BRETT, Charles Michael 1941-2025
Richard R
From the Telegraph of 3 July 2025: BRETT Charles Michael, passed away peacefully at home on 24th June aged 83. Eminent countertenor and beloved husband, father and grandfather. Private cremation. A memorial will be announced in due course.
He was s of Patrick John BRETT 1910-82 by his 2 July 1934 m (St Mary, Abinger) to Eleanor Blanche KNECHT 1910-94. He m 1973 as her 1st h Brigid Evelyn Cecilia b 1947 (Mrs Peter McManus) d of (John) Michael Orpen BARSTOW 1905-77 (2xgt gs of George BAILLIE 1763-1841 f of 10th Earl of HADDINGTON 1802-70) and as her 1st h Moira Winifred Oclanis O'BRIEN 1912-2001 (Mrs George Barstow, 2xgt gd of Sir Edward O'BRIEN 4th Bt 1773-1837 f of 13th Baron INCHIQUIN 1800-72), and had a son and a dau.
1. (Aubrey) Francis Patrick b Dec 1974: m 2003 reg Q3 Cambs Rebecca C dau of Brian HUNT of Hitchin, Herts, and had issue (possibly others)
1.1 Hugo Sebastian Francis b 2007 reg Q4 Lambeth
1. Caroline Moira Cecilia b 1977
colinp
Charles Brett, one of the ‘big three’ countertenors of his era and founder of the Amaryllis Consort
A specialist in early music, he flourished in middle age after many unfulfilling years as a teacher at Eton and Westminster
Charles Brett, who has died aged 83, was a countertenor noted for his warm tone and clear articulation; he enjoyed a successful performing career in London, founded the Amaryllis Consort, an ensemble dedicated to performing madrigals and other works of the Renaissance, and later became a much sought-after teacher, recommending to students that before giving a concert they enjoy a glass of dry sherry “to loosen the vocal cords”.
Brett – who was the alto soloist on Roy Goodman’s famous 1963 recording of Allegri’s Miserere with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, under David Willcocks – was, with Paul Esswood and James Bowman, one of the “big three” countertenors of the post-Alfred Deller generation. Yet having spent much of his career teaching at leading public schools he came rather too late to full-time performing to make as much of an impact as he might have […..]
Charles Michael Brett was born in Maidenhead on October 27 1941, a descendant of John Brett, the pre-Raphaelite painter. His father, Patrick, worked in oil and his American mother, Eleanor, was a housewife. His maternal grandmother had been a governess to Rudyard Kipling’s family [….]
[….] he returned to Britain and taught at the Royal Academy of Music and Gonville & Caius, Cambridge. He took up genealogy, quoting chapter and verse from Debrett’s on his artistic ancestor and building up a respectable collection of John Brett’s smaller paintings. He also edited two anthologies of songs for countertenors.
In 1973 he married Brigid Barstow. That was dissolved in 1994 when, in middle age, he suddenly shed his young-fogey image to became something of a ladies’ man. His second marriage, in 1998, was to Cecile; she survives him with the children of his first marriage, Francis, who sings baritone and now runs the Amaryllis Consort, and Caroline.
Charles Brett, born October 27 1941, died June 24 2025