Greene, (Harry) Plunket
Greene, (Harry) Plunket
Greene, (Harry) Plunket, Irish bass-baritone and teacher; b. Old Connaught House, County Wicklow, June 24, 1865; d. London, Aug. 19, 1936. He was a student of Hromada in Stuttgart, Vannuccini in Florence, and J.B. Welsh and A. Blume in London. On Jan. 21, 1888, he made his debut as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah in Stepney. In 1890 he appeared at London’s Covent Garden, but soon became a successful concert artist; from 1893 he appeared in recitals with Leonard Berwick, and that same year made his first tour of the U.S. In 1899 he married Parry’s daughter, Gwendolen. Greene devoted his later years to vocal pedagogy. He publ. the manual Interpretation in Song (London, 1912) and a book of reminiscences, From the Blue Danube to Shannon (London, 1934); also a biography of Stanford (London, 1935). He was a fine interpreter of Schumann and Brahms, and also sang in the premieres of works by Parry, Stanford, Elgar, and Vaughan Williams.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire