Cesare Siepi and Giuseppe di Stefano

[Spitz]

When it comes to giving voice to the devil, basso Cesare Siepi is your man.  In Gounod's "Faust," he is alternately playful and menacing. In Boito's "Mefistofeles," he is scary as Hell. His visceral outbursts reach deep into your guts. On the other hand, tenore Giuseppe di Stefano in tandem with Callas in "La Boheme" has one of the most lilting and uplifting operatic voices I have ever heard. Yet when he calls her a witch, he is fierce with frustrated passion. Siepi and Di Stefano are my favorite male singers--I never fail to be emotionally caught up in their performances.

[Brünnhilde forever]

Not familiar with the singers in the roles you listed, but I am grateful to you for writing about them, maybe you'll get more replies.

I want to welcome you here at our opera and vocal room; we need all the input we can get.! 

[Lilas Pastia]

Lis, Siepi ought to be your kind of basso  .

World renowned in the fifties to mid-sixties, he had a huge basso cantante voice made up of honey and gravel: here's a clip of him and Del Monaco in Ernani. From there, proceed to his portrayals of Don Giovanni and Philip V (Don Carlo), his most famous roles. I agreee with Spitz that he has not been matched. René Pape comes close in voice complexion, but he lacks Siepi's charm and sexiness, not to mention the signature rolled rrrrs and velvety plush bottom notes. Over 50 years hence, Siepi is still the reigning Philip, Giovanni and Figaro (Mozart), not to mention Ramfis and Mefistofele.

PS: had Siepi lived in our era, he would have been top of the heap in today's barihunk crowd

[Brünnhilde forever]

Thank you, André! How considerte of you to send me this list of hunks, but Freund, there are only two I know, or ever heard of. What happened to Keenlyside? I can understand Peter Mattei being not mentioned because he got fat!

What gives with those singers anyhow? Anybody who has seen Mattei as Onegin knows how slim, athletic and attractive he was; still in good shape as Giovanni; next Mozart opera - forgot which one that was at the Met - and he gained at least fifty pounds, face puffed up like a yeast dumpling.

Then I see a photo of Pape, he too got fat. Not to be neglected, there is Stephen Rilling's mean and slim Hunding to show up as the pot-bellied Landgraf in the 2008 Tannhäuser! Disgusting! 

[Sarastro]

I agreee with Spitz that he has not been matched. René Pape comes close

Only Pape? What about Nicolai Ghiaurov, another great Philip V or de Silva? I can't imagine the world of basses without Ruggero Raimondi or Samuel Ramey, Martti Talvela, Mark Reizen, Bryn Terfel, Giulio Neri, Hans Hotter, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, not to mention Boris Christoff and Feodor Chaliapin. In other words, I don't agree that only Pape comes close to Siepi.

[Lilas Pastia]

Liserl, check those legs: who needs bare torsos? and that regal bearing.

Bassos and baritones have always epitomized virility in opera. Nobody topped Sipei in the domain until the hairy-chested brigade of the 21st Century!! Compare those to the elegant but hurried singing of Gilles Cachemaille .

[zamyrabyrd]

World renowned in the fifties to mid-sixties, he had a huge basso cantante voice made up of honey and gravel: here's a clip of him and Del Monaco in Ernani. From there, proceed to his portrayals of Don Giovanni and Philip V (Don Carlo), his most famous roles. I agreee with Spitz that he has not been matched. René Pape comes close in voice complexion, but he lacks Siepi's charm and sexiness, not to mention the signature rolled rrrrs and velvety plush bottom notes. Over 50 years hence, Siepi is still the reigning Philip, Giovanni and Figaro (Mozart), not to mention Ramfis and Mefistofele.

Wow, those two guys really rip it up in Ernani. I hear though a kind of slow vibrato in Siepi, characteristic of some, but not all low male voices. I haven't heard enough of his singing but on the whole, vibratos disturb me.
And I do like Pape very much...
ZB

[Brünnhilde forever]

Liserl, check those legs . . . who needs bare torsos? 

Checked and found wanting! Too skinny. 

Mein Liebling André: It's my well-known preference of contemporary, young, singers over long-gone, past heroes of the opera stage. I don't judge the gentlemen by the amount of hair on their chest - don't mind admiring them though - I want to draw attention to present new talent, like Peter Mattei, who, as far as I know, has not exposed his torso - yet! - and has a wonderful baritone voice, without the annoying vibrato, common in long ago history. Papé doesn't gurgle, neither does Keenlyside.

[zamyrabyrd]

René Pape is moving and convincing in "she never loved me" (Ella giammai m'amo):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQTNdi-zX0g&feature=related
Not to divert the thread, but comparisons were alluded to. Siepi's rendering of this aria is also on youtube.

ZB

[Lilas Pastia]

Liebling Lis, it's always such fun to poke at your well-known preferences   

[Brünnhilde forever]

There you see, Dearest, that's the kind of exchanges of differing opinions I just love to read here. No insults, no condemning, no belittling by one GMG member of another. You prefer the old geezers, I the young hunks! 

[Lilas Pastia]

You're quite right, Liserl, I do prefer many of the oldies to most of the newbies. I like to hear singers that have gone full circle - from fresh starts to twilight years. It seems to me there's a wealth of humanity and experience not to be found in upstart singers.

Although names such as Pape, Villazon, Netrebko and Georghiu are no longer new to the public, they are still considered 'young' singers. Listening to them in a few years (even decades) will hopefully still yield great riches.

ZB, Siepi's impersonation of Philip V was for many years the epitome of how the role (and that magnificent scene) should go. I've always loved Siepi's elegant singing line and perfect diction. Even his gurgles have an aristocratic allure (rolled 'r' very common in French singing, but rather rare in italian style). The sound emanates from the back and bottom of the throat, so I imagine this was part and parcel of his vocal technique.

BTW, although Di Stefano (and Pavarotti after him) were known for their refulgent tones, they were also masters of elegant diction. The same could not be said of their more overtly spectacular colleagues like Corelli and Del Monaco whose diction was often rough . Di Stefano's voice was a rather light one. Its natural placing enabled him to sing the words rather than sing the music on the words. Same with the light, aristocratic voices of Sergei Lemeshev, Alain Vanzo and Leopold Simoneau. The latter would sometimes sacrifice verbal acuity for the sake of an unbroken flood of liquid gold. But you get the idea - Siepi, a bass, was a past master at this. BTW he enjoyed a long carreer, and the vibrato never got wider than what you heard in the Ernani excerpt. He burst onto the international scene in his early twenties and his voice then was practically the same as when he stopped singing, well into the seventies.

[Wendell_E]

Siepi] burst onto the international scene in his early twenties and his voice then was practically the same as when he stopped singing, well into the seventies.

Did you mean to type "his seventies"?  The only time I ever heard him live was a as Don Basilio in a Lyric Opera of Chicago Barbiere in 1984 (as I recall, he was pretty wonderful), and if we can trust Wikipedia, his "final performance at the Vienna State Opera was in Il Trovatore in 1994", which would have been his early seventies.

[Lilas Pastia]

Well, that makes his longevity even greater than I had thought ! He must have sung Ferrando in the first act of Trovatore (a wonderful bit part). I see there's a youtube vid of his performance in La Calunnia. Slightly cautious, but the volume of sound emitted belies the frail looking silhouette of this Basilio. clever costuming I assume (he was quite tall and bulky).