Peter Pears

彼得·皮爾斯（Peter Pears，1910～1986），英國男高音歌唱家。出生于英國的法恩姆斯，早年就讀于Lancing學(xué)院，繼之在牛津大學(xué)Keble學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)音樂，同時在hertford學(xué)院擔(dān)綱管風(fēng)琴演奏，后來又在皇家音樂學(xué)院學(xué)習(xí)了兩個學(xué)期，1936年成為英國廣播公司的歌手，以演唱貝奇、舒曼和舒伯特的歌集聞名。長期同英國作曲家兼鋼琴家本杰明·布里頓協(xié)作（后者是他的同性戀朋友），布里頓為他創(chuàng)作了許多聲樂作品和歌劇角色，如歌劇《彼得·格里姆斯》、《小夜曲》和合唱曲《戰(zhàn)爭追思曲》等。1939年在和德國的戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)前夕，為了避免服兵役，他和布里頓去了美國，后來被英國登記為良性拒付兵役者。1942年在倫敦首次演出歌劇。1946年協(xié)助布里頓建立英國歌劇院，促成了1948年愛丁堡音樂節(jié)的實現(xiàn)。1977年受封爵士。
 
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE (22 June 1910 – 3 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years.
 
Pears's musical career started slowly. He was at first unsure whether to concentrate on playing or singing, and despite the efforts of some of his friends, it was not until he met Britten in 1937 that he threw himself wholeheartedly into singing. Once he and Britten were established as a partnership, the composer wrote many concert and operatic works with Pears's voice in mind, and the singer created roles in more than ten operas by his partner. In the concert hall, Pears and Britten were celebrated recitalists, known in particular for their performances of Lieder by Schubert and Schumann. Together they recorded most of the works written for Pears by Britten, as well as a wide range of music by other composers. Working with other musicians, Pears sang an extensive repertoire of music from four centuries, from the Tudor period to the most modern times.
 
With Britten, Pears was a co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival in 1947 and the Britten-Pears School of music in 1972. After Britten died in 1976, Pears remained an active participant in the festival and the school, where he was director of singing. His own voice had a distinctive timbre, not to all tastes, but such was his musical skill that he could use the voice to good effect in many styles of music.