A life in letters: Widdop, Walter (1892-1949)

British operatic tenor. When I worked in Carluke Library in the 1970s, the record collection included an LP of Widdop singing songs and arias, re-mastered from old ‘78s. The two tracks I recall are ‘Walter’s Prize Song’ from Die Meistersinger, sung in English (I knew the tune from the Overture but had never before heard the words) and ‘If with all your heart ye truly seek me’ from Mendelssohn’s Elijah. This piece spoke to me powerfully. It begins with a tranquil statement of God’s promise that those who seek will find. There follows a turmoil of anguished longing set in a minor key: ‘Oh that I knew where I might find him that I might even come before His presence.’ These words were mine, this anguish mine. Finally the song segues again to the major, to a healing repetition of God’s assurance: ‘If with all your heart you truly seek me, Ye shall ever surely find me.’ I listened often to Widdop singing this, and the words and the beauty of the music lodged in me. I believe it was more than simply me drawing reassurance from the piece that God was findable: it was as though God came to me in and through the words Walter Widdop sang. And I notice now that adverb ‘ever’ and its relevance, suggesting as it does many seekings, many findings.