not be the base on which this biography stands.

Therein lies the problem. Because of the author's heavy reliance on the comments of Vivian Warren, the reader gets a one-sided view of the singer. There are a few negative criticisms quoted in the text, but for the most part, Warren is shown moving from triumph to triumph. One reads of the singer as a family man who is the consummate professional at the opera house, but prefers to play with his electric trains or sail his boat as soon as he leaves. There are almost no comments or quotes on his artistry from his colleagues, but we do learn of the reaction of several associates regarding his conversion. Another question that is not answered concerns the conductor Arturo ...