CLARENCE WHITEHILL, Bass-Baritone * 05 November 1871, Marengo, Iowa + 19 December 1932, Manhattan, New York City; Manhattan, New York City;

American baritone and bass-baritone. His vocal talent was discovered in Chicago in 1896 by Melba, who advised him to study in Paris; his teachers there were Giraudet and Giovanni Sbriglia. He made his début in Brussels in 1898. After performing in Europe and the USA, and further study with Julius Stockhausen in Frankfurt, he undertook engagements in several German cities, studied the Richard Wagner repertory at Bayreuth, appeared there very successfully as Wolfram (1904) and Amfortas (1908), and was also the much applauded Wotan in Hans Richter’s English-language Covent Garden Ring of 1908 and 1909. In 1904, he sang in the premiere of Koanga by Frederick Delius at the Elberfeld Stadtheater. His début with the Metropolitan company (15 November 1909, Brooklyn) as Wolfram, and at the Metropolitan Opera House (25 November 1909) as Amfortas began a long and successful, though not entirely harmonious, association with that house, where his Hans Sachs was particularly admired. His Metropolitan career lasted until 1932, the year of his death. Whitehill was an outstanding singer and artist, notable for beauty of tone and for nobility and dignity of style. The best of his many recordings are the earlier ones, in which he sang his Wagner excerpts in the original German. His 1914 version of Amfortas’s Prayer is unsurpassed in its combination of pure line, perfect enunciation and poignant intensity.

Graveyard

 

ELIN FOHSTRÖM, Soprano * 22 September 1868, Helsinki + 19 April 1949, Helsinki;

Elin Fohström-Tallqvist, stage name Elina Vandár, (1868–1949) was a Finnish operatic soprano who performed in Finland, Russia, the Baltic countries, Germany and Italy at the end of the 19th century. After a relatively short but successful singing career, she returned to Helsinki where she worked as a voice teacher.

Biography
Born on 22 September 1868 in Helsinki, Fohström was the daughter of August Fridolf Fohström (1828–93), a rich Swedish-speaking Finnish merchant, and his wife Henriette Sofia Stenqvist (1834–1918). One of seven children, she was the sister of the cellist Ossian Fohström and the prima-donna opera singer Alma Fohström.[2] Her sister Alma paid for her studies in Florence (1886–87) after which she studied in Paris under Pauline Viardot.

After appearing in a concert in Helsinki in 1887, she made her operatic début as Margarete in Gounod’s Faust (opera) in 1889. From 1893, she toured Italy, Russia, and the Baltic countries. She received excellent reviews for the operas she performed in Germany in 1897. That year she married Hjalmar Tallqvist, performing in Roméo et Juliette, The Barber of Seville and Carmen in Zurich where her husband was teaching at the university. She then retired from the stage, performing only in benefit concerts. She spent her later years as a voice teacher in Helsinki where she died on 19 April 1949.

 

ALMA FOHSTRÖM, Soprano * 02 January 1856, Helsinki + 20 February 1936, Helsinki;

Coloratura soprano Alma Fohström von Rode (1856–1936) was one of the most internationally successful Finnish opera singers in the end of 19th century. My microhistorical study focuses on the singer’s professional skills and her supporting cast. I’m also interested in finding out what values, norms, and ideals Fohström’s musical worldview consists of.

Alma Fohström was born in Helsinki in 1856. She studied singing with Anna Blomqvist in Helsinki and with Henriette Nissen-Saloman (1819–1879) in Saint Petersburg. Fohström graduated from Petersburg Conservatory in 1877. The young singer arrived to Milan in May 1878 to study with vocal teacher Francesco Lamperti (1813–1892). Later she studied with Felice Varesi (1813–1889) and took master classes with Désirée Artôt (1835–1907).

Fohström made her operatic debut at the Finnish Opera in Helsinki in 1878 as Marguerite in Gounoud’s Faust. Her career rapidly became international in scope. She performed in South and North America, in Europe, Russia and Asia. In the late 19th century, Alma Fohström appeared at the Academy of Music in New York, at La Scala in Milan, at Kroll Theatre and Opera House in Berlin, at Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, at Imperial Theatre in Rio de Janeiro, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, at the Covent Garden in London and in many other opera houses.

Fohström cut 4 gramophone recordings of songs at Pathé studio in Saint Petersburg in 1902. Only one of them has remained, Aleksandr Aljabjev’s song «Nightingale”.

Finnish Nightingale Alma Fohström was one of the famous sopranos in the late 19th century due to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the high quality of her bel canto technique. Her voice had perfectly equalized vocal registers and a silver tone. Regarding her voice, international music critics said that Nordic prima donna Alma Fohström had a crystalline, and a very high soprano voice. Her vocal range was wide from low a to high F. Alma Fohström’s repertoire included 40 opera roles. She sang in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. Fohström proved to be an effective actress in those lyric roles that required the summoning forth of deep emotions, such as Verdi’s Gilda in Rigoletto and Violetta in La Traviata.

Songstress announced her retirement from the stage in 1904. She spent the rest of her life teaching singing, in 1910th in Saint Petersburg conservatory, in 1920th in Schtern’s conservatory in Berlin and from 1928 in Helsinki conservatory. Alma Fohström died in Helsinki in 1936.

 

RANDOLPH SYMONETTE, Bass-Baritone * 23 November 1918, Bahamas + 1 January 1998, New York;

RANDOLPH Symonette, the Bahamian-born bass-baritone, was in his middle thirties before he turned to singing as a profession, but for over 20 years he pursued a successful career, mainly in Europe but also in the United States. Progressing from Broadway to the Metropolitan Opera House, he acquired a reputation as a strong singer and a powerful actor.
His repertory also progressed from Kurt Weill and Menotti to Verdi, Puccini, Richard Strauss and Wagner, culminating in the roles of Wotan, the Wanderer and Gunther in Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Symonette was born at Mathews Town in the Bahamas. His first choice of career was at sea, and he rose to command his own ship. In the mid-Forties he studied singing in New York with Paul Althouse, a former tenor who became one of America’s finest singing teachers. In March 1945 Symonette appeared on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre, singing a small part in Kurt Weill’s The Firebrand of Florence. Although The Firebrand (Benvenuto Cellini) only ran for 43 performances, it had momentous consequences for the singer; during the rehearsal period he met his future wife, Lys, who was the rehearsal pianist for that show, and for several other Weill productions.

In order to raise money for Street Scene, in 1946 Weill, Lys and Randolph Symonette sang excerpts from the score, taking the tenor, soprano and bass roles respectively, to rich prospective backers. Randolph Symonette also appeared in Menotti’s hugely successful opera The Consul, which opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in 1950. In 1952 he sang at the New York City Center (later NY City Opera) in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Then, like many other aspiring opera singers at that time, he sailed for Europe.

Symonette was first engaged at Mainz, then in 1954 he became a member of the Dusseldorf Opera. Ironically, one of his earliest roles there was Frank Maurrant, in the German premiere of Weill’s Street Scene in 1955. A year later he sang Golaud in Pelleas et Melisande, by all accounts a perfect role for him at that stage in his career. In April 1956 the new Dusseldorf Opera House was opened with Fidelio, in which Symonette sang Don Pizzaro, his heaviest role to date. In September 1956 the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, which included both the Dusseldorf and Duisberg houses, was inaugurated with Richard Strauss’s Elektra: Orestes furnished the bass-baritone with another new role.

During the next few years he added the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi’s Don Carlos, Jochanaan in Salome, the title role of Der fliegende Hollander and St Just in Einem’s Dantons Tod to his repertory. Meanwhile, as an “Italian” interlude for the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam he sang Scarpia in Tosca, Michele in Il tabarro and Amonasro in Aida (1958/59). Back in Dusseldorf, where the company was building up a Ring cycle (not in correct order), he sang Gunther in Gotterdammerung and then Wotan in Das Rheingold (1960). The latter performance elicited a review that praised “his powerful stage presence [which] is matched by a powerful, completely even-scaled voice of great warmth.”

From then onward, Symonette’s appearances were mostly in Wagner. In 1961 he returned to the United States to sing Wotan (Das Rheingold) and the Inquisitor in the Cincinnati Summer Season at the Zoo. On 17 November that year he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Telramund in Lohengrin: at the Met he also sang Wotan in Die Walkure at very short notice when a colleague became ill, and early in 1962, the Wanderer in Siegfried. Among other Ring appearances were the Walkure Wotan in Avignon; both Wotans at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels; the Walkure Wotan in Bordeaux and the Wanderer in Siegfried at the Teatro de la Fenice, Venice.

During his years in Europe, Symonette sang at many of the West German theatres, including Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. He made guest appearances in Vienna, Zurich, Barcelona, Naples, Rome and at the Paris Opera. His last new roles in Dusseldorf were the Water Sprite in Dvork’s Rusalka (1964) and Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana (1966). His wide repertory also included Hans Sachs, Klingsor (Parsifal) and the four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffman, of which he recorded lengthy excerpts. In 1969 he sang Ramfis in Aida at Tallahassee, Florida, where he was Professor of Voice at Florida State University until 1982.

Randolph Symonette, singer: born Mathews Town, Bahamas 23 November 1910; married (one son); died New York 1 January 1998.

Photo courtesy: Bahamian History Highlights

 

 

ANITA CERQUETTI, Soprano * 13 April 1931, Montecosaro, Italy + 11 October 2014, Perugia, Italy;

Anita Cerquetti (13 April 1931 – 11 October 2014) was an Italian dramatic soprano who had a short but meteoric career in the 1950s. Her voice was very powerful and pleasing to audiences.

Career:
Cerquetti was born in Montecosaro, near Macerata, Italy. She originally studied violin and trained eight years with Luigi Mori. After a mere year of vocal study at the Conservatory of Perugia, she made her operatic debut in Spoleto in 1951 as Aida. She sang all over Italy, notably in Florence as Noraime in Gli Abencerragi (the Italian version of Les Abencérages) under Carlo Maria Giulini in 1956, and as Elvira in Ernani under Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1957. Her La Scala debut was in 1958 as Abigaille in Nabucco. She also sang on RAI in a wide variety of roles, such as Elcia in Mosè in Egitto, Mathilde in Guglielmo Tell and Elena in I vespri siciliani.[citation needed]

Cerquetti made headlines in January 1958 when she replaced “in extremis” the ailing Maria Callas in Norma, at the Rome Opera House. She was already singing the role at the San Carlo in Naples. She commuted between the two cities to honor both engagements for several weeks. This “tour de force” won her great acclaim, but had serious effects on her health. Shortly afterward she started withdrawing little by little from the stage until her complete retirement in 1961, aged only 30.

She was due to have made her debut at The Royal Opera House in the title role in Aida in July 1958, but was forced to withdraw following an appendectomy in late June. She was replaced by Leontyne Price. Anita Cerquetti was thus destined never to sing at Covent Garden.

Cerquetti sang relatively little in America. Her debut there was at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1955, as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera opposite Jussi Björling, under Tullio Serafin. She made only two commercial recordings, both for Decca in 1957, a recital of Italian opera arias and a complete La Gioconda with Mario Del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato and Cesare Siepi under Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Among her “pirated” recordings is a 1958 Aida from Mexico City, with Flaviano Labò, Nell Rankin, Cornell MacNeil, Fernando Corena and Norman Treigle. The 1958 Rome production of Norma with Franco Corelli is also available.

Cerquetti died in Perugia in 2014, aged 83, from cardiovascular disease.

She was married to the baritone Edo Ferretti, who predeceased her.

CD Recordings:

A number of her live performances have been recorded and issued on CD. This list comes from actual CDs and is not exhaustive. Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi) January 1957 Florence; Don Carlo (Verdi) June 1956 Firenze; Ernani (Verdi) June 1957 Florence; La Forza del Destino (Verdi) September 1957 Rome; La Forza del Destino October 1958 Mexico (only 46′ extracts); La Gioconda (Ponchielli) January 1956 Florence; La Gioconda (Poncielli) 1957 Milano; Gli Abencerragi (Cherubini) May 1956 Firenze; Guiglielmo Tell (Rossini) April 1956 Milan; Mosè (Rossini) June 1956 Rome; Nabucco (Verdi) September 1960 Hilversum; Norma (Bellini) January 1958 Roma; Oberon (Weber) October 1957 Milan; I Vespri Siciliani (Verdi) November 1955 Torino. There are also a couple of CDs from recitals. Many of these re-issues are on specialist labels and may not still be available.

 

NOLYN CABAHUG, Tenor * 19 March 1956, Jaro, Iloilo City + 02 November 2015, Quezon City;

Nolyn Cabahug (1956 to 2015) was a Filipino classical tenor singer. Nolyn Cabahug was born in Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines, on March 19th 1956. A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Music where he majored in voice, he began his singing career in 1979 as a member of the Manila Metropolitan Theater Concert Chorus. Cabahug was featured as a baritone/tenor soloist in several of the Chorus’ productions, including their version of the Broadway musical “Kismet”. He moved on to be tenor soloist of the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus, which toured the US, Canada and Europe in 1981 and 1983. It also won in international competitions in Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. For a good part of the 1980s and 1990s, he was very active in the local opera circuit. Cabahug sang the role of ‘Crisostomo Ibarra’ in the 1987 restaging of Felipe Padilla de Leon’s “Noli Me Tangere”, and also starred in Rolando Tinio’s adaptation of “La Traviata” in 1990. He had acted as choirmaster and vocal coach for a number of church and company choirs, and appeared in many television commercials. He also worked as the operations manager for the Ryan Cayabyab Music Studio. Nolyn Cabahug died in the National Kidney and Transplant Institute of Manila on November 2nd 2015, having suffered renal failure. He was 59 years old.

 

GAETANO BARDINI, Tenor * October 8, 1929, Riparbella + 2017;

Gaetano Bardini (born October 8, 1929 in Riparbella + 2017) is an Italian tenor. Bardini has made numerous recitals and in has been a success in the Czech Republic, releasing his recording of his performances at with the Prague Smetana Theatre Orchestra, Brno State Opera Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, with conductors Jan Štych and Ino Savini.

Discography[edit]
1967 – “Recital – Romanze d’opera” – Conductor: Ino Savini – Supraphon
1968 – Verdi – “Il Trovatore” – G.Bardini, Linda Vajna, Franco Pagliazzi – Czech Chorus and Praga Chamber Orchestra – Conductor: M° Ino Savini – F.lli Fabbri editor – Box with 33 RPM (first edition by Supraphon 1969 and two reissues by Fratelli Fabbri in 1969 and 1978)
1970 – “Recital – Romanze d’opera” – Conductor: Jan Stych – Supraphon 1 12 1158 G
1972 – Verdi – “Requiem” with Margaret Tynes, Vera Soukupova, Jan Kyzlink – live Prague Cathedral of Saint Vitus 9.9.72 Ostrava Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Ino Savini 2 CD
1973 – Mascagni – “Cavalleria Rusticana” – Santuzza: Marina Krilovici, Turiddu: Gaetano Bardini, Alfio: Kostas Paskalis, Mamma Lucia: Hilde Rössel-Majdan, Lola: Rohangiz Yachmi – Conductor:: Anton Guadagno – Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra – Live Recording made 14 September 1973 – 2 CD
1973 – “Recital di canzoni napoletane” – Prague Opus (reissued in part by Champion Records – UK)
1979 – Mascagni – “Isabeau” – (Premiere) con Aldo Protti, Maria Chuang, Katia Angeloni, Filarmonica Janáček di Ostrava Dir: Jaromil Noheil
1979 – “Recital di Arie d’Opera” – Conductor: Jan Stych – Supraphon 1116 2729 G

 

GIAN PIERO MASTROMEI, Baritone * 01 November 1932, Camaiore, Tuscany, Italy + 08 September 2016, Camaiore, Italy;

His family was of Italian descent but emigrated to Argentina. He received his education in Buenos Aires, partly with Apollo Granforte. He became an apprentice to the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, in whose opera school he was trained by Mario Melani and Hina Spani. He performed for 13 seasons there before coming to Europe in 1962. He sang at with the Vienna Staatsoper, La Scala, and Festival in the Arena of Verona. During his career, he also appeared in London and Hamburg, in Madrid and Budapest, in San Francisco, Dallas and Philadelphia. His roles included Renato, Rigoletto, Macbeth Iago, Carlos in “La Forza del Destino, Falstaff, Scarpia, Gianni Schicchi, Figaro and Wolfram.
He sang Scarpia opposite both Pavarotti and Domingo and was recorded in Lohengrin with Christa Ludwig and Victoria de los Angeles.

His greatest success on record was a 1975 Philips album of Verdi’s Il Corsar, with Jessye Norman, Monserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras.

 

CESARE BARDELLI, Baritone * 25 December 1910, Sampierdarena, Italy + 23 December 2000, Milan, Italy;

Cesare Bardelli, the youngest of three brothers, was born on December 25, 1910 in Sampierdarena, Genova (due to the fact that at the time, his father was train-station master in that city) but Cesare for long generations from both mother and father was from Pisa the “Leaning Tower Fame” in Italy, therefore always very proud to consider himself a “Pisano”.

From his father Alfredo, he inherited the love for “Bel Canto”. His father was a semi-professional tenor and would bring 6 year-old Cesare on holidays at local churches and weddings to sing arias from his own favourite operas with the hope of hard study and an eventual operatic career for his son. Cesare at the time, had a pleasant tenor-voice and therefore started studying very young music and voice at first with Maestri Barsanti and Pizzi and afterwards in Milano with the famous baritone Carlo Tagliabue. In New York his voice teacher was the unforgettable Daniele Serra.

In 1937 Cesare Bardelli made an auspicious debut in Alessandria (Piemonte) in Aida (Amonasro) and immediately the same year at Alessandria Egypt in both Aida (Amonasro) and Tosca (Scarpia),role destined to be his “Cavallo di Battaglia”(Battle-Horse). Bardelli sang Scarpia in Tosca almost 1000 times during his 43 year career gaining the fame as “The World’s Greatest Scarpia ” in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca after Antonio Scotti.

In 1979, still in great voice, Cesare decided to retire from the stage and was asked by many young singers to give voice-lessons in his New York City Studio. Among his many outstanding pupils, he also gave voice-lessons to the famous Hollywood movie-actor Paul Sorvino (father of Mira Sorvino). He then moved with his wife Lina to Vercelli, Italy where their only daughter Vera still lives with her family. In 1980, Prof. Joseph Robbone asked Cesare Bardelli to be part of the “Società del Quartetto” of Vercelli as voice-teacher and also invited him to become Member of the Board for the “Concorso Internazionale di Musica G.B.Viotti of Vercelli”.

Cesare Bardelli passed away in Milano on December 23, 2000 – 2 days before his 90th Birthday.

Bardelli Figaro-Barbiere di Siviglia

Vera & Cesare Bardelli

Bardelli Rodeo Houston

New York Interview Bardel

 

 

ERIK SJÖBERG, Tenor * 31 October 1909, Nexø, Bornholm + 8 November 1973, Rønne, Bornholm;

Erik Sjöberg was born on October 31,1909 in Nexø on the island Bornholm in The Baltic Sea. He died in Rønne, Bornholm November 8 1973. After finishing school he was a shoemaker for seven years. Fond of singing, a friend arranged an audition for him in Copenhagen. Vilhelm Herold the noted Danish tenor and leader of the Opera School in Copenhagen offered him a scholarship and he joined the Royal Opera School in Copenhagen. Like many tenors he started as a baritone. Herold’s most famous student was Lauritz Melchior who also started as a baritone and debuted in the same opera house and in the same opera as Sjöberg.

Sjöberg made his debut at The Royal Danish Opera in May 1937 in Pagliacci. He sang both Tonio and Silvio in Leoncavallo’s opera. During the next six years he sang mainly small baritone roles He was Jake in the first Porgy and Bess performed by white singers.

In 1943 he went to Stockholm, Sweden to convert to a tenor. He studied first with Joseph Hislop. Hislop also taught Jussi Björling and Birgit Nilsson. Nilsson couldn’t stand both Hislop’s personality and teaching. He later worked with the great bass-baritone Joel Berglund. In December 1944 he returned to Copenhagen and made a successful debut as a tenor – Don José in Carmen. Flower Song – Carmen

Other roles that followed included Pedro in Tiefland, The Fisherman in Stravinsky´s The Nightingale, Don Carlos, David in Carl Nielsens opera Saul and David , and Canio in Pagliacci.

In 1947 he was the first Danish Peter Grimes.

He sang Fenton in Falstaff, Radames in Aida (also in Stockholm 1951 with Birgit Nilsson and Sigurd Björling – below). It was these Stockholm performances that so impressed Nilsson.

He also sang Max in Der Freischütz, Walter von Stoltzing in Die Meistersinger, and Lohengrin.

His last performance in Copenhagen was Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxo in 1959.

He sang Lohengrin in France (Lyon and Toulouse) with the young Georges Petre as conductor. He also sang Lohengrin in Rome under Franco Capuana with Antonietta Stella as Elsa.

He gave concerts in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Holland (with The Concertgebouw under Erich Kleiber) and in France. He sang a Wagner concert in Cannes with Martha Mödl. He also appeared in oratorios in Denmark and Sweden.

He was appointed Kammersanger (Royal Court Singer) in 1951.

He only made a few recordings. Beethoven’s 9th under Fritz Busch has been released on CD. In 2005 a 1953 performance of Lohengrin from The Royal Danish Opera was released conducted by Erich Kleiber. In 2006 a portrait CD “Den glemte tenor“ (The forgotten tenor) was released containing folksongs in his native dialect from Bornholm. The disc also includes Danish songs and romances and arias all sung in Danish.

From the material I have he seems to have been at his best between 1947 and 1953. Thereafter his high notes become strained and the hint of vocal unsteadiness that was always apparent becomes more pronounced. His middle voice hints at his baritone origin. Here’s the last part of the Nile Scene from Aida recorded in 1950, the year before he appeared with Nilsson. He handle’s the scene’s difficult last line with ease and power.

The Gondola Song from Strauss’s A Night in Venice shows the tenors ability with a long vocal line as well as a little unsteadiness. But if you’re still mystified why Nilsson put Sjöberg in the same class with two of the greatest tenors who ever lived the best I can offer are two excerpts from Act 1 and Act 3 of Lohengrin from a 1953 performance in Copenhagen. Here Sjöberg produces beautifully modulated tones along with a bright sound and ringing high notes.

His career was short because he started late and finished relatively early. His debut as a tenor was at age 35. He retired at 50. Whether he retired because of vocal problems or for other reasons I do not know.

In summary, I think this was a singer who didn’t deserve the total obscurity he fell into after his retirement and death. He’s clearly better than a lot of more widely known artists. I suspect he was an uneven performer who on his best nights was very good. He likely brought lightness and lyricism to Wagner rather than the typical gruff barking too often associated with that composer. I found his work very pleasing. Make up your own mind.

Courtesy: Medicine and Opera