Peter Glossop

Published Tuesday 23 September 2008 at 10:55 by Michael Quinn

The baritone Peter Glossop, who has died at the age of 80, was in the vanguard of a generation of post-war British singers who made their name on international stages, much to the incredulity of their European counterparts.

Born in Sheffield on July 6, 1928, Glossop began his musical life as an amateur, with the Sheffield Operatic Society, while working as a bank clerk. It was there, singing Dr Coppelius in Tales of Hoffmann in 1949, that he first came to the attention of talent scouts. In 1952, he joined the Sadler’s Wells chorus, taking his first major role with the company, Count di Luna in Il Trovatore, four years later.

Verdi would prove to be the composer that he became indelibly associated with. He remains the only Englishman to have sung Verdi’s greatest tragic baritone, Rigoletto, at La Scala, Milan.

Success in the 1961 International Young Opera Singers Competition in Bulgaria led to engagements at Covent Garden, where his wide-ranging repertoire included Rodrigo, Tonio and Marcello. His international breakthrough followed an acclaimed Luchino Visconti-produced Trovatore, in which he reprised the role of Di Luna opposite Gwyneth Jones.

Regular and well-received appearances in Paris, New York, Berlin and Milan followed. In the late sixties he was a regular feature at the Salzburg Festival, culminating in an especially admired Iago in 1973, a role he sang at Covent Garden on many occasions.

Glossop retired in 1986 to teach, before being diagnosed with throat cancer. He published his autobiography, The Story of a Yorkshire Baritone, in 2004.

Twice married, he is survived by two daughters from his second marriage to the dancer Michele Amos. He died on September 7.