Cesare Siepi (1923-2010) Rest in Peace

[Helene]

Anne Midgette is reporting the death of the great bass Cesare Siepi, based on a post to Opera-L by the critic and commentator Martin Bernheimer.

http://voices.washin...sare_siepi.html

There's a video clip to "La ci darem la mano" from "Don Giovanni".

He was the best bass I've ever heard live.

Rest in peace, Mr. Siepi.

[dirac]

Anne Midgette is reporting the death of the great bass Cesare Siepi, based on a post to Opera-L by the critic and commentator Martin Bernheimer.

http://voices.washin...sare_siepi.html

There's a video clip to "La ci darem la mano" from "Don Giovanni".

He was the best bass I've ever heard live.

Rest in peace, Mr. Siepi.

Thanks for posting, Helene. Assuming the information is correct, and there's no reason to disbelieve Bernheimer, RIP.

[Helene]

From "South Pacific":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAO16y3S6M0

From "Don Carlos":

[dirac]

An obituary from Reuters. Siepi died after having a stroke. He was 87.

Siepi died of respiratory failure in Piedmont Hospital on Monday in Atlanta after suffering a stroke more than a week earlier, his son, Marco Siepi said. "He made an extraordinary contribution to the opera world. He was an incredible person," Marco Siepi told Reuters.

[bart]

He was the best bass I've ever heard live.

I'm tempted to add: "and on radio and recording, too.." And very distinctive. If you missed the cast list for the Saturday Met broadcasts, you could always recognize Siepi's voice -- warm, liquid, with that angelic upper register. It may not have been the most dramatic, thrilling, or darkly colored of bass voices, but it was , it seems to me, consistently the most beautiful.

Perhaps too beautiful at times, as in the video of Philip's aria from Don Carlo. "She does not love me." How could that be possible?

I checked the Met's archives: Don Carlo was Siepi's broadcast debut back in 1950.

"Some Enchanted Evening" is wonderful. I usually don't like opera stars in this, including Pinza, who overcomplicated things. Siepi simplifies them. When the song is done -- except for the final repetition of "Who can explain it? Who can tell you why?" -- the orchestra takes up the melody and Siepi steps down from the veranda and onto the stage. I really expected for an instant that he would begin dancing, like Astaire. Maybe Astaire came to mind because he, like Siepi in these clips, succeeds in hiding from us just how difficult it is to do what he does.

[papeetepatrick]

"Some Enchanted Evening" is wonderful. I usually don't like opera stars in this, including Pinza, who overcomplicated things. Siepi simplifies them. When the song is done -- except for the final repetition of "Who can explain it? Who can tell you why?" -- the orchestra takes up the melody and Siepi steps down from the veranda and onto the stage.

Yes, it's beautiful, although there is a chord progression in one phrase toward the end that's a bit cheesy and out of the character of the piece (not his fault, though.) Proof that this kind of musical comedy song can be sung well by opera singers (and has been both in the original show and the movie.) I haven't heard the Pinza in a long time, but I do also very much like Tozzi's dubbing in the film.

Just found that one chord, it's altered from the original, and sounds strange: It's in the interlude before the last 'Once you have found her...' and is where the 'a-' of 'a-lone' is when sung. Instead of the usual Dominant 7th from the 7th with the G Natural, they've put in an A Flat, which gives a weird 'Bell Telephone Hour effect' that doesn't really match the seriousness of the mood, but they don't use it the other times.

Nope, I listened again, it's the G Natural, but the orchestration takes on this touch of 'springtime fresh sound', maybe to make it a kind of vignette, because the Nellie is not meant here to be all that much in character.

[bart]

Patrick, I can STILL hear Pinza. The cast recording was played so often at our house when I was a kid that It actually wore out and had to be replaced.

Your comments on the orchestration are most interesting. I agree that there was definitely a "Bell Telephone Hour effect" in orchestrations and performance style. Whether it involved interpretation or re-writing I don't know. Nothing could break the smooth and polished surface: the aural equivalent of the kind of lacquered hairdo worn by so many lady singers.

Two more pieces of information I just learned about Siepi (from the LA Times obituary):

-- he was an anti-Fascist (like so many great European artists)

-- he married a DANCER -- (Louellen Sibley, who danced at the Met as well as on Broadway .

[volcanohunter]

He was the best bass I've ever heard live.

I'm tempted to add: "and on radio and recording, too.."

I can't argue with that.

He was the only Don Giovanni I found completely persuasive, and the Verdi he recorded, of which there was inexplicably little, was sublime. A very great singer. May he rest in peace.

[Drew]

I wanted to note the death last week (July 5th ) of the great Italian Basso Cesare Siepi--I never saw him, but heard some of his recordings when I was younger: notably a Don Giovanni which was used for the Salzburg Marionettes version I saw in the 80's.

But the real reason I wanted to note Siepi's death is more personal. My mother, who died some years ago, was absolutely mad for him--passionate for his singing (she loved opera), but also with something of a girlish crush on him which my father seems to have fully indulged; she told me how one year when visiting New York they made for the restaurant where Siepi and his friends were known to gather and sing into the night. The restaurant was mostly empty by the time the singing began, but my parents stayed for it all.

(It has been suggested to me now that I am ostensibly an adult that some of the stories my mother told me when I was a child may be suspect, but I resolutely believe this one...and unquestionably she was mad for Siepi.)

[dirac]

But the real reason I wanted to note Siepi's death is more personal. My mother, who died some years ago, was absolutely mad for him--passionate for his singing (she loved opera), but also with something of a girlish crush on him which my father seems to have fully indulged; she told me how one year when visiting New York they made for the restaurant where Siepi and his friends were known to gather and sing into the night. The restaurant was mostly empty by the time the singing began, but my parents stayed for it all.

(It has been suggested to me now that I am ostensibly an adult that some of the stories my mother told me when I was a child may be suspect, but I resolutely believe this one...and unquestionably she was mad for Siepi.)

That's a lovely story, Drew, and I'm sure it's the gold-plated truth. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Paul Parish]

He also looked great in tights. I've heard his nickname was "Legs"--

BTW, that La ci darem clip not only shows him in fabulous voice, it shows wonderful byplay with the soprano, who's no slouch herself. My hunch is that that's Graziella Sciutti, who was a great comedienne as well as a wonderful singer. The contrast between his rich, rich voice, and hers, which is dry as claret, makes for a wonderful duet when their voices finally blend -- whoever she is, she's a splendid singing actress.

[dirac]

He also looked great in tights. I've heard his nickname was "Legs"--

Not something that can be said for many male opera stars (or female, for that matter). Of course, that might not be as true as it once was these days, when looks are just about everything.

[richard53dog]

He also looked great in tights. I've heard his nickname was "Legs"--

Not something that can be said for many male opera stars (or female, for that matter). Of course, that might not be as true as it once was these days, when looks are just about everything.

He was a very attractive man onstage (although I have to admit that at the time I heard him often, 1969-1973, I thought he was a bit old looking; this from the POV of a 20 year old ) and he would have fit in very well with today's emphasis on "lookism".

I think the "legs" nickname was applied more to Corelli than Siepi, anyway, Corelli appeared more often in tights than siepi did.

[dirac]

Thanks, richard53dog, I was thinking that I'd read about Corelli being called that.

[Helene]

The first time I heard Siepi was also the first time I heard Corelli, and the tenor did not hold a candle -- it was a bad night for him -- to the bass in voice or looks to my 14-year-old eyes and ears, and Siepi was wearing robes as Ramfis.

This led to a stand-off with my opera- and Corelli-loving friend, who got even by making fun of disastrous way I tried to pronounce Siepi's name, brawed Joisey accent and all