Cesare Siepi is acknowledged to be one of the leading operatic and concert bass voices of our time. After private studies, Cesare Siepi made his début as Sparafucile in Rigoletto by Verdi in Schio near Vincenza (Italy) in 1941. The war interrupted a career that he resumed in 1945 in Verona and 1946 at La Scala singing in Nabucco by Verdi, on both occasions. He appeared at Covent Garden during the tour of La Scala in 1950 and that autumn in New York he opened Rudolf Bing’s first Metropolitan Opera season as King Philip II in Don Carlo by Verdi. During the same season, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in Verdi’s Requiem under Toscanini. A member of the Metropolitan Opera for 24 years, he performed the major basso cantante roles of the Italian repertory as well as Mephistopheles in Faust by Gounod, Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky and Gurnemanz in Parsifal by Wagner. He has been especially admired for his Mozart roles, particularly Don Giovanni, which he sang in Salzburg in 1953 under Furtwängler and at Covent Garden in 1962 under Solti. With a strikingly handsome physical presence, and a pleasantly warm, pliant voice, he could always be relied on for intelligent, consistent professional performances. Cesare Siepi marked the twentieth century by the richness of his dramatic interpretations and his moving stage presence.
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