For Cesare Siepi (1923-2010)

(A Don Giovanni for all time. These days, hackles get raised whenever the Don is played by anybody but a high baritone, but when the singing and acting is like this, who cares? In the words of one critic, he could seduce 1003 women in Spain just by singing a couple phrases. The Zerlina is Erna Berger and Wilhelm Furtwangler is in the pit...good company. h/t Anne Midgette)

It's been a tough month for great Italian singers. First we lose Giuseppe Taddei, who was arguably the great Italian baritone of his generation, and now we lose Cesare Siepi, who was almost indisputably the great Italian bass of the same generation. If I were Mirella Freni I'd make a beeline for the doctor's office.


(Now that's a voice...)

Siepi didn't sing so much as emit. His voice was torrential, and yet so perfectly controlled even at the highest volumes that it sounded positively elegant. The term critics would always use for him was 'basso cantate,' which supposedly means that he had a higher vocal register than other basses. But that doesn't give Siepi enough credit. He was a Pavarotti for the lower register, with the same immaculate security throughout the voice and those unmistakably perfect Italian vowels. But unlike Lucky Luciano, Siepi was an actor too. His tall wiry frame had an unmatchable charisma which he used to such beneficial effect that he was incontrovertibly one of the great singing actors. If Pavarotti had a mere fraction of Siepi's theatrical ability, there would be no Three Tenors.


(From the Requiem, accompanied by Toscanini)