The Cornish baritone Benjamin Luxon has died.

Luxon made more than one hundred recordings, many of them devoted to English song. One of my favorites was a recital on Chandos Records devoted to the songs of Peter Warlock. Of course, Warlock being Warlock, a percentage of those songs are about drinking and milkmaids.

As an up-and-coming singer, Luxon joined Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group and went on to appear in a number of the composer’s productions. Britten conceived the title role of his television opera “Owen Wingrave” specifically for Luxon’s voice.

Luxon sang at Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, and most of the major European houses. He also performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In his quiver of roles were Falstaff, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, and Papageno.

As a recitalist, his repertoire was broad, ranging from early music to lieder to contemporary song, music hall, and folk music. With tenor Robert Tear, he worked to revive forgotten and dimly-recollected parlor songs. In recital, he was frequently accompanied by pianist David Willison.

Beginning around 1990, Luxon began to experience hearing loss. He retired from singing, but continued to appear as a reader and narrator and to give masterclasses and direct. He lived his final years in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, also home to the Tanglewood Music Center, where he had been a frequent guest.

Luxon died on Thursday at the age of 87. R.I.P.

Channeling “MacArthur Park”-era Richard Harris (but in better voice)

“Johnny, I hardly knew ya’”

Peter Warlock, “Captain Stratton’s Fancy”

As Verdi’s Falstaff (1 of 2)

Falstaff (2 of 2)

Vintage music hall

Narrating Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale” at 82

A Cornish tale

2009 radio interview

“Give Me a Ticket to Heaven”