Astra Desmond

Astra Desmond CBE (10 April 1893 – 16 August 1973) was a British contralto of the mid twentieth century. On 5 October 1938 Desmond was one of the original 16 singers in Ralph Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music, the recording of which, made at EMI's Abbey Road studio shortly thereafter, has been transferred to compact disc by several companies. Earlier, in 1932, Vaughan Williams had dedicated to her his Magnificat (for contralto solo, women's choir, solo flute and orchestra). Later, she received the contrasting tribute of having a variety of rose named after her.